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The Community Research Group has evolved from the Health Perceptions Project established in 1997 by EHSSB. Their remit was to encourage local people to articulate their perceptions of their own health and the health of the local community. Two communities were identified, one in Short Strand and the other in the Lower Newtownards Road. As a result of this exercise, a group of local people from the two areas have met regularly and visited a range of projects in Derry and Belfast, in order to assess how local projects respond to health issues and observe models of good practice. The women who have emerged from this experience come from small and very confined neighbourhoods. They are conscious of a lack of community organisation and a need to draw on the enthusiasm, energy and commitment of people irrespective of age who live there. They have identified the needs of young women as a priority and ultimately wish to develop a programme, which will address those needs.
In the interim the group wishes to initiate and develop a Community Health Information Workers Project which will give information to local people about the needs of young women and the resources available in the Short Strand, Ravenhill Road and Lower Newtownards Road areas. Their interest in this programme stems from their knowledge of the Community Health Information Project in Springfield. It is based on the premise that information is power and that not knowing leads to insecurity and loss of personal confidence. It is envisaged that 8 local people will be identified as the Community Health Information Workers and will attend a training session once every fortnight. They are charged with using the information gained in the normal course of their lives. The nature and subject of the information will be the choice of the Community Health Information Workers and the Co-ordinator of the Women's Information Group will arrange the training sessions. It is intended that the Community Health Information Workers will represent an age difference and life experience, which will encourage personal confidence and new relationships. This group will form the basis of support for a major new young women's project. Training sessions will be held once a fortnight. These sessions will be held in the offices of Making Belfast Work, Woodstock Road, Belfast. Community Health Information Workers will receive approximately £25 expenses. This group, which only started in 1999, has been a great success with the participants bringing relevant information gathered from voluntary and statutory agencies back to the community in which they live and work. The project is supported by South and East Belfast Trust and Department for Social Development. The group meets on fortnightly basis gathering information on topics selected by the group for discussion some of which were Childcare, Information on the Internet, Rape and Incest, Planned Kinlough Visit to Belfast, Breast and Cervical Cancer, Educational Play, Laws on Abortion, Men’s Health etc. During the visit of the Kinlough women to Belfast they visited projects in East Belfast including Carew II and aYoung People’s project and both got together socially in the evenings.
PROGRESS UPDATE 2002/3
The participants from the Short Strand left because of the trouble coming up to the 12th July 2002 and the worry they had of going out of their own area. We started the project again after the summer holidays using our premises in Mount Charles as a neutral venue and recruited both old and new members as participants. I am glad to say this group has bonded well with the new women from Short Strand, Moya and Mary, participating fully in the group and also performed at International Women’s Day and during the visit to the Cross-Border Women’s Network in Kinlough. Sharon Kenny – is a volunteer with the Bridge Community Centre and works with the Ravenhill Women’s Group. Gloria Patterson – works in a nursing home and finds the information gathered useful in her work. Jackie Upton – works in Gae Lairn aimed at Prisoners Aid. She volunteers in the Ballymac Centre with the After Schools Project and the Pensioners group. Elizabeth Gray – a worker for Gael Lairn who visits the homes within the community, and passes the information to family and residents within the Newtownards Road area. We are delighted to have Elizabeth with the project again because of the work of Gael Lairn with ex-prisoners and community. Moya O’Hara – works with different groups in the Short Strand area and is part of a community theatre. Mary O’Connor – Works in the school and does voluntary work in the community and is part of the community theatre. Jenny Stewart – does voluntary work in the community centre in Ballarat Street and works closely with the women who come into the centre. Heather McMurray – does voluntary work in the Carew II centre so works closely with the women who come into the centre and those living in the Newtownards Road area. She left at the end of January due to ill health. Sharon Kenny – works voluntarily in the Bridge and Ballarat Centres and comes in contact with a lot of women from the lower Ravenhill Road area. Gloria Patterson – volunteer with the Bridge Centre on the Ravenhill road. She passes the information to members of the group and the public using the centre. Julienne Thompson and Lisa Jueno joined the group for a short period but didn’t stay. Eileen Skates left the group. During the summer period 03 the group is endeavoring to build its membership to the target number of 10. This was short due to some members leaving and Women’s Information Group being short staffed and unable to recruit. All participants will receive an Evaluation and Commitment form with their June expenses.
September 02 – Introduction & Topic selection October 02 – Parenting Techniques November 02 - Education Changes Disability Living Allowance December - Plan Week-end Residential Christmas Party January 03- Week-end Residential February 03 – Parenting Dealing with Debt March 03 – Learn Direct Metamorphous April 03 – Kibosha - Making health drink Credit Card Users May 03 – Funding Aids – Zimbabwe Women June 03 – Child Accident Prevention Summer break outing The above topics were selected by participants because they would be of interest to themselves and be of help to residents of the areas in which they live.
This present group of seven are working well together and participated in an exchange with women from the border towns of Sligo and Donegal visiting women’s projects in local areas. They stayed in Kinlough, just outside Bundoran. They then planned the programme for the 11 women from Cross Border Women’s Network visiting projects in East Belfast who came up for welcoming the a week-end exchange
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