Dr. Hena Holds Educational Sessions for the Community Health Care Workers
Community-based health care has always been a priority of Dr. Chris Hena’s, Medical Director of the Waterfield Primary Health Care Center (WPHCC) in Kakata, Liberia. Several years ago, she realized that she was seeing the same patients over and over again and not seeing more positive outcomes that she had expected.
There were several reasons for these poor outcomes in patients: 1) lack of general healthcare knowledge; 2) not knowing how to recognize and prevent diseases such as malaria, typhoid, worms and parasites; 2) not seeking medical treatment when showing signs of illness or infection; and 3) lack of good nutrition and basic hygiene.
Dr. Hena also saw dysfunctional families during home visits where alcoholic addiction and child abuse inhibited family members from making good decisions about seeking appropriate health care.
The Liberian civil war had also caused much trauma to the populace and devastated the infrastructure, including hospitals and healthcare centers, and interrupted education and general health maintenance.
The war interrupted general life skills and mothers had to be taught to bring their children to the clinic in clean clothes and learn how to bathe their babies. Dr. Hena praised the mothers when they followed good hygiene practices. She also has formed relationships with patients when she visits their homes. Now patients come to the Center with clean clothes and are learning to become more responsible for their own health care and for their children’s health care.
Another factor is that many Liberian people believe that illness is caused by witchcraft and seek other remedies. Dr. Hena told them that they are their own witchcraft when eating too much salt and palm oil and not taking care of themselves and their children. Babies were not receiving routine vaccinations and vitamins, and pregnant women did not know they needed prenatal care. Infant mortality is high in Liberia and many Liberians die prematurely because they will not go to the hospital.
Dr. Hena decided to organize teams of Community Health Care Workers from WPHCC and assign the teams to visit 36 communities around Kakata. She prepared her staff as to what to teach people, how to distribute worm pills and vitamins, and how to determine which disorders or injuries had to be referred to the clinic or to the hospital.
They were instructed to teach people about safe drinking water, provide soap and teach basic hygiene, as well as how to clean up their immediate surroundings. The workers were also taught how to take blood pressures and refer patients with abnormal findings to the clinic.
Patients slowly began to think about the consequences of their life choices and many patients started to choose healthier alternatives. Today, after several years of community outreach, more people are seeking medical treatment for illness or preventive care, as shown in the increase in numbers of new patients at the Center.
The Health Care Workers encourage pregnant women to go to WPHCC for prenatal and antenatal care and to schedule well-baby checkups and vaccinations. They provide prenatal vitamins on their rounds through the villages and worm pills to the children. Hence, community-based health care became a very important endeavor for the Center.
Dr. Hena praises the Community Health Care Workers who also believed in witchcraft. Now they understand the truth, because they are educated at the Center and have become the best representatives to go into the communities to educate the people. The people love them, because the community workers are very compassionate and sensitive to the needs of each community.
Community outreach is the key to interfacing with the masses and spreading the good news about health care. They workers even teach women how to make racks out of bamboo to wash their dishes to avoid washing them on the ground where the children acquire worms and parasites.
Liberia’s entire public health structure collapsed after the war and 80% of the population is illiterate even though they went to school. Community leaders began to show interest in providing better sanitation, safe water and electricity. The comeback of Liberia is one of those stories about how lives are being changed for the better; consequently, over-all health is improving.
Read about what the Community Health Care teams do and see with first-hand accounts. https://www.healthywomenliberia.org/waterfield-primary-health-care-center/
Community Workers Preparing for Field Work 
Happy Community Health Care Workers
