Fast out the gates, slow to finish. We hope this will not befall our project. After a productive first few weeks in Hubli in which much was accomplished, the past couple weeks have slowed down considerably. Sicknesses, waiting for meetings, and general fatigue and tiredness catching up to us have all contributed to the deceleration of our project’s progress. However, signs are looking up and the engines are revving back up to full speed.
Since our first blog post, we have visited 10 villages to determine which 3 villages we plan to pilot SendHealth. Visiting the various villages was a breath of fresh air from the hectic and sensory overload lifestyle of Hubli/Dharwad. We were fortunate enough to rent a vehicle and a driver; while sometimes cramped (we were able to fit 13 people in a van that should only hold 7 individuals), it was relaxing to stare off into the blue skies with patches of white clouds lazily hanging above the farmlands. The clean wind whipping our face was a welcome relief from the hot, exhaust filled air in the city.
It was an extremely difficult decision to choose only 3 villages with which to implement our project. In the end and based on a variety of criteria including but not limited to health infrastructure, historical epidemics, health-seeking behavior, and willingness to work with us, we determined that we would initially pilot our program in Bennur, Kondikoppa, and Yadwad. Each village presents its own sets of challenges and strengths, which should lead to interesting results once we initiate the program.
After choosing the villages, we were feeling good and making solid progress. Then, out of the blue, it hit us: the dreaded wall. It came out of nowhere and we ran into it running at full speed. People got sick, people were suddenly exhausted, and our project champions finally fell under the weight of all their other projects. We took the time to catch up with other work and to settle on our next steps for the remaining month in Hubli.
Picture to the left: The process flow SendHealth will be implementing in the next few weeks.
We reassessed and focused on our workplan. Our workplan has gone through many different iterations throughout the past month. For example, we worked through different possible operational flows for SendHealth, eventually finalizing on the process flow illustrated in the picture below. The process flow we are implementing conveniently allows our partner NGO, the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), to expand the model and work with the government’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) to improve existing epidemic surveillance, detection, and response systems. SendHealth has established the contacts, network, and awareness within the government to enable KHPT to use government resources, should KHPT determine it is advisable to do so after the initial pilot is implemented and adequately tested. In the process of distilling our process flow and consolidating our findings from primary and secondary research, we have been able to see how committed KHPT is to make this innovative pilot program a success. In particular, our main contact, regional manager Venkatesh Sabnis, has been a champion of our project, pushing us forward and providing constant feedback, “local” thoughts, new ideas, and valuable contacts. In addition, having a champion is an excellent luxury because working with field workers and their supervisors can be difficult with regards to scheduling meetings, honoring time commitments, and getting assistance when visiting villages. Venkatesh has brought accountability to the field workers on our behalf, thus helping to smooth the road for us.
In the process of distilling our process flow and consolidating our findings from primary and secondary research, we have been able to see how committed KHPT is to make this innovative pilot program a success. In particular, our main contact, regional manager Venkatesh Sabnis, has been a champion of our project, pushing us forward and providing constant feedback, “local” thoughts, new ideas, and valuable contacts. In addition, having a champion is an excellent luxury because working with field workers and their supervisors can be difficult with regards to scheduling meetings, honoring time commitments, and getting assistance when visiting villages. Venkatesh has brought accountability to the field workers on our behalf, thus helping to smooth the road for us.
Picture to the right: Villagers of Kondikoppa, one of three villages SendHealth is piloting its innovative program, listening to a field worker translating our questions and explanations into Kannada.
Nonetheless, we have not been able to re-visit the three villages we chose to pilot our program. The past few days has been considerably slowing down our progress. As we write this blog, we received another notice from a field supervisor canceling our scheduled visit to two of the three villages again. The village visits are crucial: not visiting them is frustrating and requires us to do other things earlier, such as ordering laptops, modems, and cell phones as well as working on training materials. We also are awaiting our physician contacts so we can confirm their buy-in and participation in the program.
With only three weeks left here in Hubli, we have a lot to do in order to be satisfied with the progress of our project. Time is creeping upon on us and we are fully cognizant that these next three weeks will fly by faster than you can say “thali.” After a bit of a forced respite, we are ready to finish strongly and sprint through the finish line. We look forward to updating everyone on our accomplishments at the end of our time here in Hubli.
Best,
SendHealth Team
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