Program Objectives

  Looking into the Future

• Workshops need better publicity.  Media appearances should begin the week prior to the workshop and always repeated the day of the workshop to ensure a good turn out.  The workshop should also be done at several different times during the day in order to accommodate people’s different schedules.  One suggestion was made to charge a small fee for those who were interested in attending the workshop.  According to the Guyanese culture, things that are free are not valued and may have resulted in smaller turnouts at the workshops.  Providing food at the workshops is also another suggestion however funding for this needs to be solicited in order for this to take place.

• After talking with Medex’s at the local health clinics, several suggestions for next year were made.  They would like to see more education on prenatal care and breastfeeding.  In addition, a suggestion that a physiotherapy student be brought down was made in order to implement a more thorough exercise schedule that could be tailored to the patient’s individual needs.  Most clinics mentioned that they have access to a television and VCR’s so bringing down video clips, etc. might be a good idea.  Clinic talks could also possibly be taped and played for the patients.  This could also be a good way to achieve sustainability for the project.

• Now that contacts have been made and clinic talks/workshops/etc have been finalized, sustainability should be the main focus of project and should begin at the very beginning of the summer.  This will ensure adequate time for recruiting and training individuals.  A task like this cannot be completed in the last month!

• Instead of having 3 groups of 3 come down for four weeks each, it might be a better idea to have 2 groups of 4 come down for six weeks each.  It is better to have four people in a group because that way the group can split up and work on multiple projects.  When there is a group of three, there is often just one person sitting around watching and he or she could be using their time better working on another project but it is unsafe for this person to go by himself or herself.  In addition, a project term of six weeks allows for more to be done and more continuity.  By being here for only four weeks, it seems like as soon as we start getting things off the ground and getting to know everyone, it is time to leave and wrap up.