We have run our health care worker “brigadistas” program for 13 plus years now, and it has had a significant impact on important health statistics in our area. We have now trained health care workers in the most isolated areas in our zone- the area called El Viejo North with 42,000 inhabitants. The farthest Northwest point of the country has some of the highest mortality rates. They are 4 hours by bus to the medical center, and this is their only option. Although the local hospital tries to have doctors and nurses visit these remote areas regularly, transportation is always an issue, and they are without support most of the time. The goal is to have trained workers who live in the villages to help make educated decisions on if a situation is minor or emergent.
We held classes for new health care workers during December, January and February, and now have 10 new brigadistas prepared for work in these most vulnerable areas. The brigadistas have 60 hours of intensive classes so they can better serve the needs of their communities. Usually the health care workers have been trained in, and serve in, prevention only. Our brigadistas are trained to provide more education for the villages, to help organize the villages with such needed things as emergency transport, and as triage to identify the emergencies, communicate with area health resources, and facilitate transport of those in acute need. They also have special training for emergencies and disasters, such as IV skills. It is part of our disaster preparation in our remote areas to treat as many people locally as possible to allow the hospital to care for the most critical. The one ambulance that serves the area of 42,000 people has to bring unstable patients from the outlying hospital to the regional hospital, and at times is unavailable to serve an emergency in an outlying area. A round trip to go to the most remote areas would take up to 6 hours if the ambulance was free. There is a huge need for locals to collaborate with emergency transport.
This week we had the first of our health fairs in one of the outlying villages, Rossario, about a 2 and a half hour drive from the area hospital- 5 hours roundtrip. Our new brigadista, Anna, has become an extraordinary asset for the area! She is a mother with 3 children and is nothing less than incredible. She has already found a donor who is willing to fund the building of a small village health outpost. She is helping coordinate this (with some help from us) with the health care agency of the region. She helped organize the health fair we had this week at which we had:
It was a great day of collaboration with our organization and the public health department, and a fantastic example of the fruits we can produce!
We held classes for new health care workers during December, January and February, and now have 10 new brigadistas prepared for work in these most vulnerable areas. The brigadistas have 60 hours of intensive classes so they can better serve the needs of their communities. Usually the health care workers have been trained in, and serve in, prevention only. Our brigadistas are trained to provide more education for the villages, to help organize the villages with such needed things as emergency transport, and as triage to identify the emergencies, communicate with area health resources, and facilitate transport of those in acute need. They also have special training for emergencies and disasters, such as IV skills. It is part of our disaster preparation in our remote areas to treat as many people locally as possible to allow the hospital to care for the most critical. The one ambulance that serves the area of 42,000 people has to bring unstable patients from the outlying hospital to the regional hospital, and at times is unavailable to serve an emergency in an outlying area. A round trip to go to the most remote areas would take up to 6 hours if the ambulance was free. There is a huge need for locals to collaborate with emergency transport.
This week we had the first of our health fairs in one of the outlying villages, Rossario, about a 2 and a half hour drive from the area hospital- 5 hours roundtrip. Our new brigadista, Anna, has become an extraordinary asset for the area! She is a mother with 3 children and is nothing less than incredible. She has already found a donor who is willing to fund the building of a small village health outpost. She is helping coordinate this (with some help from us) with the health care agency of the region. She helped organize the health fair we had this week at which we had:
- 136 medical consults
- 3 women for prenatal checkups
- 2 new pregnancies with complete work up
- 13 pap exams (5 of which tested positive for the new papillomavirus)
- 12 examinations of children with controls for age group
- 1 family planning visit
- 59 finger sticks to evaluate for malaria
- 3 vaccinations
- 10 sputum specimens to rule out tuberculosis (TB)
- 1 home visit of a TB patient in treatment
- 1 IV medication treatment completed by the new brigadista! (under medical supervision)
- 3 educational presentations (by our two nurses and the medical doctors). The topics were:
- Role of the brigadista in community empowerment, and need for community support, and confirmation
- Antiviolence and community responsibility- physical emotional, sexual, and strategies to reduce these in your village
- Review of signs of an emergency, and the community resources who have volunteered to be emergency transporters in an emergency (which Anna obtained!)
It was a great day of collaboration with our organization and the public health department, and a fantastic example of the fruits we can produce!