Community Health Projects
Serving basic needs of the community
We provide multigenerational, practical education around simple healthcare, nutrition, agriculture, sanitation, and disease prevention. Initiatives such as WASH offer opportunities to connect vocational skill development with improving community health and resilience.
HiSTORY
Our Projects so far
RIC has been actively supporting local communities in Chuuk as they confront challenges related to increased sugar consumption, healthcare, and sanitation. Increased sugar intake has contributed to a surge in type 2 diabetes among the younger generation. At the same time, high opioid usage—particularly among school dropouts and non-attenders—has affected the community’s psychological well-being. Additionally, high transport costs across the Chuuk Lagoon to the main island continue to limit access to essential services.
THE UPCOMING WASH PROJECT
24-Month WASH Project
RIC proposes linking a vocational apprenticeship with WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) training across local hamlets, but in small working groups comprising three generations. This initiative will cover 8–10 hamlets over a two-year grant period. Programs like WASH aim to build skills, promote hygiene, and enhance community health and resilience through multigenerational, practical education.
2024 Health Project
Summer Community Health Program
Our team visited nine hamlets, each of which circumscribed four to five family homes in the Chuukiyenú village. They are spread out on both sides of the Philadelphia church, the school, and one easily accessible dock below the highest mountain in Chuuk, called the Ulipot. The team held health workshops at the Philadelphia Christian School.
The health project was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Dorina Fred and endorsed by Dr. Bosco Buliche, the Director of the Chuuk State Department of Public Health Services in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
2017 Health Project
Basic Healthcare and Dental Care
In 2017, two registered nurses from RIC were granted permission to offer a first aid, basic health, and nutrition training program. In mid-January, RIC hosted a dental team from Germany. Dr. Lippert sailed his yacht all the way from Germany to Foson village on Tol, where he provided two weeks of free dental treatment combined with dental health training at the school.
Relate – inspire – collaborate
How we work to improve healthcare
Island communities not only struggle with severe poverty but also with challenges such as opioid abuse, malnutrition, diabetes, premature deaths, inadequate infrastructure, and unstable family environments. As with education, simply bringing in teachers, nurses, and medicine from abroad is not enough—we must link disease prevention and health incentives to local capacities, inspire sociocultural change in behavior, and collaborate across local support networks to ensure sustainability.
Involving the Community
We involve the community in leadership by including influencers from local municipalities, chiefs, the church, and family leaders to discuss and improve healthcare.
Thus, we encouraged the sharing of local knowledge about hygiene, first aid, and traditional remedies, such as using papaya leaf tea recipes to treat colds, dressing wounds with raw papaya or coconut bark sap, preventing worms by regularly chewing bitter papaya seeds, and treating mosquito-bite infections with clean salt water and ginger-infused coconut oil.
Exercise for Good Health
In our summer school health programmes, we value physical education and exercise as a foundation for physical health.
The participants in our 2024 health outreach program loved doing the physical exercises together every morning. The exercises were designed to improve joint health, posture, and balance, prevent back pain, and enhance overall well-being.
Hygiene, Sanitation and First Aid
Practices such as wound dressing, hand-washing, and domestic hygiene reduce the amount of difficult-to-treat emergencies on the islands.
Basic first-aid knowledge helps prevent infections and speed recovery, boosting community health in an area without a dispensary and accessible medical resources.
Public Health
In collaboration with the Chuuk State Public Health Department outreach team, we have provided education on major health issues and effective prevention methods.
Sharing vaccination schedules and detecting serious diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis not only helps improve the health and resilience of the island community at home, but also of those they interact with when travelling abroad.
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Summer Community Health Program
In collaboration with the Department of Public Health in Chuuk, the 2024 summer community health[…]