Dominican Republic, January 2009

The people of Dona Antonia are in great need of health interventions and health education since they suffer from many preventable ailments and do not have a local clinic.  With funds supported by Alumni Giving, Courtney Danielle Rackers was able to return to this small, rural community in the Dominican Republic where she served for 2 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Courtney collected follow-up data in order to determine the effectiveness of 3 years of health interventions and programs conducted in Dona Antonia. 

Dona Antonia is located in the northwest corner of the country and consists of approximately 1,000 people.  Upon arriving in Dona Antonia in 2005 as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Courtney worked with a group of 25 women who participated in health programs in the community's Women's Center.  Together they conducted interviews with the females in the community who were considered the head of the household.  After analyzing the data, Courtney developed health programs that addressed the primary health needs of the women of the community.  The programs included nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, reproductive health, breast cancer prevention, diabetes and other chronic illness education and prevention, as well as STI/HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.  Upon completing the programs, Courtney trained a group of 10 women who participated in the programs to become community health educators.  These women were able to continue the work that Courtney started in the community long after she completed her 2-year commitment.

In an effort to determine whether the overall health of the community had improved or had been impacted in any way since leaving Dona Antonia in 2007, Courtney was able to return to Dona Antonia for six days in January 2009.  There she worked with the 10 health educators to conduct follow-up interviews and she trained them on the proper methods of data collection, ways to avoid bias, ethical concerns while working with human subjects, and obtaining proper formal consent of the participants.  The results of this project helped to make a difference in the health and quality of life in the community of Dona Antonia.