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Predisan nurse Frank Lopez leaves the final health worker training session in the
Santa Rita community, along with local residents.
FIRST YOU MUST FIND THEM:
Reaching the Poorest of the Poor
A two-year pilot program in Santa Rita barrio trains local leaders - from
a patriarch to
a bright teenager - to identify the sick and refer them for medical care.
Santa Rita perches on a bluff outside Catacamas, and reaching it requires travel up a steep and severely rutted road and over a partially washed-out bridge. The barrio is desperately poor, and has few resources and fewer opportunities.
Yet, twice a week for the past two years, Predisan nurses and staff have traveled to Santa Rita, and met in a humble local church to provide community leaders 400 hours of training in healthcare and in identifying community members needing medical attention. The training group ranged from the elderly community patriarch who never missed a weekly session to a bright and handsome young man who wants to expand his knowledge and his world.
In early November, at the last meeting of the group, about 10 Santa Rita residents concluded their training under Predisan nurses Frank Lopez and Yeni Gonzales. First, Frank instructed the patriarch in a final lesson in giving a vitamin injection to another class member.
Then, class members each thanked Predisan for their preparation. Longtime Predisan driver Don Gil sang Christian songs, and chaplain Bernardo Cobos led the group in worship and prayer. It was a great moment of holistic ministry for the body and soul.
The training is already bearing fruit, says Martha Rivera, Predisan executive director. Class members are referring local residents to the Good Samaritan Clinic, and clinic staff members say the Santa Rita leaders are discriminating well between those truly needing clinic care and those with minor ills. Similar training in other communities is planned for 2009.
Below, Frank Lopez, Predisan nurse, instructs the local patriarch of Santa Rita in administering an injection. Bernardo Cobos, Predisan chaplain, observes.
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