Village Care Workers: “A village care worker is a person who helps lead family and neighbors toward better health. Often he or she has been selected by the other villages as someone who is especially able and kind. Some village health workers receive training and help from an organized program, perhaps the Ministry of Health. Others have no official position, but are simply members of the community whom people respect as healers or leaders in matters of health. Often they learn by watching, helping and studying on their own. In the larger sense. a village health workers is anyone who takes part in making his village a healthier place to live. This means almost everyone can and should be a health workers: mothers and fathers can show their children how to keep clean; farm people can work together to help their land produce more food; teachers can teach schoolchildren how to prevent and treat many common sicknesses and injuries; schoolchildren can share what they learn with their parents; shopkeepers can find out about the correct use of medicines they sell and give sensible advice and warning to buyers…; midwives can counsel parents about the importance of eating well during pregnancy, breast feeding, and family planning….health needs. But to help your village be a healthy place to live, you must also be in touch with their human needs. Your understanding and concern for people are just as important as your knowledge of medicine and sanitation. Here are some suggestions that may help you serve your people’s human needs as well as health needs:
1. Be Kind. A friendly word, a smile, a hand on the shoulder, or some other sign of caring often means more than anything else you can do. Treat others as your equals. Even when you are hurried or worried, try to remember the feelings and needs of others. Often it helps to ask yourself, “What would I do if this were a member of my own family?” Treat the sick as people. Be especially kind to those who are very sick or dying. And be kind to their families. Let them see that you care.
2. Share your knowledge. As a health workers, your first job is to teach. This means helping people learn more about how to keep from getting sick. It also means helping people learn how to recognize and manage their illnesses, including the sensible use of home remedies and common medicines. There is nothing you have learned that, if carefully explained, should be of danger to anyone. Some doctors talk about self care as if it were dangerous, perhaps because they like people to depend on their costly services. But in truth, most common health problems could be handled earlier and better by people in their own homes. Because you learn something about modern medicine does not mean you should no longer appreciate the customs and ways of healing of your people. Too often the human touch in the art of healing is lost when medical science moves in. This is too bad, because…
[3] If you can use what is best in modern medicine, together with what is best in traditional healing, the combination may be better than either one alone. In this way, you will be adding to your people’s culture, not taking away. Of course, if you see that some of the home cures or customs are harmful…you will want to do something to change this. But do so carefully, with respect for those who believe in such things. Never just tell people they are wrong. Try to help them understand WHY they should do something differently. People are slow to change their attitudes and traditions, and with good reason. They are true to what they feel is right. And this we must respect. Modern medicine does not have all the answers either. It has helped solve some problems, yet has led to other, sometimes even bigger ones. People quickly come to depend too much on modern medicine and its experts, to overuse medicines, and to forge how to care for themselves and each other. So go slow—and always keep a deep respect for your people, their traditions, and their human dignity. Help them build on the knowledge and skills they already have. No matter how great or small your knowledge and skills, you can do a good job as long as you know and work within your limits. This means…
[4] Do what you know how to do. Do not try things you have not learned about or have not had enough experience doing, if they might harm or endanger someone. But use your judgment. Often, what you decide to do or not do will depend on how far you have to go to get more expert help….Do not take unnecessary chances. But when the danger is clearly greater if you do nothing, do not be afraid to try something you feel reasonably sure will help. Know your limits—but also use your head. Always do your best to protect the sick person rather than yourself.
5. Keep Learning. Use every chance you have to learn more. Study whatever books or information you can lay your hands on that will help you be a better worker, teacher, or person. Always be ready to ask questions of doctors, sanitation officers, agriculture experts, or anyone else you can learn from. Never pass up the chance to take refresher courses or get additional training. Your first job is to teach, and unless you keep learning more, soon you will not have anything new to teach others.
6. Practice what you teach. People are more likely to pay attention to what you do than what you say. As a health worker, you want to take special care in your personal life and health, so as to set a good example for your neighbors. Before you ask people to make latrines, be sure your own family has one. Also, if you help organize a work group—for example, to dig a common garbage hole—be sure you work and sweat as hard as everyone else. A good leader does not tell people what to do. He sets the example.
7. Work for the joy of it. If you want other people to take part in improving their village and caring for their health, you must enjoy such activity yourself. If not, who will want to follow your example? Try to make the community projects fun. For example, fencing off the public water hole to keep animals away from where people take water can be hard work. But if the whole village helps do it as a work festival—perhaps with refreshments and music—the job will be done quickly and be fun. Children will work hard and enjoy it, if they can turn work into play. You may or may not be paid for your work. But never refuse to care, or care less, for someone who is poor and cannot pay. This way you will win your people’s love and respect. These are worth far more than money.” (excerpted from David Werner’s Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook, p 1-7, published by Hesperian Foundation, PO Box 1692, Palo Alto, CA 94302 USA. English editions adapted for India can be obtained from Voluntary Health Association of India, C-14 Community Centre, Safdarjung Development Area, New Delhi 110016, India.)
