Diana M., RN, and MPH Intern shares her experience developing public health projects for International HELP.

Having had the experience of being part of International HELP has been encouraging and eye opening at the same time.  Over the past few months I have been involved in creating health education materials for community care needs.  These materials will be utilized to train community healthcare workers (CHW) who will in turn enable communities to better care for themselves.  I have had the opportunity to add to the teaching material that is already in place to train CHWs.  Some of the projects that I have had the privilege of working on include creating a Spanish health questionnaire survey for Montgomery County, MD, teaching material to add to the training material includes first aid basics, Zika virus, cold/flu, and smoking cessation.

The teaching material will provide knowledge, increase confidence in what to do in case of an emergency, delay the worsening of a condition, ability to save lives, and increase awareness of preventive health.

CHWs live in the community in which they serve, frontline public health workers, they have the ability to help reduce health disparities by providing training to the local people on how to manage their own health.  CHWs share language, ethnicity and are aware of the culture they serve.  CHWs are able to provide health training and promote wellness in their community, provide assistance in accessing medical services, translate, interpret, mentor, provide social support, and can act as a liaison between health services and the community to improve their  quality of living. 

Although my role in the whole of this tremendous endeavor is small in comparison, I know that the portion I have accomplished will be able to transform individuals to better care for themselves on a daily basis, one project at a time.  This endeavor, once implemented, can transform the need for crisis care in communities to a community that cares to prevent crisis.

– Diana M., RN, MPH Intern