Winner: Kerry Traveller Health and Community Development Project

Summary

Kerry-Traveller-Health-and-Community-Development-ProjectKerry Travellers Health & Community Development Project in partnership with the Department of Community Work, Public Health Nursing & Health Promotion ran a number of Primary Health Care training programmes for Travellers in Kerry between 2002 and 2009 leading to the development of the Traveller Health Action Zone Project. The Traveller Health Action Zone Team currently comprises a Manager, Health Team Co-ordinator and Traveller Community Health Workers (TCHWs) covering the whole of Kerry. The TCHWs’ key responsibilities include identification of health needs and working in partnership with the local community, Health Service Executive (HSE) and other relevant stakeholders to plan, develop & implement health initiatives that meet the needs of the community.

Citation

This award goes to a truly wonderful initiative focussing on the health of a target group. It demonstrated what can be achieved when agencies and the affected community work together. Leading by example a number of the target group are actually full-time employed to work in their community.