What we learned from our first outreach days
Start earlier, bring more blood pressure machines, and never underestimate a village health volunteer.
We have now run outreach days in six sub-counties of Rakai District. Every one taught us something. Here are the lessons we are carrying into next year.
Start earlier
People arrive before we do. At our last three outreach days there were families waiting at 7am. We now aim to be set up by 8.
The elder bench needs more machines
Our longest queue is almost always grandparents waiting for a blood pressure check. One machine is not enough. That is why we opened a cause for four more.
Village health volunteers make the day
Every outreach day that went well had a village health team that knew their community. They choose the site, spread the word, and know who needs to be seen first.
Count everything
We now enter every person seen into a register, and send a summary to the district health office within a week. It helps them plan, and it helps us show supporters exactly what their money did.
