Casa Colibrí Trains 50 Village Health Promoters
Jan 25, 2011 by L. Eastman
Village Health Promoter practices suturing.
During the week of November 6-14, team members from Casa Colibrí traveled to Barillas, Huehuetenango, Guatemala to train 50 village health promoters. The training was an international project sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Rochester and Midland, Michigan in cooperation with the Barillas Rotary Club. Topics included emergency preparation, improving health in the community, illness prevention, importance of immunizations, treatment of diarrhea, oral hygiene, measuring vital signs, wound care and suturing, diagnosis and treatment of common skin problems, newborn evaluation, and neonatal resuscitation. Each participant was given a backpack full of useful equipment and supplies, and they were very eager to practice their newly acquired skills. There are 98,000 people who live in the rural areas surrounding Barillas and only 8 doctors who serve the population. Those few doctors work in the city of Barillas, so the villagers have very little access to medical care of any kind. Village Health Promoters work tirelessly to improve health in their communities, and Casa Colibrí is honored to partner with them in this way.
Tagged: nonprofit, not for profit, village health promoter, medical training, medical volunteer, dental volunteer, volunteer organizations, guatemala