Health 4 Palestine: Advancing Pediatrics & Trauma Care
Over the past month, trained & employed Health 4 Palestine Community Health Workers continued to operate serving the residents of 5 refugee camps in the West Bank. They conduct their high-touch care in situations of random military violence & detainment, as well as serving communities who have been displaced, suffered economic precarity & face trauma. Despite these difficult situations, the health workers do amazing things. Here are some highlights.
CHWs in Aida camp identified the need for more direct parent interaction on the topic of child development. They recently conducted a parent workshop that served 10 families to help them understand some core issues related to child development. Health 4 Palestine, 1for3, & KinderUSA held a public webinar on their new partnership. In it, a panel of MDs, public health & CHW practitioners discussed activities from the first 6 months & goals ahead. Finally, CHWs in Tulkarm camp have self-selected members to start a training lecture series with practitioners from Boston Children’s Hospital.
To support trauma care for healthcare workers new training & therapy sessions have started. A psychosocial meeting was held with the Aida camp clinical psychologist & the recently hired psychologist supporting the Tulkarm team. It created an important space for shared reflection, learning & alignment across Health 4 Palestine sites. The Tulkarm psychologist participated in an initial introductory meeting with the CHW team. During it, she learned more about the structure & goals of the program, the current realities facing the CHWs in their home visits & some emerging psychosocial needs. The psychologist also shared early reflections & next steps, which include prioritizing emotional containment for CHWs & establishing regular check-in spaces.
Kindergarteners + Environment
Students at Zahrat Al-Yasmeen, our kindergarten, recently did 2 special environmental activities. With their teachers the students learned how to recycle paper & use edible greens as food. In the pictures, students are working with their teachers to recycle paper & walking in nearby land that is not closed off yet by the Israeli military. For the food project, over the course of a week they planted & tended sweet mustard microgreens. Then, they harvested them & made healthy sandwiches with other ingredients. These 2 activities provide a window on the hands-on, child-focused pedagogy used by teachers at Zahrat Al-Yasmeen to engage students on the environment around them. Pretty cool.
1for3: 1 Organization - 3 Palestinian Rights.
Health
Health 4 Palestine (H4P) is our program that supports community health. In it, 26 trained community health workers (CHWs) work in 5 camps with over 700 patients. Most care focuses on treating chronic diseases & trauma.
Environment Food
Our work in food encompasses the construction & operation of three community hydroponic gardens & a number of micro growing towers. We provide training in hydroponics. Women & young people make up the core participants in our food work. Our goal is to advance Palestinian food sovereignty & support healthy lifestyles.
Environment Water
We established potable water quality monitoring programs, built two community cisterns, replaced 30 rooftop water tanks to safeguard household water supplies & trained refugees to conduct independent water testing that resulted in upgraded infrastructure improvements. We also led four delegations to build water testing labs & train testing technicians.
Education
Zahrat Al-Yasmeen kindergarten.
Since 2019, 1for3 has brought together Palestinian & US educators to support child-focused learning. Together, they build curricula, teaching methods & new offerings of student support. Opened in 2021 & located in the UN-run Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, West Bank, Zahrat Al-Yasmeen kindergarten provides a great pre-school education for 50 children from two UN-run camps.