Community Assessment Survey

The University of North Carolina -Wilmington students have arrived in Peru and the real work for the survey project is about to begin.

On Monday night we conducted a three hour orientation and mock-survey practice session (very similar to the one we put together for the interpreters on Saturday). The 27 nursing students, faculty and distinguished dean of nursing were enthusiastic and ready to learn. One of the real joys of the work that we do is getting to create meaningful programs and projects with smart, young, eager health care professionals. Their excitement to fully immerse themselves in this new world of Peru is contagious.

For many of the students, this is their first trip outside of the United States. They are wide eyed and ready to catch the day by the tail. Good – because we have plenty of work in store for them. The actual survey collection will not begin until Wednesday. We have decided to conduct a convenience sampling survey and set-up data collection in football pitches or open spaces in 9 different areas in the Alto Cayma community.

Some of our data collection will be in locales close to the mission clinic and the social service operations of the church, while other data samples will be collected from newer “invasion” areas with little to no access to utilities – let alone healthcare or social services.

The primary goal of the survey is to assess healthcare utilization patterns as well as objective and subjective barriers to healthcare in a series. More specifically, the survey will gain information regarding perceived access to healthcare, awareness of area clinics and charity care resources, emergency department use, and perception of their own health, including medical, dental and mental health issues. The survey will also evaluate participants’ feelings on the medical care and treatment they are provided.

In gathering this information HBI and our collaborator the University of North Carolina Wilmington, hope to better understand the behaviors of the people living in the communities of Alto Cayma. We recognize that the data sets generated from this research project are not generalizable to broader peri-urban populations – and we feel confidant that this project is a paramount venture into creating more sound scientific examination of the lives of the people living in extreme poverty in Latin America.