CECT© |
Emergency Care Training for Community Health Workers
Background
Community health workers (CHWs) are members of a community who are chosen by community members or organizations to provide basic health and medical care to their community. They are capable of providing preventive, promotional and rehabilitation care to these communities.
To save lives in emergencies, time is of the essence. Community health workers are more often than not the closest to hand when people are in need of first aid, triage and other essential health care, assisting in search and rescue operations and providing emergency relief items.
The Emergency Care Training for Community Health Workers program aims to train CHWs in basic life-saving skills and mass casualty incident management to build capacity within communities across Kenya. The CHWs after the course will be able to respond to medical emergencies in a timely manner before an ambulance arrives or on the way to the hospital. This will hopefully reduce the morbidity and mortality from emergencies and contribute significantly to Emergency Medical Services which are a key component of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Training
The Emergency Care Training for Community Health Workers training is delivered in the community by a team of first responders, and other qualified volunteers. The program combines didactic lectures, workshops and practical training over a period of 3 days.
The training content is all available in the CECT© handbook and includes:
- Basic First Aid: Participants practice diagnosing and treating airway obstruction, bleeding and shock by using simple triage and rapid treatment techniques.
- Accident Scene Management: Each participant is trained to deliver basic life-saving measures at the roadside using locally-available materials.
- Mass Casualty Preparedness: Materials cover actions that CHWs take before, during and after a mass casualty incident as well as an overview of Incident Command Systems (ICS).
The trainees on completion receive a certificate of completion from the foundation valid for 1 year.
Contact us
If you have any queries about the course or its relevance to your team, please contact the CECT© Team at emkf@emkfoundation.org