Rachel’s Global Health Experience

The health status of a town or village depends on the quality of their sanitation. In India, open defication in fields is a common practice. For young women who have entered the age of menstruation, this proves to be unhygenic and dangerous to their health.

Members of the La Crosse Rotary obtained grant funding to build a bathroom for a school in the small village of Pattamadai in south India. These bathrooms were completed in June of 2016. Handwashing training and menstrual health training were conducted at the school as a supplement to the new bathroom facilities. 

A couple members of the Rotary, myself, a nurse practioner, and a fellow graduate student will be traveling to India in January 2018 to evaluate the effectiveness of the bathroom and education at the school in Pattamadai.

The goals are to:
1. Determine if the number of absences/sicknesses at the school have declined since bathroom construction
2. Increase knowledge of menstruation among girls and their peers
3. Decrease the stigma associated with menstruation
4. Show proper handwashing techniques

Help me, help others!


The funds will be used towards:
Flight $1,300
Transportation in India $300
Accomodation in India $400