Alumni of the Elon University program produced a film about problems with getting health care to people in India, triggering a series of events that culminated with the August grand opening of a new training center for health workers in one of India’s poorest regions.
The Izmir Training Center on the campus of the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in Jamkhed, India, features two large classrooms with the capacity of 50 students each, a residential suite with a living/dining room, and two bedrooms and two bathrooms, which can accommodate up to six trainers or international visitors.
The story of how the training center came to be started more than a year ago with Elon students in the Class of 2012 taking part in the university’s Periclean Scholars program.
The scholars made India the focus of their studies and a video they produced last year titled “Health for All” caught the attention of Turkish officials vying to host Expo 2020. Led by Jack Dodson ’12, “Health for All” was the same theme leaders in Izmir, Turkey, had identified for their city’s bid to the Bureau of International Exhibitions.
Their proposal was to let the Expo Bid Committee use footage from the film for part of a presentation last fall on their bid to the Bureau of International Expositions. To demonstrate how committed it was to “health for all,” Izmir’s bid committee then made a $100,000 donation to the Comprehensive Rural Health Project for the new health training facility and to start an endowment for sustained support of the training program.
An official opening took place Aug. 27 with the unveiling of the cornerstone and the ribbon cutting by Dr. Selim Tokmak, the Izmir Expo 2020 vice secretary general, as well as other dignitaries from the bid committee and the Comprehensive Rural Health Project. Associate Professor Martin Kamela represented Elon University at the ceremony.
“As I walk outside my room, and see the shiny white building just around the corner, I am reminded how you were interviewing for the Periclean Scholars and the nervous anticipation of the first classes. The possibilities were tantalizing,” Kamela said afterward in a letter to Periclean Scholars involved with the project. “It’s a wonderful lesson in how healthy partnerships bring people together for the greater good.”
Visit http://healthforallfilm.tumblr.com/ for more information.