Volunteer Health Workers Bring Change to Communities

Lourdes Peña is an ICC health promoter in Salamanca, a close-knit community north of Santiago, Dominican Republic. International Child Care has been providing Community Health Development in this rural mountain area for the past two years. Lourdes works as a maid to help her husband, a factory worker, support their family, but also dedicates a lot of her time to volunteering for ICC to improve the health of her friends and neighbors.

On a typical day Lourdes meets with her supervisor, Fernando Peña (no relation) and reviews the growth charts of children living in Salamanca. Growth monitoring is a method ICC uses to detect developmental problems and prevent a child from becoming malnourished. Once the charts have been reviewed, Lourdes goes out into her community and reassesses the children who are not doing well.

Growth monitoring is routinely offered and recorded in Salamanca and ICC’s other urban and rural project areas. If it is discovered that a child is not growing normally, he or she is referred to a local clinic or the government nutritional unit for malnourished infants. Sometimes in extreme cases the child is also visited by the ICC doctor. Nutritional supplements and treatment are provided either by the government nutrition unit, or ICC. In addition to educating her neighbors about nutrition, Lourdes also teaches them about the importance of good sanitation practices and the impact on their health.

Lourdes is currently responsible for monitoring 35 children in her community. Community Health Promoters, like Lourdes, are very special people because they are chosen by their own communities and provide health education in addition to their jobs and family responsibilities. They are all volunteers that want to serve their community.