The Role of Community Health Workers - Essay Example

EXTRACT from a transcript of an INTERVIEW exploring the role of Community Health Workers in promoting health. (Interviewer questions are printed in bold). I = interviewer; P = participant I. Firstly could you tell me about your work as a Community Health Worker? P. So my role is a Community Health Worker in the district. I have the responsibility of going out into to the community and doing many different things such as training, raising awareness and trying to improve people’s health but, ah, you know, it is so very hard these days. There are so many things which people have to face and things are hard. It is difficult. I. It is difficult you say? P. Yes, um, yes it is. I. Can you explain why it is difficult? P. It is hard to say but I am being pushed here and there, from side to side. I have to do what my bosses tell me to do but sometimes I am finding that the people out there do not want to listen, they have their own ideas and it is hard. I am like a pig stuck in the middle of everything. I want to do my job well. I want to help the people in the community but I have to also listen to the people in charge of me because they are my bosses. They say one thing, the people out there, they want something else. What can I do? Sometimes my hands are tied up. But I do try to do things to make a difference to the people out there – those ones in the rural communities in the district. There are many things which they are facing which can affect their health these days. Maybe I can help them to sort some of this out by working with them. I. What kind of things do you do? P. Yes. It’s me. There’s nobody else. I deliver training on health issues such as hygiene. I try to help people to understand how they need to wash their hands before they prepare food or something like that...the children, they can get so sick with running stomachs which is bad. Or sometimes, if there is an outbreak, then I will do something different, something about what the trouble is. If there is cholera it is not about prevention it is about action and it needs to be quick and co-ordinated. But it is difficult for some people when they do not have soap or when they have to fetch water from some other place or people are sick and cannot work in the fields. Umm, but really it’s not for me to tell people what to do. I am not their mother or their father but I can try to help them to understand how they can help themselves. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t. The old ones sometimes say ‘who is this young thing who is coming to tell us what it do when we have lived all this time?’ Hopefully you are just putting things into people’s heads and, you know, making them think that next time they will do something. Maybe if they are worried and they can speak to you if you are friendly. So yeah, it is only me that does…it can be a struggle…(fades off). I. OK, you mentioned earlier about raising awareness about health issues. Can you say more about your role in that? P. Me, I am the one who does this. I have to work with the people to find out what the problems are and then try to help them to help themselves and do something. Sometimes they don’t know about things, they just don’t know what is the right thing to do and what is not because they do not have the knowledge. There was one woman who was giving Coke to her little baby. She thought that Coke is good, it gives life and makes you happy but she did not know that it has too much high high sugar in it and she was shocked. Everyone knows different things and if you have not been told then how can you know? But some people do not want to listen and they do not want to change their ways. When you see improvements and some small changes here and there it is good. I. Anything else? P. Well, let me think now there was this one time, here is an example. I was travelling to very a far place to carry out a community needs assessment with some people that side. The district health people they had some ideas that the people needed to be taught about things like hygiene because there had been an outbreak there before. But when I got to those people and talked to them they were telling me that the pump handle on the well had broken and it could not be fixed so they were fetching water from the river some miles away. Sometimes people can be angry, they see you and they think that you can help them and you can give them money but you can’t. Me, I am not rich but I can help them sometimes, listen and show them what to do. Tell them about things they might not know about. If people want to take the lead and, you know, do things for themselves but I just point them in the right direction. A big issue is resources though…(tails off) I. So you support people? P. Yes, yes, I do, I try to do that. That is my job. But I have a lot to do and it is hard. I am spread around this place so there is only so much that I can do as one person. I. OK, I see, so what made you want to be a Community Health Worker? P. Well, it seems to have come from me personally … I want to do this. You know, it’s not just because I have been put on this. It is my choice. Maybe it’s different for other people, I couldn’t speak for them. Maybe they feel forced to do it. You might get one or two people that maybe feel that way. But I thought I could make a difference and help people in some way, help people to have better health but really some of the problems are so big and the government have to help more and there is a limit to what a small small person like me can do. Everything is connected to health, everything. Well I, I think, you know, from my view I would say once you’ve got the training, it’s about trying to support people to be more healthy. That would be to sum it up in a very, you know, small way and that’s… I had some very good training myself but putting it into practice can be hard. When you feel that you can make a difference it is worth it and it makes you happy but, on the other side, it can be hard work and frustrating giving and giving. The people make it worth it…they do. Read More