Yesterday we not only had a skills lab in which we learned to take a blood pressure but also a CPR/First Aid class taught by the Indian Equivalent of the American Heart Association: “If you find someone unconscious, just start compressions if you do not feel comfortable checking to see if they have a pulse.” While, on one hand, it was very interesting to see the differential in the quality of care between the two countries, I, personally, found it to be a complete waste of time as I am an EMT-B and a American Red Cross instructor for CPR/First Aid in the US. Hopefully a lot of these “activities” will end soon and we can do what we came here to do (i.e. fieldwork) rather than classroom activities where we learn technical skills that are irrelevant to our specific task (and that I already learned).
I think the hardest part of creating an intervention is how simple it must be—I think much more on a systems level. While all of my ideas have incorporated some sort of community-wide messaging that is complimented by both a school-based intervention and a women’s group-based intervention, they would prefer for us to focus on a small aspect—perhaps only targeting one group. As a result, I think our intervention will be a gender-specific (i.e. targeting men and women separately) push to get people to be more active. In other words, I think we are going to push for friends (as couples do not interact in the public sphere) to go for walks in the mornings and promote this heart-healthy behavior.
The reason for not pursuing a diet-based intervention is simple—even if you change the recipes, the ingredients are the same. Moreover, Naan/Rhoti without as much ghee or Sambar without as much salt simply does not taste as good—and there is no way to convince people that a “silent killer” such as hypertension is lethal and worth sacrificing their delectable meals that have been passed down from generation to generation into average bad-tasting “healthy” foods.
This weekend Shawn, Sonia, Eprice, Dessa, and I are going to Bangalore! It will be a nice and needed vacation! Hopefully I will get to see Joan who has been in Bangalore doing research at the Institute of Management. We are staying at a hotel with a pool, so I am super excited to be able to go swimming—after all, it IS summer! We are taking an overnight sleeper bus tonight to Bangalore, so more to come on this end!
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Currently I am on a sleeper bus heading from Thanjavur to Bangalore. They are mini beds on an air-conditioned busà So much nicer and cooler than the train we took from Chennai to Bangalore. If you ever plan on traveling in India… I highly recommend KPN travels! My field visit this afternoon was not ideal—out of a catchment area of over 1,000, the community health worker only knew 7-8 people with pre/diagnosed hypertension, none of which were available to talk. In short, for a disease that is allegedly affecting 30-40% of the population, we did not really gain much information…Oh well.
I just had the most insight and productive conversation with Sonia, however. To preface, this week has been a very hard week for me. Ironically, it was the first week I felt truly comfortable and ready to explore India. In other words we spent one week in Chennai and one week in Thanjavur, and I think that I felt like I was finally returning “home” when we got back from Pondicherry on Sunday evening. Saying that, this past week was a lot of background information and skills labs (taking blood pressures, CPR etc...) on information I had already covered in previous course and life experiences as an EMT etc… Yet, what I came to realize was that it was not reviewing the same information that upset me so much but rather the fact it took so long. When our class was supposed to be only one hour, it repeatedly went on for two and a half. All in all, a class that was on the schedule from 10-11 became a 9:15-2:00 activity (and one day which was 8:30-4:45), and I felt that my chance to explore India’s rich and vibrant culture was taken from me. I felt like I was part of a herd who was blindly shepherded from place to place without any ability to take advantage and appreciate my environment. What Sonia so kindly reminded me was that, while this week was lost, there are still 5 more weeks to go! Therefore, stop dwelling on the past and just be even more proactive in the upcoming weeks. Thanks to everyone for listening to me complain this week J
And for you readers out there: Yes, this means exciting shenanigans to come!
In other news:
Wishing Hannah a speedy and healthy recovery—you are in my thoughts and prayers!
Good luck Dad on the Marathon!
Happy belated birthday to Max and Jim!
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