Heart to Heart

The ICHA Blog

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A Meeting of the Minds by Vincent Lok on June 9, 2010 | 10 comments

With the support of the KEEA district, ICHA held its very first Heart Health Workshop.  In attendance were 40 teachers, members of the district department of education, staff from the Elmina Urban Health Centre, a doctor from Kumasi, and champions for youth development in the community; essentially some of the greatest minds from the community that are willing to take the first steps of preventing heart disease in Elmina.

 

 

This workshop started well before the outreach.  Much of it could not be possible without the coordination, assistance, and vision of Wilfred, the public relation officer at KEEA district, and his staff.  The material (which was well received) came from many hours and revisions by a dedicated team within ICHA.  And our three talented speakers sacrificed time from their busy schedule to come together and deliver a united message about 1) the importance of understanding heart disease; 2) how to prevent heart disease; and 3) why teachers are at the frontline of spreading this knowledge.  For all of this, ICHA is immensely appreciative for everyone's efforts.

 

 

What has amazed me though, is the level of commitment, interest, and dedication from the teachers throughout the outreach.  At times, I feel that we are all on the same page; what the teachers want are the same as ICHA's wishes.  The three public secondary schools - Komenda, Edinaman, and Eguafo-Abrem - all welcomed us on to their facilities for a number of events.  But it was the teachers that sat through and gave us feedback on our surveys, provided us insight on how to reach out to the students and enable them as ambassadors, and made the workshop a success with their presence and participation in discussion.

 

 

The teachers have not shown hesitation to express their opinions and ideas.  They tell us when students might not understand this or suggest a better way to engage the class.  But through and through, they tell us how necessary our program and organization is.  The teachers are hungry for more - more material, more visuals, more activities, and more time with ICHA.  And we think this is partially because they know their students are equally as hungry and enthusiastic for more.

 

 

So this Heart Health Workshop marked another milestone for ICHA.  We have trained the teachers.  They will share the information with students.  And hopefully the message continues to spread, leading us to new ideas.  A few great minds will turn into many - and this is how the community can keep Elmina safe from heart disease now and in years to come.

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Fortune and Cookies by Vincent Lok on May 10, 2010 | 1 comment

“You will step on the soil of many countries.”  These are the things I keep in my wallet – a collection of ambiguous messages printed neatly on a 6 x 1 cm piece of paper (yes, I measured…).  In 99.8% of the cases, these messages never resonate much farther than an after-thought; cleared and disposed of with the dirty dishes.  But for some reason, I knew this one was a winner; and it is the opportunity (and through lots of hard work) that I have been afforded through ICHA to do just this.

 

This is outreach #2.  The expectations unbeknownst to Lyza and me, but we can imagine.  Since the inaugural outreach, the team has been conceptualizing, arguing, and printing out a series of educational material for cardiovascular disease and health.  The message is clear; audience interpretation and reception…not so sure.  However, this is the fun part for me – to develop a concept and message, and then observe and listen.  By working with the community of Elmina, I hope over time they can better utilize our message to raise awareness and prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Since I’ve never blogged before (hi world), I’m going to take up this space to thank the team (they know who they are) and my family/friends for their support.  I’ve got a long list of things to accomplish – some personal, some for ICHA, and one about cookies (but more about that later…).