Program History

The 2001 Belize program focused on how mental health issues are related to the social issues like AIDS, domestic violence, drugs & alcohol abuse and clinical mental health programming. International Service Learning participants attended a day-long Mental Health Symposium held by the University of Belize on Wednesday, March 14,2001. Government organizations and departments, non-government organizations and the University of Belize discussed the following objectives:

(1) obtaining an overview of the mental health issues in Belize

(2) obtaining an overview of the statistics and effects these issues have on the Belizean community and

(3) delineating what programs or services were currently in place to deal with these issues.

After returning to the University of Louisville, the 2001 participants conducted their own symposium by discussing prior research in these areas and sharing knowledge gained from attending the Mental Health Symposium in Belize.

The Belize 2002 program centered around the refinement of interdisciplinary project development. Special emphasis was placed on the project of providing football (soccer) uniforms for teams in Dangriga, Independence and Gale's Point. Students from Justice Administration refined their program and initiated contacts with representatives of the National Police Force. Participants initiated community mental health projects and in-service programs for mental health workers in several regions of the country. The ISL Program began exploratory work the area of community planning and organized an interdisciplinary community-based health program for the town of Gale's Point. This project involved students from the areas of medicine, nursing, dentistry and communications.

The interdisciplinary medical program came to fruition in 2003. The Medicine and Nursing teams performed health and vision screenings, physical exams, child development screenings, and determined the prevalence of alcoholism for each individual as well as the community at large. The residents of Gales Point were treated with medications and other therapies that the team brought with them to Belize. Residents with chronic and acute illnesses that could not be treated by the team were subsequently referred to appropriate health care facilities.

The Dental team also performed health screenings, including documentation of dental and oral histories of each client. The residents of Gales Point received much-needed medicine, therapy and dental care such as restorative and surgical dental procedures and construction of temporary prosthesis (flippers).

 
Then in 2005 the program expanded to Red Bank where we continue our service.

In 2008 the program worked in both the Red Bank and Independence. The highly interdisciplinary team approach conducted community profiles in the Mayan village, provided science and bullying workshops for kids in the local schools, and provided dental care to Red Bank residents.

Additionally, participants toured the country's prison, speaking directly with staff and residents, met officials in the U.S. embassy, toured the very unique country zoo, and participated in several different community excursions

For a blog summary of the Belize 2008 program, go to blogspot.com

For a blog summary of the Belize 2009 program, go to blogspot.com