MANILA, Philippines — With the objective of lessening emotional and mental stress among the evacuees in the province of Batangas, the Department of Health (DOH)– CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) distributed 32” LED Television sets to evacuation centers particularly in Sto. Tomas City and Tanauan City, Batangas where most of the evacuees are sheltered.

“People in evacuation centers are suffering from emotional and mental stress daily while they remain in their makeshift shelters awaiting to return to their homes while others have nothing to go back to due to the damage to their properties caused by the Taal eruption” DOH Regional Director Ed Janairo said.

“Yung sobrang pag-iisip dahil sa nangyaring kalamidad kadalasan can cause anxiety disorders at depression.”

Distribution of TV sets was made from January 20-21, 2020.

“This TV sets were given to further strengthen the on-going mental health and psychosocial support and lessen the burden of depression to evacuees. It is equipped with flash drives containing popular value-laden stories for children, videos for physical fitness, health infomercials promoting proper hygiene, oral health care and other tips in maintaining good health and proper nutrition for preventing the onset and spread of diseases” Janairo said.

 “Hindi lang ito for information dissemination, magagamit din ito for recreation and entertainment pleasure upang mabawasan ang kanilang nararamdamang lumbay at makapagbigay sa kanila ng pag-asa.”

The six (6) sets of LED TVs were distributed to the following evacuation centers namely PUP-Sto.Tomas Campus, Main Evacuation Center Brgy 3 (two sets), General Malvar Memorial School and Paaralang Elementarya ng San Antonio located in Sto. Tomas City.

Four LED TVs were given to evacuation centers in Pagaspas Elementary School, Pantay Matanda, Pantay Bata and Bagumbayan in Tanauan City.

Janairo disclosed that a total of 165 LED TV sets will be delivered and installed to identified evacuation centers as part of the department’s innovative ways to promote health information and dissemination, especially to children.

“We will continue to monitor and provide all the needed health services to evacuees and make sure that they receive all the health care they need,” Janairo added.

As of January 21, 2020, the Regional Health Emergency and Management System reported a total of 35,644 families or 140,614 individuals residing in 480 evacuation centers in CALABARZON. (Benjie Cuaresma/IAMIGO/Currentph.com)