Counting down
to #GivingTuesday on December 2nd, we’re highlighting the CDCA’s
accomplishments over our 20 years in Nicaragua. Follow our countdown in
this blog, on Facebook and Twitter. Help us keep doing more by giving $20. Our goal is to raise $20,000.
As children we are taught
health from an early age. We learn about
parts of our bodies, inside and out. We
learn about germs and how germs are passed.
We learn about how to take care of our bodies… now, many of us don’t take
care of ourselves, but most of us know how.
Public health education in
Nicaragua is a bit different. Most poor
adults who went to school only went through 6th grade. Schools concentrate primarily on reading,
penmanship, Nicaraguan history and geography, and mathematics… very little about
anatomy or health. People are left to learn
about health in the home… not always with the most scientific information.*
In our early years Pat went
into rural communities, training health promoters who were often teenage
girls. She took doctors with her to
teach some classes. Afterwards the
promoters, with Pat, would go house to house.
After Hurricane Mitch in
1998, we moved much of our health focus to the 12,000 refugees which ate up
our time and the rural program ended… for awhile. Pat tried to get health promoters active in Nueva Vida, the resettlement
camp, but it was extremely difficult as people struggled with more pressing
crises like food, water, shelter, etc.
Our Nueva Vida clinic
started in 1999 and we had the support of 4 community organizers on our staff
to organize work projects to improve health and the clinic population… but
funding for them ran out. In 2011, we sent out a plea
for funding for a health promoter and we hired a highly gifted community organizer,
Jessenia Castillo.
With Jessenia we now have
32 lay health promoters in Nueva Vida and 5 promoters in two of the rural
communities… all adults. These promoters
meet bi-monthly to attend health classes, to
organize classes in the community, to identify people who need the clinic, and
to provide health services to the community.
Twelve of them keep first
aid kits in their home to lend emergency aid when the clinic is closed and seven
keep nebulizers in their homes for treatments to those in crisis. All participate in surveys the clinic does
periodically… such as...
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| Jessenia & promoter doing PAP survey in Nueva Vida |
We teach classes on many
and various topics: women’s health,
men’s health, children’s health, geriatric health, sexual health, nutrition,
good oral hygiene, pregnancy, labor, birth, breastfeeding, baby care and nurturing,
type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hygiene, and on and on.
We have support
groups. The first group Jessenia started was a
New Mothers group made up of women (many teens) having a baby for the first
time. They enter the group pregnant and
are given support for the first year of the baby’s life. When the baby is born the mother receives a
hand-sewn bag from women in the States who fill the bag with needed items. Most of these mothers do not have baby showers or
receive presents of any sort.
We have a support group for
mothers with toddlers… those who have “graduated” from the New Mother’s Group. They learn about child development as well as
doing some fun activities.
All our patients who
receive care for hypertension and type 2 diabetes are part of mandatory monthly
support groups and classes. The classes
are designed to inform patients about their conditions, how hypertension and
diabetes affect their bodies long-term, and how to make different life choices -
even though limited - to aid in their treatment.
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| Las Lobas teen group visiting a college for the 1st time |
Nicaragua has the highest
rate of teen pregnancies in Latin America[1]. Studies show that teen pregnancy is a
choice. Teen girls are bored, stuck in a
home where there is often abuse, and think that an older man will get them out
of their current situation. Becca and
Jessenia work with the girls and take them out of Nueva Vida to see more of
Nicaragua. They take them to talk to
successful women, to the movies, and to offer them hope.
Hope, information, and access can lead to
healthy lives.
Future Projects:
·
To
build a third building to give more room and privacy for health classes,
support groups and exercise classes… awaiting funding
·
To
revitalize a support group for parents with children with asthma… awaiting
funding
·
To
train health promoters in how to help people with nutrition issues… awaiting
funding
*What
many learn from their mothers are herbal remedies which are wonderful… easily
accessible, easily absorbed and sustainable.20 years/20 dollars: help us keep doing more by giving $20.
- Kathleen
