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| Nayo enjoying coconut water. |
During my six weeks in Sargur, I was given the task of
creating patient education materials for a number of diseases. In order to
narrow down my project, I spoke with the education department of the hospital and
found that they were in most need of materials dealing with patients suffering
from Alcoholism and Depression. After establishing my focus, I spent a couple
of weeks researching and observing how alcoholism and depression affects people
in the context of India and more specifically amongst the village communities
that the Vivekananda Memorial Hospital serves. One important aspect of my
research included shadowing my mentor, Dr. Chaitanya-Prasad a couple of times a
week. During his rounds, I witnessed first-hand, the affects of long-term
alcohol abuse on one’s health. I used all my observations to then come up with
creative posters that would hopefully encourage patients to not engage is such
activity. I was also able to create a four-minute informational video on
Alcoholism and a few other posters advertising the hospital’s counseling
department as a source of help. In addition to my project, I went ahead and
created questionnaires for the counseling department. I was able to produce
three questionnaires that the counselors would give to patients in order to
screen them for alcoholism. Based on their results, the counselors would have
an idea how far along the patient’s addiction was and if it improved after
months of individual and family counsel.
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| Nayo and her mentor on her last day in Sargur, after her final presentation. |
I had a really great time working on this project.
Alcoholism and depression are definitely problems in the US so it was a great
opportunity to do research about it and use what I learned in India to possibly
help those here in the US. What made my entire experience an unforgettable one
were the people I met at the hospital and at SVYM. Everyone was so welcoming and
happy to answer any questions I had. Minoring in Global Health is definitely
one of the main highlights of my entire experience at Cornell. Being able to
interact with like-minded individuals who all share the desire to be
knowledgeable about global health and have a heart of service was truly
gratifying. This was the perfect start to my journey in pursing a career in
Global Health.
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| Nayo learning to cook a South Indian dish in the Sargur canteen. |
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