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Background: According to the World Health Organization there are currently 783 million people without access to clean water sources around the world. Since 1998, the Virginia Hospital Center Medical Brigade (VHCMB) has supported a public health service mission to provide clean water to the underserved and rural population of Honduras as well as improve public health infrastructure and provide better access to medical care and supplies for individuals across Honduras.
Program background: In past year, VHCMB delivered care to 7,458 people during its 11th annual mission to Comayagua, Honduras from October 22-29, 2011. The brigade has served a total of 67,852 patients since 1998. The annual mission provided primary care and surgical and public health support to remote villages with 88 volunteers. The team disturbed a total of 3,500 pairs of eyeglasses and completed 135 life-changing surgeries. The Remote Village Project (RVP) team, a part of VHCMB, was also on site to visit three of the water sanitation projects and two of the new locations that are breaking ground this year. The RVP held meetings with local political leaders to support this mission and with local Water Boards, members of the rural communities that oversee the water sanitation project, to assess progress and begin the new projects. The RVP also worked with the mission to provide public health training to identified public health workers through a five-day training program where outreach materials, including the book “Where There is No Doctor” and a training manual, were provided.
Evaluation Methods and Results: The VHCMB communications and public health promotions team was on site to evaluate the effectiveness of the current strategic communications program. The communications and public health promotions team developed 10 articles and a four-page internal newsletter distributed to 200 subscribers, posted 20 social media posts on Facebook and YouTube, and captured 600 still photographs and 20 video testimonials of the Primary Care Team (Adult and Pediatric Health Screenings, Eye Care, Rehabilitation, and Pharmacy Services), a Surgical Team (OB/GYN, Plastics, Eye, Urology, Anesthesiologist), a RVP team (Water and Community Health Workers), and Warehouse/Food Service/Logistics Support. As a result, the VHCMB’s Facebook page’s traffic increased from 1 or 2 Weekly Active Users on 10/1/11 to 131 Weekly Active Users on 11/1/11.
Conclusions: The communications and public health promotions team observed and gathered feedback from stakeholders through 30 interviews and observations of each of the initiatives. In addition, the team developed, designed, and deployed a 10-question survey for two weeks to 97 brigade members, receiving a 45% response rate.
Implications for research and/or practice: This case study will demonstrate how VHCMB communications efforts effectively targeted internal brigade engagement and also reached underserved populations and promoted reduction of health disparities. These efforts were implemented through engagement and strategic communication strategies and programs in Honduras that includes building coalitions, developing video testimonials, social media tactics, and public health outreach and will continue to do so as VHCMB transforms itself into truly sustainable organization.