The volunteer in diabetes education

An evaluation system needs to be developed to measure what has been achieved by the Lay Diabetes Education Programme, focusing on its impact at community level. For the 50 percent of volunteers who are from the health sector, this could be done through the structured assessment scheme of the health service. A different approach will be required for other volunteers. However, the programme is already making a positive impact, as indicated by reduced routine visits to tertiary care centres, as well as increased discussion of diabetes in public settings, such as parent-teacher meetings, church groups, and media talk shows! Volunteer diabetes educators should be armed with enough information to assist the patient in the everyday care of his/her condition and to encourage improved compliance, thus reducing the rate of development of complications. Volunteers should promote a positive outlook on diabetes, to help allay the fears of the anxious patient. They should always remember the volunteers' motto: "The greatest service that one can do is that of service to your fellow man. The greatest exercise for the heart is to reach out and help someone in need!" (AU)

Adopt-a-village missions diabetes screening and education programme in the parish of Portland, Jamaica

Adopt-A-Village Missions is an organization founded and administered in Tallahassee, Florida, to provide medical and nutritional services to impoverished villages in Haiti and Jamaica. The 'Adopt-A-Village Missions' concept is for Tallahassee-based businesses, churches, and corporations to donate time materials, and funds to sponsor regular visits by medical personnel to treat and serve villagers in specific locales. Teams of six to ten volunteers travel, at their own expense, twice yearly to Jamaica to distribute resources and provide medical services. I have volunteered over the past four years as a nutritionist and diabetic educator with the medical teams, travelling to the parish of Portland, Jamaica. Our teams have collected various data during our visits to mountain area clinics. My interest have been concentrated on diabetes screening and education. Since printed educational materials related to diabetes care and management are scarce and often nonexistent in the mountain area clinics, I have begun developing printed materials to use in teaching people in the areas how to better manage their diabetes. I would like to share my experiences as a team member with conference participants. (AU)

Growth monitoring: the role of community health volunteers

A community volunteer programme was initiated in rural Jamaica in May 1990. The main aim of the programme was to monitor the growth of children less than 36 months of age through community health volunteers (CHVs) and improve their nutritional status. At the end of the second year the programme was evaluated to determine effectiveness. The results of the evaluation indicated that almost all (95.6 percent) of the children were covered by the CHVs. In addition the participation rate was high (78.5 percent). However, only 50 percent of the children were adequately covered. Nonetheless, 81 percent of them gained adequate weight. Indeed, malnutrition levels declined by 34.5 percent. The annual cost per child per year for the total programme was fairly moderate (US$14.5) with growth monitoring accounting for nearly half (42.7). The results suggest that CHVs can play an important role in primary health care programmes in developing countries(AU)