Social Work in Barangay Concepcion Dos

Hello and welcome to a new blog post! In this post, we will be tackling social work from a new perspective—one that is more local and applicable to us. Continue reading to learn more about social workers and social work programs in our community.

Who are Social Workers?

Social workers aim to help the people in fulfilling their needs especially their overall well-being. There are different kinds of social workers such as medical social workers, mental health, family social workers and several more, but there is a kind of social worker who focuses on either individual, families or small groups which is the community social worker.

The members of a community are diverse since it is composed of different gender, races, religions and different social economic classes. They are unique since they encourage the people to actively participate with the social worker. Also, they help their clients regain strength after being affected by whatever issues or calamities that has discouraged them to live normally as explained in the site (“Social Workers”, 2017).

In the Philippines, social work is considered a professional work. An official social worker needs to pass the licensure exam and be acknowledged by the state before they could start practicing social work. Several programs are made that focuses on helping the Filipinos especially communities which are often affected by natural calamities and are negatively affected by the social issues in the country. An example is when social workers from two popular TV stations (GMA and ABS-CBN) helped the victims of typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban and also the victims who are in Marawi. These social workers assess the needs of the citizens. Also, they interact with them to make them feel at ease making the clients feel that they can trust the social workers in telling their concerns.

Our Community: Concepcion Dos

In order to have a more in-depth perspective on social workers in a local setting, let’s take a look through the lens of Concepcion Dos, Markina City. We have interviewed Kagawad Frederick Ifurung, a three-time elected kagawad in the barangay. He heads the committee on Senior Citizens and Transportation. He is as well the chairman for peace and order in Barangay Concepcion Dos. The interview mainly consisted of discussions about Barangay Concepcion Dos and the social work aspect in the locality.

However to be more precise and accurate on our understanding, a short introduction from Kagawad Ifurung on Barangay Concepcion Dos would be necessary. Kagawad Dick proudly shared that  barangay Concepcion Dos is different from other barangays. Barangay Concepcion Dos, as said by Kagawad Ifurung is a “non-problematic barangay” and “is mostly filled with residents who are financially capable”.  Fortunately, there are no major problems encountered such as killings. Most of the problems or crimes reported in the barangay are considered light such as pick pockets, snatching and akyat-bahay as one of the most intense. Moreover, 90% of Concepcion Dos are made up of private subdivision and there are no squatters. The locality is very peaceful and the residents are very disciplined in following simple rules and regulations that are given in their area. Thus, it can be concluded that Concepcion Dos is a barangay that does not experience much problems in terms of crimes and finance unlike other localities.

The barangay hall wherein the interview with Barangay Kagawad Ifurung was conducted is located in Pio del Pilar St., Markina City. The main service that the barangay hall focuses on is health services. A small health center is located beside the barangay hall wherein there were always ample amount of residents getting check-ups or treatments.

Social Workers and Social Work Programs

After the brief introduction of the barangay, the discussion proceeded to the main topic which is social work. Kagawad Ifurung shared information and his insights on the aspect of social work and the social programs in Concepcion Dos.

The only social workers in the barangay are health social workers. They are termed by Kagawad Ifurung and by the residents as “health workers”.  As aforementioned, a health center is located beside the barangay hall and the health workers are to be found there helping the people. Social workers in barangay Concepcion Dos also assess outreach programs together with nurses to assist patients as well.

The functions of the health social workers include enabling and helping the sick, helping pregnant women and educating them proper ways of breastfeeding and other tasks needed to be learned by mothers. They also serve as case managers who help the residents get access to free services such as anti-flu vaccinations, anti-dengue vaccinations for children below eight (8) years of age, medications for senior citizens, and much more. In addition, the health social workers of Concepcion Dos are also brokers who refer the residents in need of more medical consultations and treatments to medical professionals such as doctors who are also available in the health center. They may also refer to specialists from the Red Cross.

Recipients of Social Work Programs

  Many residents have been receiving the social work programs in Concepcion Dos. Recipients include the children and babies for they are able to get vaccinations such as anti-flu vaccinations, anti-dengue vaccinations and measles vaccine. They are also able to receive check-ups from in-house medical workers and health workers.                                                                                                                      
                               

Other recipients are the pregnant women who are taught by the health workers proper ways of breastfeeding, what to do during pregnancy and are checked-up regularly to assess the situation of both the baby and the mother.

 Lastly, the elderly are also recipients of the social work programs of the community for they are given help in terms of medical concerns. Moreover, all residents of the community especially those who are unable to pay for private hospital treatments are recipients of the programs carried by health workers.

Dealing with other Social Problems

Other social problems not related to health are handled by social workers from Department of Social Welfare and Development. Such problems and crimes include the following: child abuse, using kids for robbery and mental disabilities. Children are involved most of time since their young minds can easily be manipulated such as the abused children and those children who are asked and payed to steal. When they are able to catch or report on people with such cases, Kagawad Ifurung said that there is not much that they can do. Once the conflicted person is brought to their barangay hall, they can only give food and temporary shelter to them because they cannot put them to jail nor treat them because of the following reasons; most of them are minors and mental disabilities at instances wherein the individual does not do any harm to others are not crimes. Thus, they report these instances to social workers from DSWD. After doing so, the reported people will be brought by the social workers from DSWD with them to be referred to other professionals such as doctors and lawyers, to be mediated with people who are giving them problems, to be counselled or to simply be given food and shelter. Furthermore, the DSWD does not only cater to minors but also to poor communities who are in need of attention in fulfilling their needs on a daily basis.

Problem with DSWD Social Workers

However, Kagawad Ifurung said that a huge downfall of the social workers in DSWD is that they “do not take immediate action on the issues”. He told us that there are instances wherein the children whom they referred to DSWD were found in Concepcion Dos just a few weeks after they were taken by the social workers. This means that the social workers and the institution may have failed to serve their purpose of assisting and teaching child delinquents. He wants the social workers from DSWD to give more focus on their jobs in order to fully help the people in need of their guidance. However, he also said that the DSWD is a state-funded institution and not locally funded by their barangay. They may be more focused on other more extreme cases on different parts of the country. We asked Kagawad Ifurung if he wants to have an in-house social worker that would attend to the problems of the barangay handled by the DSWD instead. He answered no because he wants them to be directly and straightly attended by social workers from DSWD who can more easily give them resources and direct them to other professionals because DSWD is state handled and can acquire more resources to those in great need.

Synthesis

All in all, Barangay Concepcion Dos is a barangay that focuses on health social work. Health social workers are readily available at the health center beside the barangay hall. Various treatments, consultations and programs are executed by health workers to assure the medical well-being of the residents. Those in need of other form of social work assistance such as problems regarding mental health and child delinquency are redirected by the barangay officials to DSWD. However, the barangay officials are unsure of DSWD capability of helping their clienteles because there are instances wherein they see the clienteles out of DSWD’ headquarters a short time after they have been redirected. Thus, Barangay Kagawad Ifurung urges the DSWD social workers to improve their work to ensure that the better lives that social workers are tasked to help humanity achieve 

Social Workers (2017). Retieved from https://socialworklicensemap.com/become-a-social-worker/social-worker-careers/community-social-work/

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