Working with the Community.

VSHC has come a long way in learning to work with the community. Most recently we had a meeting with the Chairman of the Ba Provincial Council and the Roko Tui Ba. Fiji is divided into 14 provinces for iTaukei administrative purposes. The Province of Ba is the largest and we from Vuda are part of it. The purpose of our meeting was to acquaint the provincial leadership of the NCD health crisis. The meeting was a success and a week later we met with the Council advisory board. The MOH was represented by the Divisional Director of Nursing on behalf of the Divisional Medical Director. On this occasion we are seeking to develop strategies for the Ministry of Health and the Ba Provincial Council to collaborate on wellness issues. Healthy lifestyles and avoidance of health risks is a community responsibility. As a follow on from this meeting the Ba Provincial Council has invited us to address the 14 Tuis in the Province. The Tui is the traditional leader of the Vanua and held in high regard. This meeting is planned for October 3rd.
VSHC has been working with the school teachers from the 4 local schools. Together we are developing teaching aids for school teachers when they are discussing wellness with the children. The booklets have been developed using a consultative process so that the teachers have ownership of the products.
A further development has been the successful  UNDP grant application for 2 of our Community Health Workers to work with VSHC to help rehabilitate teen mums. Two other similar applications were unsuccessful. One was to address domestic violence and the other to develop strategies to assist the elderly in the community.