On the 22nd of March, 2009, FOHA had a church outreach on Diabetes, Hypertension and stroke in the following churches at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region. The churches were Victory Assemblies of God Church, Presbyterian Church, Christ Apostolic Church, and the Roman Catholic Church. It was a very successful programme.
On the 31st March, 2009, a health education programme was again organized with the Ghana Police Ladies Association (GPOLAS)- Goaso Branch also on Diabetes, Hypertension and Stroke.
On the 1st of April 2009, a programme was again organized with the Pentecostal Pastors and Wives in Asunafo District-Goaso comprising of over hundred Pastors and wives including the area Apostle – Apostle Ampiadu. It was a programme that one could not afford to miss.
On the 5th of April, 2009, a community outreach was organized in Yamfo, a town in the Tano North Constituency of Brong Ahafo Region. We were nine team members who made it to the programme. We first of all went to their information centre to speak about the programme after which we went to the churches to educate them on Diabetes, Hypertension and Stroke. From the churches, we came to the community centre where we mounted canopies and arranged chairs for blood pressure assessment and counseling to be done. We educated the public and those around through a public address system whiles the B/P check up was ongoing after which they were counseled either on their diet, lifestyle modification or advises to report to the nearest health centre for their condition to be confirmed. It was such a successful programme to watch. Thank God we had a video coverage of that programme available. We left the town at 5:00pm on this same day. The people of the town, particularly the opinion leaders congratulated us for bringing such a programme to them without cost and requested for more.
In 2009, FOHA once again organized a health education programme with the retired Teachers’ Association Goaso Branch on Diabetes, Hypertension and Stroke. The number of the people was above sixty old men and women above the age of sixty. I think this maiden association is making a lot of impact in our society and deserves commendation. What do you think? Why don’t we support FOHA for its vision to be accomplished. Glory be to God for the great things He has done.
On the 14th of November 2009, the association also saw the need to organize a mass blood donation to fill the blood bank of the Regional Hospital, Sunyani. The programme was named Friends of Health Association, Regional Hospital in collaboration with sky FM blood donation. The theme was “the youth in blood donation, crucial partners in saving lives, donate now”. It was really a hectic programme for us because it was involving a lot of inputs particularly, finances. We had one hundred and thirty eight people donating the blood and bulk of the donors were members of FOHA from Nursing and Midwifery Training College Berekum. We were also able to capture the programme on video. As a matter of fact, I am surprised myself and it looks like a dream, the impact this young N.G.O is exerting on the society. The success of this association had never been without a challenge but in the midst of all these, the Lord has being our strength. Can you imagine marrying academic work with this kind of work? One thing that we know that at the set time, God will bring in people, companies and the Government who will be willing to tailor some of their resources to fighting a good course such as this. In the year 2009, we again put in a lot of measures to get our association recognized at the national level as an accredited N.G.O. We had to go through a lot of processes before meeting the requirement for the registration ranging from getting an accredited auditing firm who will be our auditors and many more. We have gone through all the necessary processes and I am glad to announce to you that, the association received its certificate of registration and to commence business on the 10th January, 2010 under the companies’ code 1963 with registration number G-31, 189 as a recognized N.G.O. I thought you will clap for this N.G.O for its tremendous efforts. If students have been able to champion such a course to this stage, I believe it is time individuals, companies, the media and particularly the Government come in to help this maiden N.G.O.
In September 2009, the association was launched at Ankaful Nursing Training College during our Psychiatry Affiliation programme. Eight schools were present from all over the country and after the launching, most of the schools approached us on how to have a branch in their schools. As I am speaking now, the association is striving hard to get branches in all the Nursing Training Colleges in Ghana and I hope very soon, FOHA will become an international organization. At the moment, the association is having Addis Medical Laboratory, Care Medical Laboratory, and HealthWay Diagnostic Services that is working with, all located in Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The association has over two hundred and fifty memberships comprising of nurses, Doctors, Staff nurses, Pharmacists, business men and churches.
On the 18th of July to 31st May, 2010, the association had its mega launching at Berekum. Below was the programme outline.
- 18th July, 2010 – mass health education on anaemia and the need to donate blood in twenty churches in Berekum and Sunyani and some of the churches were: C.P.I.C, Presbyterian Church, Church of Pentecost, Liberty Assemblies of God.
- 24TH July, 2010 – mass blood donation exercise at the Omanhene Park for Holy Family Hospital, Berekum and the Regional Hospital Sunyani. In all, 62 People donated the blood. Out of these, 22 pints was given to the Holy Family Hospital and 40 pints of blood given to the Regional Hospital. Out of the sixty two pints of blood donated, only nine were disqualified as unsafe by laboratory investigations and 53 pints of blood declared as safe blood.
- 30th July, 2010 – a symposium at the College’s Auditorium on the theme “making an impact, the way forward”. The speaker was Mr. Hinneh Richard, Director of Health Services for Asutifi-Kenyasi in the Brong Ahafo Region. In his speech, he said, vision is the basis for ones’ success and that vision is essential for making an impact. He again said, vision is a comprehensive sense of where you are going, how you are going to get there and what one will do after getting there. We had above one hundred and fifty students in attendance. We were also privileged to have Dr. John Tengey, a medical officer and our patron, Mr. Baba Yimbil Joseph- a tutor at the college who is also our advisor.
- 31st July, 2010 – it was the mega launching of the association and the programme was again chaired by Mr. Hinneh Richard.
The association has now got the first local branch at the Nursing and Midwifery Training College- Berekum. We give credit to God for how far He has brought FOHA. It is great to have a vision and to dream big but the real test of accomplishment is not what you thought about but what you actually did. We as would be nurses and midwives believe it is not enough to have knowledge and certificate without making an impact.