Rotary Club Grenada East and WINDREF Collaboration Assists Grenada Hospital and Surrounding Community
3H Grant WINDREF Site Visit (lt – rt) Mr. Patrick Bain, Rotary Club Grenada East Mr. Clifford Webster, Rotary International, and Trevor Noël, WINDREF.
In a collaborative effort Rotary International, Rotary Club Grenada East, Grenada’s Ministry of Health and the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF) have implemented a program designed to assist Princess Alice Hospital in Grenada’s St. Andrews Parish.
The destruction from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 left the 43 bed facility in dire need of equipment and supplies as it struggles to rebuild and assist the surrounding community.
Rotary International is a worldwide, non-partisan organization of more than 1.2 million professional and community leaders who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill. Their motto “Service Above Self” conveys the spirit of its 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.
Rotary International will help procure equipment for the women’s wing of the hospital, support community health education programs through health videos, provide specialized training to the health workers in the women’s wing, support the development of women health screening and establish an annual community health fair.
As an internationally recognized research institute, WINDREF has initiated the design and execution of the program evaluation and research. From October 2008 through January 2009, WINDREF will interpret the results from a baseline survey they created, which identifies knowledge attitudes and practice (KAP) of women in St. Andrews for the implementation of the Rotary Club Grenada East Hospital Restoration and Health Awareness Program 3H grant.
Victoria Kimotho, a Master of Public Health (MPH) student from Kenya, and one of two recipients of the African Medical and Research Foundation scholarship is the WINDREF research scientist coordinating the study as part of her practicum at St. George’s University (SGU).
The self administered questionnaire was distributed to 803 women between the ages of 15 to 64 who reside in St. Andrews Parish. As part of the capacity building perspective of the project, thirty community volunteers were trained as data collectors.
Data collectors training at Rotary Club Grenada East conference room.
Omur Cinar Elci, Tony De Grotte, Matron Jeanette Joseph, Victoria Kimotho and Trevor Noël.
The objective of the baseline survey is two-fold. It’s purpose is to identify the KAP of women of child bearing age toward access and utilization of health services available in St. Andrews Parish and to identify the KAP of women in the Parish towards selected diseases (diabetes, hypertension, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV) that affect women and their families.
The results of the study, which has been approved by the SGU Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Ministry of Health, will be available by the end of January. The findings of the study will be disseminated to all the stake holders in Grenada, the Caribbean islands and in the global arena.
Victoria Kimotho,
Research Scientist,
WINDREF.
