NEW PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM FULFILLS A MEDICAL STUDENT'S LIFE-LONG DREAM OF CHANGING HIS COMMUNITY
POSTED ON Feb 21, 2012
Charinson has always dreamed of bringing his community out of the cycle of disease and poverty through education and accessible health care. The WASH program will give him the chance to do just that.
The communities COTN serves have limited access to clean water, and little knowledge of the benefits and importance of clean drinking water for their children.
Community health clubs, formed through the WASH program, will educate members on the importance of clean water, basic hygiene, and sanitation.
COTN Sustainable Development Director Peter Drennan believes the WASH program will build a new life for the parents and children in the communities COTN serves—“a life where less of their children get sick and more can thrive.”
One of the most impoverished children from the Dominican batey of Algodon, Charinson has always dreamed of bringing his community out of the cycle of disease and poverty. This year Charinson's chance to serve and to change his community has arrived. Children of the Nations (COTN) is launching a program in partnership with the University of Texas’ Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics that aims to address the problems that Charinson has always dreamed of solving.
The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program uses leaders in the community to create community health clubs and educate members about basic hygiene and sanitation practices. While the project will be overseen and monitored by the University of Texas, community members will lead all the groundwork. Each health club facilitator will be a trained volunteer, and Charinson will fill the important paid position of Field Officer, overseeing and guiding the health clubs. Since this is a part-time job, Charinson will spend the rest of his time working in the COTN clinic, thanks to generous partners who are providing his salary.
This role is not only directly in line with Charinson's lifetime goals, he is also uniquely situated to serve in this capacity. While he was in medical school, Charinson would sometimes volunteer in COTN's clinic. COTN–International Dominican Republic Liaison Debbie Moutier says Charinson's presence at the clinic radically changed its effect on the community. "Our nurses at the clinic are not from the communities we serve, so the people don't always trust them," she explains. "But everybody in Algodón knows Charinson, and they all have a deep respect and trust of him. This respect allowed the clinic to go much deeper into the community than ever before."
The community of Algodón respects Charinson because they all know the destitute situation he came from. Even though his life today looks very different from a typical member of his community—Charinson is the first from Algodón to ever attend college, and today he has a medical degree—they know he is one of them. Everyone from Algodón remembers little eight-year-old Charinson, too poor to attend school, showing up every day anyway and sitting outside the one-room lean-to that served as a school in his community, to absorb as much information as he could. Charinson finally got the chance to attend school at the age of fourteen—COTN started a Village Partnership Program in Algodón, and COTN partners built a school and began sponsoring the education and physical needs of the poorest children in the village. Charinson was one of those children. His sponsors, and generous partners, saw Charinson all the way through high school, to college, and through medical school.
Charinson's heart was always for his community, and his years studying in the city of San Pedro didn't change that. He came back from medical school determined to use his degree to change his community. "The best way to help my community is to improve health quality by performing operations and giving informational talks," he says. Charinson is saddened by the lack of basic health knowledge in his community, and the rampant spread of preventable diseases this causes.
The WASH program will train community leaders in all five of the communities COTN serves, aiming to spread knowledge about basic hygiene and disease prevention through clubs that these leaders will facilitate. The WASH program relies on the respect and cooperation of the community to bring about long-term change, led by the community members themselves. There is no better person to spearhead this change than Charinson, who clearly holds the respect and attention of his peers, and even elders. Both COTN and the University of Texas have high hopes for the sustainable change WASH will bring about. COTN–International Sustainable Development Director Peter Drennan predicts change in the very fiber of day-to-day life in the communities, helping them build "a life where less of their children get sick and more can thrive." And the sustainable, community-led nature of the program will "propel their communities forward into further transformation."
The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program uses leaders in the community to create community health clubs and educate members about basic hygiene and sanitation practices. While the project will be overseen and monitored by the University of Texas, community members will lead all the groundwork. Each health club facilitator will be a trained volunteer, and Charinson will fill the important paid position of Field Officer, overseeing and guiding the health clubs. Since this is a part-time job, Charinson will spend the rest of his time working in the COTN clinic, thanks to generous partners who are providing his salary.
This role is not only directly in line with Charinson's lifetime goals, he is also uniquely situated to serve in this capacity. While he was in medical school, Charinson would sometimes volunteer in COTN's clinic. COTN–International Dominican Republic Liaison Debbie Moutier says Charinson's presence at the clinic radically changed its effect on the community. "Our nurses at the clinic are not from the communities we serve, so the people don't always trust them," she explains. "But everybody in Algodón knows Charinson, and they all have a deep respect and trust of him. This respect allowed the clinic to go much deeper into the community than ever before."
The community of Algodón respects Charinson because they all know the destitute situation he came from. Even though his life today looks very different from a typical member of his community—Charinson is the first from Algodón to ever attend college, and today he has a medical degree—they know he is one of them. Everyone from Algodón remembers little eight-year-old Charinson, too poor to attend school, showing up every day anyway and sitting outside the one-room lean-to that served as a school in his community, to absorb as much information as he could. Charinson finally got the chance to attend school at the age of fourteen—COTN started a Village Partnership Program in Algodón, and COTN partners built a school and began sponsoring the education and physical needs of the poorest children in the village. Charinson was one of those children. His sponsors, and generous partners, saw Charinson all the way through high school, to college, and through medical school.
Charinson's heart was always for his community, and his years studying in the city of San Pedro didn't change that. He came back from medical school determined to use his degree to change his community. "The best way to help my community is to improve health quality by performing operations and giving informational talks," he says. Charinson is saddened by the lack of basic health knowledge in his community, and the rampant spread of preventable diseases this causes.
The WASH program will train community leaders in all five of the communities COTN serves, aiming to spread knowledge about basic hygiene and disease prevention through clubs that these leaders will facilitate. The WASH program relies on the respect and cooperation of the community to bring about long-term change, led by the community members themselves. There is no better person to spearhead this change than Charinson, who clearly holds the respect and attention of his peers, and even elders. Both COTN and the University of Texas have high hopes for the sustainable change WASH will bring about. COTN–International Sustainable Development Director Peter Drennan predicts change in the very fiber of day-to-day life in the communities, helping them build "a life where less of their children get sick and more can thrive." And the sustainable, community-led nature of the program will "propel their communities forward into further transformation."
The WASH program, though mostly funded by the University of Texas, will rely on funding from our partners for a few things, like Charinson's salary and training expenses. Partner with us today to bring about long-term change in these impoverished communities.
by Cassia Burke, COTN–USA Staff Writer
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