April 1, 2019 – The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 02’s (DSWD FO2) Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) bagged the award as the 2nd Best CIU during the 2018 DSWD Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE) held at Landbank Plaza, Malate, Manila last Friday.
The field office’s CIU competed in a pool composed of 17 regions and emerged as the second best after bagging the the same recognition in 2016, providing consistent and efficient service to the people that it serves throughout the years.
The award was received by Ms. Cecilia Turingan, Social Welfare Officer II and Head of the field office’s CIU and Ms. Valentina Monterubio, Social Welfare Officer II and Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) Isabela Team Leader while being accompanied by DSWD FO2 Regional Director Leonardo C. Reynoso.
The DSWD PRAISE Award is given to outstanding employees, individually or in groups, for excellence in their performance of functions that contribute to the achievement of the agency’s targets.
The field office’s CIU won the award for its innovations in giving medical, education, burial and transportation assistance to indigent individuals and families throughout the region which include early work service, with its staff providing service to clients as early as 7 in the morning to make sure most, if not all, of the clients needing assistance are catered to during regular working hours and to prevent extending services at nightfall.
The unit also provides free medical service to its clients, with a staff providing free blood pressure checkup and even the provision of medicines to treat cases of high blood pressure. The unit also has a coffee steel jug, a water dispenser and styro cups strategically located in the unit’s waiting area for clients. Two (2) televisions showing the audio video presentations (AVPs) of the field office are also placed on the unit’s waiting area for further information on the other programs and services of the field office.
The field office also has strong linkages with local government units, engaging the latter on the requirements needed in the provision of assistance to clients coming from their localities before the assessment of social workers in the unit, thereby preventing cases where clients would need to secure lacking documents when they are assessed in the field office.
Service transparency is also a strength of the unit, with CIU staff who verifies requirements submitted by clients positioned in front of the client waiting area so the latter can see the pile of papers going from one verifier to another, ensuring transparency and making sure that clients are served on a first come, first serve basis but with preferential treatment to Persons with Disability (PWDs), Older Persons, Pregnant Women and the like.
To ensure best performance from the unit’s staff and avoid work fatigue, activities designed to relieve staff from the rigors of work are conducted on weekends to ensure that service to clients are not disrupted.
With the aim of bringing services closer to the people, staff from the Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) also joined the field office’s Information Caravan on June 2018 with the aim of bringing DSWD programs closer to regional residents. As part of the caravan, CIU staff assessed clients on site and provided with assistance after undergoing assessment without needing to go to the regional office to get the same assistance, saving both time and other resources.
In her speech during the re-awarding held at the DSWD FO2 Multi-purpose Building today, Ms. Turingan thanked DSWD FO2 employees for the support while vowing to continue serving to the best of their abilities.+
To this end, the unit aims to deliver more of the same and find new ways to improve so it can provide maagap at mapagkalingang serbisyo to the clients that it serves. ### DSWD FO II Social Marketing Unit