Celebrating Christmas and NewYears in 85 degree really humid weather is weird and doesnt really feel like the holidays at all and more than ever I am looking forward to my next Christmas, finally back at home with my family. This year I was in the the town of Vila for Christmas and did manage to get together with some Peace Corps family to try to bring a little bit of the holiday season to the islands. We managed to find a house with an oven to make some Christmas cookies and one night snuck out with a bush knife, cut some branches off what looked like somewhat of a pine tree and managed to tie them together with dental floss to make the following awesome tree. Consider this you receiving an official Peace Corps Christmas card.
Anyway, I am not writing today just to wish you all Happy Holidays but also to ask for money.. of course, what else are the holidays for? I know I may not have talked too much about the actual facility I am assigned to work at, Vaemali Health Center, and if I did it was probably in bewilderment of what to do there. Most Peace Corps Health Volunteers in Vanuatu work at Aid Posts, which are considered the first line of care on the islands, distributing things like bandages and basic medications from a Village Health Worker who has maybe had about a month of training. Next come dispensaries which have a trained nurse and can perform health services at a little bit higher level, then health centers, before reaching the level of a hospital, of which there are only five in the entire country.
From the beginning I have been kind of overwhelmed with what to do with my health center. The main thing we need is a new nurse. There are two there who are both over the age of 60 and have retired many times, with the government continually renewing their contracts due to a shortage of nurses all over Vanuatu. One of them has fallen ill and has had to move to Vila with his wife, the midwife of the health center leaving just a nurse and two nurse aids to field all the major health needs of the island of about 4000 people. We have complained and requested a new nurse from the government over and over again but there is always some excuse, often having to do with a lack of funds.
One of many repercussions of this is that the Health Center has fallen into a state of disrepair. There is a woman hired to clean the facility but anything beyond basic brooming, dusting and mopping has been completely neglected. If it were available, I am sure tens of thousands could be spent not just fixing up the place but replacing beds, tables and equipment that is so outdated I would be surprised if it was brought with the missionaries who founded the place in 1958.
To rank priorities and try to get a handle on what is actually in my capacity to help the facility and its employees, I held a small workshop with the health center staff and use the PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action) tools Peace Corps promotes for community involvement in projects. The idea is that the volunteer only facilitates the ideas of the community members and helps them to create an action plan. In this way, the project is not dominated by the volunteer and there is community ownership in the project, resulting in better chances of sustainability after the volunteer.
In the workshop, everyone made a map of the facility and pointed out areas that they disliked or that they thought needed improvement. These mainly surrounded the labor and maternity ward, the toilets, certain unused areas, and the place where records are kept. Many sanitation issues were discussed as well as the need for an area for the many different needs of women (family planning, antenatal check-ups, and the weighing of babies post delivery) and a lack of respect patrons are showing the facility due to its already deteriorated state. As a result of this, I have decided to use the opportunity to ask for donations through a Peace Corps Partnership to address the needs they have identified and help try to get the health center in a better working condition.
At the website below you can help us by donating any amount to the renovation project which will build three improved toilets, create more sanitary conditions for delivery, help us to develop this area for womens health, replace screens that are broken and allow the entrance of rats and cockroaches, purchase three filing cabinets for improved record keeping, and purchase paint to improve overall appearance.
We appreciate donations of any amount to help us reach our financial goal before we can begin the upgrades!
Here are some pictures of the health center in its current state
Where babies are delivered
One building from the outside
The main building fromt the outside
a patient bed
Our nurse Marta at the desk where all inpatients are seen
Even though this is really only making a small dent in what needs to be done, it will help the community initiate the beginning of a transformation, learn to manage and execute small projects and motivate them to do more for the health center in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment