We visited the coastal town of Borliz, which is located on the suburbs of Bilbao. We took a 45 minutes metro ride to the end of the line, and then a 40 minutes bus ride, although we could have walked it in 45 minutes as well. Even though the trip there was long, the views that we were greeted with were well worth it.
Because it is May and we are in the north of Spain, there was a lot of wind and we were cold, so we quickly hurried to the hospital we were going to tour Hospital Borliz. The hospital is mainly focused on rehabilitation after major events, such as a stroke, amputations, etc. Although the hospital now mainly treats adult patients, with children only as out patients, their history is very different. They were founded in 1919 as a rehabilitation center for children, treated by nuns who were trained doctors. In 1985, they were incorporated into Osakidetza and turned into an adult rehabilitation center as the diseases being treated grew less common. The hospital itself is located directly on the beachfront, and we could walk directly from the town to the hospital by walking on the beach or walking through a path surrounded by greenery.
We toured the hospital, splitting into 4 groups to tour 4 different sections. We first toured one of the nursing stations in the brain damage ward. We got to take a look at the rooms that patients stay in, which had a wonderful view over the beach. Depending on the needs of the patient, they can get into and out of the bed using a lift or just from the help of the nurses. The nurses have an amazing system to discern the needs of their patient, meeting with the doctor every day to see if any changes are needed to their care plan. They have a giant whiteboard in the nursing station that has every patients name in their section, with different magnets next to their name depending on the care they need. For example, they had magnets for needing to use the lift to get out of bed, or needing speech therapy, etc.
The next section of the hospital we went to was the pediatric ward. They take care of children from newborn to 18 years old, and work to improve their mobility through many devices. To motivate children to participate in their exercises, they utilize VR as a game. They have different objectives in the game, and it works to extend their arms and legs and get the move with a goal in mind. They also have many different types of walkers for the children, which they can adjust and change depending on the needs of the child and how much support they require. Families can purchase these devices, and while they are really expensive, if they have a prescription from a doctor, the government will pay for 70% of the total cost!
After visiting the pediatric ward, we visited the physical therapy section of the hospital. We saw that they also use virtual reality in aiding the recovery of their patients. Patients in the rehabilitation center that struggle to walk are graded on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being unable to to walk at all to 5 being walking perfectly normal. Being rated a 1 is walking with heavy support, 2 is walking with a little support, 3 is walking with no support but needing supervision, and being rated a 4 means that you can walk, but it’s not a normal gait. We were able to watch a patient who was paralyzed on his left side using a machine called a Lokomat. The Lokomat is used for patients who are rated a 0 or a 1 and uses VR to encourage them to work with the machine, displaying games such as penguins hopping across icebergs with each step they take. Using this machine not only helps the patient to regain muscles in their legs, but also allows their brain to rewire into the correct paths that allow for walking, minimizing the time needed to spend in physical therapy. They also have another machine that they use for balance, which can be used for patients stages 3-5. It vibrates back and forth, and it helps to regain the muscle in your legs as well as working on your balance. Depending on the stage that the patient is in, they can adjust the speed of the vibrations to make it harder or easier to balance.
The last tour we went on was to see the Oreka balance machine that Saioa presented about. It was super cool to see it in person, and we even got to test it out! I learned a little bit more about the machine itself, with the graphs that I showed yesterday being created by the range that the arrows on the screen moved as the machine conducts its test.
After we finished all of the tours of the hospital, we went into the town of Borliz to have lunch before walking back to the metro station. Even though it was a little bit chilly, it was nice to have a long walk back, being able to take in all of the scenery.
Tonight we also got the chance to attend an opera, and watch Saoia take a part in the choir. It was amazing to see, and the theatre was so majestic. I’ve never seen an opera in person before, so it was amazing to actually be able to experience it. I enjoyed so many of their songs, and I think that this concert is something that I will remember for a long time.
