Kingston North Kitsap Rotarians were briefed on a Community Health-worker project in India by fellow Rotarian Mic McDaniel at their Noon meeting, Wed, Mar 29.
McDaniels, a member of Tacoma-South Rotary Club spoke to members by Zoom. He is the driving force behind a Tacoma-South/District 5020 project to train community health-workers in remote villages in India. Working in twenty villages, the project has impacted about 4,000 people who cannot travel to a city to receive medical help.
The newly-trained health-workers provide non-emergency care, instruct in hygiene and disease prevention, create and maintain health records, assist with midwifery, register live births, administer medications and vaccinations, call on patients in their village homes, refer clients to doctors, and provide a link between villagers and health care professionals in Indian cities.
They are not doctors or professional nurses, and they are not a substitute for hospitals, but the health-workers, for the first time, are providing the only health care available, and until now there has not been a single doctor or nurse within an hour's journey for twenty villages.
McDaniels concluded his presentation by requesting Kingston North Kitsap Rotary Club's support for the community health-worker project.