A basic health skills training (BHST) for community health workers (CHWs) of Purok Tambis, Umapad, Mandaue City was conducted last August 4. 5. 6, 12 and 13. A total of 28 CHWs attended the training. The training was held in a chapel in the area.
The training is in line with the ongoing project of the VPHCS, “Building community-based health programs to promote health and prevent disease in urban poor communities in Cebu” supported by the Committee of German Doctors for Developing Countries.
The same topics, content and methodology of the previous trainings for CHWs of Cordova and San Roque conducted last July were given in the training. They included the following, namely: (1) local health situation and social determinants of health, (2) theory and practice of community-based health programs (CBHPs) and primary health care, (3) vital signs, that is blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, weight, and temperature, (4) control of acute respiratory tract infection, (5) home remedies for common ailments including water therapy, ventusa, herbal medicine, and acupressure, (6) environmental sanitation, (7) nutrition, (8) immunization, (9) hypertension, (10) tuberculosis and (11) safe motherhood and family planning.
Role playing was conducted on the last day wherein the participants acted the roles of CHWs and patients and lecturers giving health education in order to apply the knowledge and skills that they learned during the four days of training.
After the practicum, the participants made plans on how they would apply their knowledge and skills learned in the following ways, namely: (1) during the German Doctors rolling clinic every other Thursday wherein they would get the patients’ records and take the vital signs of the patients, (2) do home visitations to check up patients using home remedies such as ventusa, herbal medicine, water therapy and acupressure, (3) identify and monitor hypertensive patients,, (4) organize health education classes and herbal medicine cooking, and (5) other services that may arise which they are capable of with the assistance of the project staff. They would write down their services in notebooks provided to them.
At the end of the five-day training, an evaluation was conducted, wherein the CHWs expressed that they found all topics relevant to their health situation. They suggested to be taught about diabetes, urinary tract infection and other common adult diseases, as well as common children’s diseases.
