Ignite: GK Build and Health Fair – Philippines (AMSA-Philippines)

Name of the activity: Ignite: GK Build and Health Fair

Country/NMO: Philippines (AMSA-Philippines)

Program: Health Systems

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Advocacy

General description:

IGNITE: Gawad Kalinga Build and Health Fair is an off-campus activity wherein ASMPH student-volunteers helped not only in the construction and painting of houses in GK Munting Pamayanan community, but also in aimed to be an integral part of their community development and empowerment, in all aspects. The GK Munting Pamayanan community is the first PWD community in Luzon and the second one across the Philippines. As such, different opportunities welcomed the volunteers to help build the community in very social, economical, medical, and educational aspects that they are in need of. Our LMO, together with other school organizations, focused all of our unique core competencies in providing health screening check-ups for the community, community education on non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and perform values education activities with the children, and the construction their houses and living conditions.

Focus area:

Health systems as a whole

Problem statement:

In the PH, the National Statistics Authority states that 1.57% of the 92.1 million population has disabilities, as of 2010. Now imagine that you’re a doctor facing one of these 1,443 PWDs. As a doctor, we get confronted not only by their medical chief complaint but also with their daily struggle that starts with him waking up to dark world he has accustomed to, or stepping out of his house as he walks on the busy crooked streets. As such, as medical practitioners, we are faced with the call to cater to these PWDs needs. As future doctors, our ultimate goal is as such: to develop a unified community of advocate-leaders who have a strong commitment in holistically empowering the community in catering to health in all its aspects.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

Our Local Member Organization (LMO) prides itself of continually focusing our manpower, time, and effort towards the people of the PWD community and their families living in GK Munting Pamayanan, Brgy Escopa III, Project 4, Quezon City, Philippines, for 2 consecutive years. In these two years, various participant volunteers from our school, the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, have grown together with the community, have shared stories with people (PWDs, community heads, and children alike), and have witnessed the community’s exponential growth during those two years.

Objectives and indicators of success:

– Create a project that caters to the needs of the community in every aspect that they are in need of:
— Empower the community through helping them build their houses by having volunteers help in constructing the houses
— Educate the families on proper sanitation, non-communicable diseases, and healthy lifestyle by having volunteers conduct educational lectures
— Provide values formation for the children of the community
— Conduct a health-screening initiative to the people of the community
– Give an avenue for student volunteers to engage themselves in an empowering and socially relevant experience
— Partner with at least 3 organizations that have core competencies that are in line with the community needs
– Strengthen the advocates and skills of student-volunteers in terms of nation-building
— Have at least 10 volunteers per visit
— Have at least 35 people from the community attend per visit

Methodology:

– Meet with Sir Justine Cruz (Head of GK Quezon City) and have an ocular visit and needs assessment on the site
– Contact partner ASMPH organizations (SurgSoc, DoCs, Eskwela) that have core competencies that are in line with community’s needs and secure their attendance of the event
– Promote, discuss, and inform community of the event
– Event Proper: Conduct 4 activities that will tackle the ultimate needs of the community
— Gawad Kalinga Build: Volunteers will help in building and painting GK houses
— Health Fair: Community members will go around the different booths/activities in the health fair: (1) Eskwela Organization Education Lecture, (2) DoCs Organization Values Formation Seminar for the Children, (3) SurgSoc Organization Health Screening

Plans for evaluation:

Our project was evaluated by conducting a processing session among the student volunteers and community officials after the event. Here, students shared their overall experience with each other and community officials. Afterwards, individual participant evaluations was conducted. We also made sure that we get feedback from community leaders.