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Nablus, Palestinian Territories, / Middle East
The First Aid and Healthy Living initiative is facilitated by a team of medically-skilled international and Palestinian volunteers who travel to villages and refugee camps to deliver basic first aid training and carry out basic medical checks. The program hopes to expand to establish a clinic run by volunteer physicians.
In addition to first aid training, lectures are given on healthy living initiatives, such as how to avoid Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure. At the end of the class, blood pressure and blood sugar screenings are offered to all participants. Medical advice is then given on an individual basis. The lectures are given in conjunction with practical first aid training, where students are taught vital medical skills, such as how to identify early signs of a stroke or heart attack, how to render first aid to a choking victim, and basic CPR techniques. Where access to emergency medical services is restricted, these basic first aid skills can save lives.
The focus of the program has thus far been to teach basic medical knowledge to women in regions where such basic education is lacking, particularly rural communities and refugee camps. The goal is for these women to become a resource in their household equipped with this basic medical information that can improve the lives of their families. This program has shown early quantitative success, for example reaching 800 students in 23 villages over a two month period.
The program targets the areas in the West Bank hit by a lack of access to medical services, such as isolated villages, which have many checkpoints and barriers between them and hospitals, as well as refugee camps suffering from overcrowding and poverty. The occupation affects all areas of daily life, including access to health care facilities and health education. The checkpoints directly restrict people's access to hospitals and clinics, while they indirectly affect the economy, driving many families into poverty, further restricting them from health care that might be expensive or facilities that require costly transportation. In addition to the physical effects of the conflict, there is a general lack of knowledge about common diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure and little knowledge of preventative health care. It is these remote populations that need medical education and services brought to their communities.
The program aims to overcome barriers and to empower Palestinians to take control of their own health by providing them with the skills and knowledge to help themselves within their community. The Project Hope team travels to these hard-hit areas to give intensive workshops and individual medical attention as well as doing basic health tests.
Evaluation of this program will consist of the follow-up visits to villages and centers where Healthy Living Initiative courses were held to speak with the participants directly after their course or workshop and more than one month after to see how the information and skills they acquired during the course has helped them in their daily lives. In addition, follow-up workshops will be held in villages who request our services for more in-depth first aid training and for review of basic skills, which need constant refreshers to be effective. The project should be complete six months after receiving funding.