This programme was sponsored by Tatil, as the organization had initially prepared for it’s launch two years ago. A volunteer manual/ handbook was created and used for the orientation sessions. This manual consisted of the background information about the organization, volunteer guidelines, activities and incentives and basic information about diabetes, its causes, care, and complications. Volunteers were also given an identification card, with the ‘Level 1 Trainee’ badge attached to it upon their successful completion of the basic training and orientation session.
They were shown how to perform blood glucose and blood pressure testing, after which persons were broken up into smaller groups, headed by supervisors, to practice on their colleagues. Afterwards, participants were required to complete a short assessment based on what was taught during the orientation session. All persons passed, scoring 75% and above.
The 1st batch of volunteers twenty-five (25 persons) were trained at The Diabetes Association of Trinidad and Tobago Head Office, in Chaguanas on 25th June 2022. The 2nd batch of volunteers seventy-five (75 persons) were trained at the YTEPP Head Office on 23rd July 2022, as a bigger space was required to train this number of persons. Twenty-four (24) persons from Tobago were trained on August 11th 2022 at the Bon Accord Senior Activity Centre, thanks to our Tobago Branch who graciously accommodated us.
Volunteers were beginning to be dispatched approximately 1 week after training on the field, at various outreaches all over the country. Branch members assisted by overseeing volunteers and guiding them as they put what was learnt into practice from the training sessions. Each volunteer was given a t-shirt at their 1st outreach and the hours they volunteered for was recorded via the Volunteer Management Tool App, GoLive! This application allows volunteers to track their progress, view shifts, check in and out of shift as well as receive real time messages and alerts.
The Diabetes Association of Trinidad and Tobago thanks Tatil for sponsoring this much needed volunteer programme. We are happy to have inducted more than 100 persons into the programme and hope to train more persons in the upcoming future.