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CWHA
Fostering |
It is no coincidence to be from the Caribbean (Grenada) and to be an intern at an agency that adopted its name from the region. It's the "Caribbean Women's Health Association, Inc (CWHA), whose mission is to provide high quality, comprehensive and culturally appropriate health, immigration and social support to it's diverse constituency. The first time I heard of this agency was through my friend from Brooklyn College, who had completed her internship there and recommended me. The irony is that this agency has been in my community for years, however I never took the time recognize it until now.
It was my last semester at Hunter College, as an undergraduate with a
challenging major in Community Health Education. My decision to intern at CWHA was due to the fact that it would give me a broad range of practical experience. I wanted to be efficient in program development and to understand the social and economic grounds for the community's health problems, as well as, to find methods to assess the community's health Care needs, health education and I also wanted to sharpen my skills in public speaking.
I was assigned to CWHA's Brownsville Women and Infant Care Program, a new program that was launched in April of 2000. The programs' change is to combat the disparities and high incidence of Infant Mortality rate in the Brownville neighborhood of Central Brooklyn. These underserved neighborhoods have a large concentration of Caribbean immigrants. Women in the neighborhood, face formidable barriers for example immigration, culture, an
d
health insurance when attempting to get access to prenatal care,
(case management, home visits, nutritional information, health
education, advocacy, assistance applying for Medicaid, and parenting
classes etc). According, CWHA's Brownville Women and Infant Care Program provides a range of services to help these women better access prenatal care and so will support services, in order to improve birth outcomes.
At the Brownsville Center, I worked alongside a dedicated and professional team of Community Health Educators. There I had the opportunity to interact with clients. My assignments exposed me to program development, planning and marketing to reverberate what was taught to me in class. I helped to design health, messages,
materials for flyers and banners, public notices, and pamphlets. I developed a Community Resource Directory and corroborated with other community agencies for neighborhood outreach. I also worked to forge linkages with other community based organizations, elected public officials, churches, schools, day cares, etc. I also participated in conducting a focus group designed to give a better understanding of the risk factors influencing health and birth outcomes in the area. I assisted in the planning and implementing of a campaign to reduce infant deaths in Brownville.
On completion of the internship at CWHA, I became better informed about other programs that was available and the services they provided. I was capable in using the skills learned in school toward this project and hope to use them in future endeavors. I would recommend this internship to other students due to the fact that the staff yearns to aid and guide new and impressionable interns. The agency also motivates interns to enhance networking abilities and program knowledge, with the intention that it will enable us to make further contributions to our community, as well as being professionally beneficial after graduation. Overall, it was a wonderful and rewarding internship which provided me with the insight and skills to become a competent, professional Community Health Educator
To find out more information about the Caribbean Women Health Association's Internship Program, Immigration Center, Domestic Violence Program, and it's many other programs, please contact CWHA at 123 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn, New York 11226, 1-(718)-826-2942, or visit the website at www.cwha.org.