Bapatla

In June and July 2003, five HEAL members established a health education program at a hospital in Bapatla. This hospital, sponsored by REACH, provides free medical services. Soon after the HEAL team arrived in Bapatla, they met with Dr. Rao, the head physician of the hospital, to determine what specific health principles he felt they should address. He stressed topics such as pregnancy and motherhood, nutrition and proper sanitation, respiratory and intestinal disease, AIDS and STDs. The HEAL members developed a lesson manual to address these topics and periodically met with Dr. Rao to ensure that the manual targeted common problems within the community. Two local women named Rachel and Sudharani were hired and trained to teach these lessons in the hospital and surrounding areas. Accountability logs were designed to monitor their progress and help HEAL obtain feedback.