Training has begun!

This picture is from our first training session. All the people were eager to discuss the greatest health problems in their community and to begin learning how to address them.

As of October, we have officially started training Community Health Workers for our Domestic Project! In order to reach the Hispanic community in Montgomery County, MD, we are partnering with a local Hispanic church in Gaithersburg, MD. After several weeks of research, assessments, focus groups, interviews, and surveys, we have identified the major health problems in the community and have created a plan to address these preventable diseases.

So far, we have had tremendous interest and involvement from the church and community! We’re in the process of a 7-week training with weekly sessions that will certify the CHW’s. We will have a big Health Fair Day mid-December that will double as a graduation ceremony for the CHWs and a health education outreach for the community.

Currently, we are training ~25 people from the church to be Community Health Workers (CHWs) — how to take blood pressure and temperature; how to prevent infections; what to do for nutrition-related disease like diabetes and heart disease; basic first aid and CPR; etc… These CHWs are also going to be trained on connecting the people in their community to services (i.e. what does a mom who doesn’t speak English do when her 5 year old son who is an American citizen is sick?). By equipping these people to be health leaders in their community, we are helping the community take control of their own health in a cost-effective way that is not demeaning but empowering.

More updates to come!