Profil Lessan

(english version below):

Kesehatan merupakan salah satu unsur terpenting yang menunjang manusia dan aktivitasnya. Apabila kesehatan seseorang memburuk dapat dipastikan bahwa aktivitasnya akan terganggu. Gangguan kesehatan dapat muncul pada siapa saja tanpa memandang usia, status sosial, jenis kelamin atau suku tertentu. Orang yang sakit tentu akan berharap dapat sembuh secepat mungkin. Saat ini sebagaian besar orang memilih mempercayakan pengobatan modern melalui dokter atau rumah sakit guna menyembuhkan penyakitnya.

Bagi orang yang kemampuan ekonominya kurang, sakit merupakan bencana. Biaya pengobatan modern di Rumah Sakit yang terbilang cukup mahal akan menjadi beban berat, bahkan dapat semakin menjatuhkan seseorang ke jurang kemiskinan yang lebih dalam dan terjebak hutang yang semakin menumpuk. 

Untuk menghindari tingginya biaya pemulihan kesehatan, seringkali masyarakat yang kurang mampu memilih membeli obat-obatan kimia yang dijual bebas di warung, toko, dan apotik. Masyarakat terpengaruh dengan iklan yang sangat gencar melalui berbagai media, seperti radio , TV, Koran dan poster yang tertempel di sepanjang jalan. Bahaya efek samping obat kimia tidak dipertimbangkan. 

Indonesia sebenarnya masih mempunyai sistem pengobatan sendiri yang cukup aman dan murah, yaitu sistem pengobatan tradisional (herbal medicine). Namun pengetahuan lokal mengenai sistem pengobatan tradisional ini perlahan mulai hilang, karena masyarakat lebih memilih obat kimia. 

Berangkat dari kepedulian terhadap masalah kesehatan masyarakat yang kurang mampu, maka terbentuklah Lessan. Lessan adalah singkatan dari Lembaga Studi Kesehatan yang yang mulai beraktivitas pada tanggal 22 Februari 1990. Pada awal berdirinya Lessan merupakan LSM (Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat) yang bergerak di bidang pengobatan tradisional. Lessan berusaha mengembalikan kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap sistem pengobatan tradisional sebagai salah satu alternatif memecahkan masalah kesehatan mereka dengan lebih murah dan aman.

Seiring dengan berjalannya waktu terjadi berbagai masalah dalam kehidupan sosial di sekitar masyarakat dampingan Lessan yang berlokasi di Yogyakarta dan sekitarnya. Tempat dimana kantor Lessan berdiri, beberapa kali mengalami bencana alam yang cukup dahsyat dan menimbulkan banyak korban. Gempa pada bulan Mei 2006 serta letusan dahsyat Gunung Merapi pada penghujung tahun 2010 telah menggugah kepedulian Lessan terhadap masyarakat untuk melaksanakan program Pengurangan Resiko Bencana dan Tanggap Darurat Bencana.  Selain konsisten menjalankan program kesehatan masyarakat, Lessan juga kini aktif dalam kegiatan penanganan bencana seperti psikososial support untuk korban bencana, rehabilitasi jaringan air dan pengembangan modul pengurangan resiko bencana gunung api untuk guru sekolah dasar.

Melalui berbagai kegiatan dan pengalaman kemudian Lessan melebarkan sayapnya dalam promosi hak-hak lansia di Indonesia.  Kelompok  lansia sering dikelompokkan dalam kelompok rentan, namun kita sering melupakan bahwa mereka juga mempunyai potensi yang bisa disumbangkan bagi masyarakat maupun negaranya sekalipun secara alami terjadi penurunan kesehatan fisik maupun psikis serta kemampuannya. Untuk ini Lessan mengembangkan pengorganisasian kelompok lansia di Merapi serta mengembangkan sekolah ramah lansia bersama 7 sekolah dasar di lereng Merapi seperti SDN 1 Kaliurang, SDN 1 Kloposawit, SD Muhammadiyah  Wonokerto, SDK Tarakanita Tritis (kab. Sleman) sertat MI Maarif Ngablak 1, MI Maarif Ngablak 2 dan MI Maarif Ngargosoka di Kab. Magelang.

Visi

Terwujudnya masyarakat sehat di Indonesia berbasis kearifan lokal yang mengedepankan keadilan dan kelestarian.

Misi

1.  Mengembalikan kepercayaan masyarakat pada sistem pengobatan tradisional.
2.  Mengembangkan sistem pengobatan tradisional yang anti monopoli.
3.  Mengembangkan kesadaran kritis masyarakat pada masalah-masalah kesehatan yang dihadapi.

Kegiatan

1. Promosi Hak- hak Lansia

LESSAN bekerjasama dengan lansia di lereng Merapi kabupaten Sleman, Yogyakarta dan Magelang, Jawa Tengah mengembangkan sekolah ramah lansia serta promosi hak- hak lansia.

2. Pendidikan Obat Tradisional untuk Masyarakat Miskin

Untuk anak-anak

Pendidikan tentang obat tradisional Indonesia dan tanaman obat diselenggarakan bagi anak-anak usia 5-15 tahun baik di luar sekolah maupun bekerjasama dengan sekolah.

Untuk petani

Pendidikan untuk petani diselenggarakan melalui pelatihan, magang, diskusi dan praktek .Pendidikan ini diutamakan bagi petani dan kaum miskin lainnya tanpa dipungut biaya.

3. Publikasi

Lessan menerbitkan buku-buku tentang pengobatan tradisional, bulletin, buku panduan kesiapsiagaan bencana, alat peraga, poster, kalender yang relevan dengan kegiatan yang dilaksanakan bersama masyarakat dampingan.

4. Income Generating

Salah satu variable untuk meningkatkan derajad kesehatan masyarakat miskin adalah peningkatan ekonomi. Lessan memiliki program fundrising yang melibatkan petani untuk penyediaan herbal plant melalui Lessan Bio shop.

5. Disaster Management Proramme

Sebagai organisasi yang berada di wilayah rawan bencana gempa bumi dan gunung api, Lessan mengembangkan program pengurangan resiko bencana dan dukungan psikososial bekerjasama dengan sekolah dasar/MI dan masyarakat di lereng Merapi. 

Alamat dan Kontak
Jl. Kaliurang Km. 9.5 Palgading, Sinduharjo, Ngaglik, Sleman,
tromol pos 5 Ngaglik
Telp                   : 0274-8553270
Email                 : lessan@indosat.net.id
Contact Person  : Heny Yudea

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LESSAN (Lembaga Studi Kesehatan), Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Health is one of the most important elements of human life. People cannot act, work or live normally, suffering from health issues and sickness. Health problems can affect everybody, irrespective of age, social status, gender or other facts. Sick people naturally hope to be cured as soon as possible. Nowadays most people trust the modern medical treatment available from doctors, hospitals and chemical medicine. But sickness and pain are a catastrophe for those people who do not have the money to pay for medical treatment. Poor people cannot afford treatment in hospitals and if they really need it, then they get heavily in debt. To avoid these high costs, poor people often buy chemical medicine in free shops, without medical consultation and without knowing about the strong and adverse effects of this chemical medicine that can be bought in the shops. 

Indonesia  does have its own very good system of medical treatment – traditional knowledge about herbal medicine. This herbal medicine is safe, cheap and effective. But local knowledge about traditional medicine is slowly disappearing, because many people trust commercial promotions from the pharmaceutical industry on TV and radio and in newspapers, preferring chemical medicine instead of herbal medicine. The origins of the NGO LESSAN, founded on the 22nd of February 1990, are located in these worries about the health situation in poor communities around Yogyakarta. In its early years LESSAN focused on rebuilding the trust of local people and on publicising traditional medicine by using herbal medicine to solve medical problems and illnesses. 

Gradually LESSAN grew and could focus on the plurality of social problems facing the communities around Yogyakarta – by continuing their work on herbal medicine. In recent years the region around Yogyakarta was affected by disastrous natural catastrophes and many people died. There was a large earthquake in May 2006 and a massive eruption of the volcano Mount Merapi at the end of 2010. So LESSAN began their work on disaster prevention and follow-up care programs with the local communities, implementing the Disaster Emergency Response. Especially after the catastrophe of the 2010 Merapi Eruption LESSAN not only dealt with disaster management, enabling access to drinkable water and catastrophe management projects with teachers on a physical and practical level,  but they also did psychosocial work. LESSAN worked together with professionals in psychosocial work, offered analysis and education about traumas and gave support for students and elderly people who suffered from psychosocial traumas after the Merapi eruption in 2010.   

LESSAN focused on young and elderly people in Indonesia same time. Especially elderly people often do not know about their rights. They are mostly seen as vulnerable group and it is forgotten that they also have knowledge, skills and potential for the community, the nature and society. LESSAN developed in cooperation with seven local schools a concept for “Elderly friendly schools” in the Merapi and Magelang region: SDN Kaliurang school, , SDN  Kloposawit school, SD Muhammadiyah Girikerto school, SDK Tarakanita Tritis school, MI Maarif Ngablak 1 and 2 schools, MI Ngargosoka school.

Background of the Organisation:

LESSAN is an NGO based in a semi-rural setting in the vicinity of the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta. The organisation was established in 1990. The founders are former staff of YPB or the Cultural Development Foundation, which is an NGO working on cultural issues. The staff of YPB, who were particularly concerned about health conditions and issues of community development such as the promotion of traditional herbal medicine, established their own foundation. Hence, LESSAN was formed. It is run by young activists, who are concerned about the health of the elderly, women and children.

 Projects:

The project areas are Central Java and Yogyakarta Province which are on the slopes of the famous volcano Mt. Merapi and Gunung Kidul. LESSAN focuses its work on working with traumatized students and elderly people in villages near the Merapi volcano, on disaster management, health care, school projects and on the promotion of traditional medicine and development programs which respond to environmental problems.  LESSAN also provides the public with information on preventing and responding to natural disasters and it supports the rebuilding of people’s trust in herbal medicine and their old knowledge of traditional medicine. LESSAN is producing herbal medicine, called JAMU, by itself, in cooperation with local farmers as producers.

So LESSAN is taking care of the mental and physical health of elderly people in villages in the Merapi region, but they also involve schools in cooperation projects between young and elderly people: in order to increase contacts and encourage understanding between the older and the younger generations.  In various school projects LESSAN is working with teachers from local schools, developing programmes whereby teachers can deal with traumatised students at school and encourage the exchange of experiences between schools – there are also intercultural dialogue projects between a local Catholic and a Muslim school. 

Vision 

To create a healthy and strong society in Indonesia, based on old local knowledge, justice, solidarity and sustainability.   

Mission

  

Rebuilding the trust of communities and the public in traditional knowledge about herbal medicine and in the virtues and effects of herbal medicine. Political advocacy for traditional medicine and human rights. Developing a crucial and responsible public awareness in Indonesia towards questions of health and herbal medicinal therapies.

Activities: 

 1.  Facilitation and Promotion of rights of elderly people  

 LESSAN works with elderly people in the Merapi region, in the district of Sleman, in Yogyakarta, and in the district of Magelang in Central Java. LESSAN supports the elderly in terms of knowledge and the claiming of their rights, and develops elderly-friendly schools in these districts.     

 2.  Traditional Medicine and Education for poor people

 For children

 Education about traditional medicine in Indonesia and about medical plants and herbs for children aged between 5-15 years, in cooperation with schools but also outside of schools.

For rural workers

Organising educational support for farmers and labourers through training, internships, discussions and practical support. LESSAN gives priority to the free education of labourers and poor people.

 3.  Publications

LESSAN is publishing books about traditional medicine, bulletins, guidelines for disaster management and psychosocial trauma work, manuals for training and staff, including games, calendars and textbooks used in work in communities and schools. 

 4.  Increasing income for poor people

 One variable in improving the health of poor people is the level of economic development. LESSAN has a fundraising programme for herbal medicine in the Bio Lessan Shop, and the ingredients mostly come from local farmers from cooperation communities. 

 5.  Disaster Management Proramme 
As an organisation responsible in an area that is vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanoes, LESSAN develops Disaster Management Programmes and psychosocial support in cooperation with communities and schools in the Merapi region.

Adresse and Contact:

Jl. Kaliurang Km. 9.5 Palgading, Sinduharjo, Ngaglik, Sleman,

 tromol pos 5 Ngaglik, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Tel: 0274-8553270

 Email: lessan@indosat.net.id

 Contact: Heny Yudea