ECOLOGIA's Regional Grant-Making Program
Problem Solving for Better Health in
Summary of Year 2004 Grants
Girls at Vilnius' Special School spend their break time between lessons smoking. Only one girl out of the 50 residents does not smoke.
Goal of the project: To open a “Radio Center” in the school. During breaks girls could listen to the music, receive the news, hear about interesting topics. Girls will be involved in preparing the informational materials and selecting the music for the Radio Station, so they will not have time to smoke. (Vilnius’ Special School for problematic girls).
Life in the village of Kalnaberze is not interesting for the youth, because they don’t know how to spend their leisure time. More than 50 % of young people have problems with alcohol and smoking.
Goal of the project: To organize a sports program (tennis, valleyball, basketball) during 6 months period for the youth in order to decrease the number of those who use alcohol by 50 %. (Kedainiai region; Central Lithuania)
School children of 2nd and 3rd grades do not brush their teeth; they do not like to do it, and they don't know how to do it properly.
Goal of the project:To conduct educational program during 10 months period for 200 school children in order to teach them proper dental hygiene and prevent dental diseases for 50 % of these children. (Vilnius “Rytas” Secondary school)
There is an established self-help group for people with minor mental disorders. During their meetings group members expressed their interest in activities related to the arts, and meetings in natural surroundings: group members believe in positive impact of art and nature to their health.
Goal of the project, which combines two project ideas:To teach group members to make handicrafts from materials found in natural surroundings, so they learn these skills, to help their organization become more self-sustainable, as well as spend their time in the nature. (NGO of people with mental disorders “Let’s be together”, Vilnius)
In rural areas, pre-school children do not attend day care group because children do not find anything interesting to do in this group.
Goal of the project: Two social workers will organize a daily program for pre-school children: read books with them, play, involve in environmental activities, do physical exercises. This would help children to prepare for school, to become more interested in the world and become more healthy. (Antaliepte Secondary school, Northern Lithuania).
The majority of residents in the region of Southern Lithuania speak Polish and Russian. Informational materials about diabetes prevention, treatment and complications are available in Lithuanian language only. Those who are diabetes patients can not read informational materials because they do not clearly understand the language.
Goal of the project: To make materials available in Polish and Russian, and to organize lessons for diabetes patients, so they know how to help themselves and how to live with their illness. (Shalcininkai Hospital; Southern Lithuania).
Rural pregnant women lack knowledge about pregnancy, infant care, and childdevelopment.
Goal of the project: A nurse and a midwife will conduct a series of lectures for pregnant women and their husbands in order to increase their level of knowledge and prevent possible accidents in taking care of the babies. (Out-patient clinic of Shaukotas; Radvilishikis region, Northern Lithuania).
There is no place in the Rehabilitation department of Alytus district hospital to meet the relaxation needs of patients who can not move easily.
Goal of the project: to use free space in the hospital and adopt it to the needs of patients where they can spend their free time and move more and more easily. (Alytus Hospital; Southern Lithuania).
Relatives of disabled people who live and receive treatment at home lack knowledge about proper care about these people. Usually it causes bedsores for disabled, and makes their disability more severe.
Goal of the project: Nurses who are responsible for this region's patients will conduct lectures and practical training sessions for relatives of disabled people in order to prevent bedsores and to heal those patients who already have bedsores. (Kaunas out-patient clinic; Central Lithuania).
The majority of the girls (12 years old through 18 years old) who live in Vilnius’ Special School smoke, and have low self-esteem.
Goal of the project: To organize a program about healthy life styles for these girls during one school year, in order to reduce the number of smoking girls by 40 %. This program will involve scientific lectures, theatre performances, and a poster contest. (Vilnius Special School for problematic girls)
There are no green areas in Lietava street in the town of Jonava. Railway and car roads that are near by the apartment buildings, make this street noisy and polluted.
Goal of the project: To plant 200 trees in this area in order to reduce the noise and air pollution. (Jonava; Central Lithuania)
The quality of well water in Pakruojis region is bad: over 50 % of wells are polluted by nitrates, over 60 % are polluted microbiologically. Nitrates are toxic, and can cause serious health problems, especially for infants and young children.
Goal of the project: Three public health specialists will conduct an informational campaign in the region in order to convince people to choose different wells or different sources of water, and by that to prevent harmful results of drinking water from polluted well. (Public Health Center, Pakruojis; Northern Lithuania).
12 % of Vilkija Secondary school students have bad posture. There are three reasons for this: rapid growth of some children; conditions in the school and at home are not proper; children do not have information how to avoid this problem.
Goal of the project: To prepare and conduct a long term program about prevention of bad posture for 90 school children during one school year, in order to improve posture for at least 15 % of the students. (Vilkija Out-patient clinic , Kaunas region; Central Lithuania)