Community Health and Development
Going Where Health Care and Basic Support Services are Needed Most
Established in 1955, CMC’s Department of Community Health & Development (CHAD) program provides primary care to rural, semi-urban, and tribal communities near Vellore and serves as a training ground for medical, nursing, and allied health students.
CHAD’s philosophy is centered around caring for the underserved, a value established by CMC’s founder, Dr. Ida S. Scudder, when she set up roadside clinics to treat residents of countryside villages around Vellore in the early 1900’s. Now a 140-bedded secondary level base hospital, CHAD provides inpatient and outpatient care to thousands each year, as well as counseling and legal aid services.
CHAD Mobile Clinics
Mobile clinics now provide many of CHAD’s general health services. Doctors and nurses provide routine visits to rural villages so that thse patients are no longer required to come to a CHAD hospital or primary care facility. Most problems are dealt with first at the mobile clinic and then in the local village. When necessary, patients are advised to visit a CHAD hospital.
Clinical Research That Benefits Individuals and the Larger Community
Research has been an important aspect of CHAD’s activities. The department contributes to applied medical research in various fields of primary and secondary care health care. Each study aims at combining basic, hospital-based and community-based research to reach both individual patients and the larger community. CHAD works in close collaboration with departments like Microbiology, Virology, Biochemistry, Neurology, Cardiology, Medicine, Ophthalmology, ENT and Psychiatry.
Improving Health Outcomes in the Hills
The tribal health program has had an enormous impact on the residents of rural communities, including in the Jawadhi Hills. Three key outcomes of CHAD’s activities in the rural communities are:
- Better health for women and children
- Increased access to secondary and tertiary care
- Robust education programs for young people (who are influencing their parents and other adults to seek medical care early)
And a new initiative is underway to construct up to four “model villages” in the Jawadhi Hills that will demonstrate the benefits of improved hygiene, social and educational programs, and training for steady employment for villagers. Click here to learn more about the Jawadhi Hills Model Village Program.
Please consider making a charitable gift to the Community Health and Development Program. Click on the donate button below.
100 percent of your donation will be sent to CMC to support this new initiative!
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