 |
Planned Approach to Community Health Participating in community health care and wellness education is one of the hundreds of ways in which Medical Mission Sisters around the world try to be a healing presence to those in need today. In Boynton Beach, Florida, our Sister Lorraine Ryan, who has a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing and a Master's Degree in Public Health, is active in the Planned Approach to Community Health, Inc. (P.A.T.C.H.). This program has a positive impact on the health of about 500 families in the area each year.
Sister Lorraine works with P.A.T.C.H. in conjunction with Women's Circle, Inc., which she founded and directs. While Women's Circle provides job training and education for impoverished women in the area, P.A.T.C.H. offers community health services to women, men, and families. Since one of the goals of P.A.T.C.H. is education, health fairs are offered through the year. Sister Lorraine explains, "We offer the child and youth health fair in the summer, prior to the reopening of school, to help the parents prepare the children for return to school with the required immunizations completed." Health programs on HIV/AIDS are conducted for adolescents and youth, in Creole and Spanish.
Free mammograms are provided to uninsured, low-income women of the area through P.A.T.C.H., thanks to the Boca Community Hospital personnel and van. A wellness center, managed by a nurse-practitioner, is open each Saturday morning. Also, wellness classes are held on the last Saturday of each month. "These focus on the prevalent diseases in the area, in a preventive and health promotive mode," Sister Lorraine says. In addition to health screenings, Sister Lorraine adds, "We also train neighborhood health promoters to do simple risk assessments with their friends, family, and neighbors." In September and October, the risk assessments are focusing on HIV/AIDS, with testing being done at the wellness center on Saturday, October 15th.
home
|
|
|
||||||||
