Dad's Fellowship
Practically no one knows that my dad started a fellowship a few years back. Inspired by the well run clinic of Jamkhed (outside Bombay), Dad established a foundation that sponsors one medical school-accepted candidate to defer school for a year and get their hands dirty in actual, on-site, community-based, public health.
The Mabelle Arole Fellowship
Quotes from previous fellows:
2002-2003 Fellow: Jennifer Wipperman
"Before coming to Jamkhed, I knew that as a doctor I wanted to serve people holistically, not just physically. Our health and lives are intertwined in social, economic, emotional and physical webs. As a doctor, I cannot affect one without the other, and by approaching all aspects I can more effectively and humanely serve to improve the well being of others. Before Jamkhed, these were only ideas in my head. Here, these ideas have become concrete truths that are proven in the villages, lives of the people and work of the project."
2003-2004 Fellow: Shannon Straszewski
"...I spent time in the field with the mobile health team. Here, I participated in everything from formal health clinics at our sub-center to casual discussions about health topics with villagers at the water pump in the morning. I designed a survey to examine such health indicators as leprosy and tuberculosis prevalence, infant mortality and malnutrition to measure the status of health in project villages. First, I was able to experience direct community participation, as I used the villages’ health workers to help me identify questions that villagers might not answer truthfully, re-wording them in Marathi to obtain the information we needed. While this afforded me great exposure to community participation, administering, scheduling and coordinating a survey in a different language taught me what it means to be accommodating and flexible. As we administered it, we could clearly see that people had other health concerns and often we would have to break focus from the survey and spend some time giving mini-health lessons on nutrition or family planning. Soon after the survey was underway, I discovered the severe drought was taking its toll on the children: 50 percent of them under three years of age were undernourished. Most villagers are farmers, and without a monsoon for the past four years, they have no means to feed themselves or their children. This discovery led CRHP to seek additional emergency funding from donor agencies and initiate feeding programs in the villages. "
Just thought people might be interested - pass it on and here's to dad...
Love
C
The Mabelle Arole Fellowship
Quotes from previous fellows:
2002-2003 Fellow: Jennifer Wipperman
"Before coming to Jamkhed, I knew that as a doctor I wanted to serve people holistically, not just physically. Our health and lives are intertwined in social, economic, emotional and physical webs. As a doctor, I cannot affect one without the other, and by approaching all aspects I can more effectively and humanely serve to improve the well being of others. Before Jamkhed, these were only ideas in my head. Here, these ideas have become concrete truths that are proven in the villages, lives of the people and work of the project."
2003-2004 Fellow: Shannon Straszewski
"...I spent time in the field with the mobile health team. Here, I participated in everything from formal health clinics at our sub-center to casual discussions about health topics with villagers at the water pump in the morning. I designed a survey to examine such health indicators as leprosy and tuberculosis prevalence, infant mortality and malnutrition to measure the status of health in project villages. First, I was able to experience direct community participation, as I used the villages’ health workers to help me identify questions that villagers might not answer truthfully, re-wording them in Marathi to obtain the information we needed. While this afforded me great exposure to community participation, administering, scheduling and coordinating a survey in a different language taught me what it means to be accommodating and flexible. As we administered it, we could clearly see that people had other health concerns and often we would have to break focus from the survey and spend some time giving mini-health lessons on nutrition or family planning. Soon after the survey was underway, I discovered the severe drought was taking its toll on the children: 50 percent of them under three years of age were undernourished. Most villagers are farmers, and without a monsoon for the past four years, they have no means to feed themselves or their children. This discovery led CRHP to seek additional emergency funding from donor agencies and initiate feeding programs in the villages. "
Just thought people might be interested - pass it on and here's to dad...
Love
C
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