By Merith Basey | Director of International Operations
In recognition of World Diabetes Day on November 14th, a small, experienced AYUDA Team combined forces once again with the young leaders of AYUDA's primary partner organization in the Dominican Republic (Aprendiendo a Vivir/AAV) to put together a series of diabetes education and outreach activities in schools across the capital. All sessions started with asking students what they had heard about diabetes and whether they knew anyone in their families with the condition. More than half of students raised their hands in most of the sessions. The rest of the interactive sessions focused on 'myth-busting' a lot of preconceived ideas about diabetes, how it occurred and how it could be managed. In total more than 1000 students were reached via this pilot program. Furthermore, funds were raised for our local partner through the sale of diabetes day bracelets and T-shirts.
In addition to these sessions, the team was involved with a Media Tour discussing World Diabetes Day which included TV, Radio and newspaper appearances. These events culminated in a specially designed workshop in San Pedro de Macorís with a small local foundation called "El Hogar del Diabético". This new partnership with AAV serves as an outreach opportunity for both organizations to work closely with a broader population of people living with diabetes. AYUDA volunteers Louise Kyle and Chris Noble worked with AAV's young leaders to prepare sessions on diabetes education 101 while Diabetes Health Educator and Nurse from Barcelona, Irune Goicochea, delivered a more technical training on diabetes management to local nurses from the main public hospital in the region as well a small group of nursing students.
World Diabetes Day activities also included a hosting of an hour of a global WDD chat on issues around youth empowerment and diabetes, and the lighting in blue (the color of diabetes) of one of the main Agora shopping Mall in Santo Domingo.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
