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KutaisiAtlanta

Kutaisi, Georgia / Atlanta, Georgia

1999-2002


Focus: Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women's Health, Maternal and Child Health



The Partners

US Partner: Grady Health System, operating under the auspices of the Fulton & Dekalb County Hospital Authority, has a long history of providing comprehensive women's services to the greater Atlanta community. It has ten strategically located community-based primary centers and two medical schools that employ staff from Emory University and Morehouse School of Medicine. Grady Health System also partners with the Georgia State University (Departments of Nursing and Management), Kaiser Permanente, Fulton County Health Department, and the Rollings School of Public Health.

NIS Partner: The primary partner institution involved is the Regional Health Care Management Department of the Imereti Region. The Department is responsible for health care delivery for the region's population, for implementation of federal and municipal health care programs initiated by the Ministry of Health and the regional administration. The Kutaisi Women's Wellness Center provides a comprehensive range of women's services to the region's population.


Partnership Objectives

Healthy Community

  • Establish Healthy Communities Program through support to the Community Advisory Board.
  • Strengthen public health education programs through mass media and education campaigns reaching 25% of the Kutaisi population.


Women's Wellness

  • Improve the health status of women of the Imereti Region through prevention, screening, early detection and public education.
  • Provide a full range of women's services through the Kutaisi Women's Wellness/Primary Care Center.
  • Support continued training and development of the WWC staff in areas such as: specialty training of physicians and nurses, primary care performance improvement, program reporting, sustainability planning, STD’s, reproductive health, and breast health screening.




Achievements

  Women's Wellness Center

  • Using local resources, partners renovated a building and opened Georgia's first Women's Wellness Center in Kutaisi in March 2000. In spring 2001, a generator and heating system were installed with partnership funding.
  • The Women’s Wellness Center received furniture, equipment, and supplies partially donated by Carelift International and partially funded through the partnership.
  • US partners provided a wide range of clinical training for their Kutaisi counterparts on topics including radiology, ultrasound techniques, cervical cancer screening, diagnostic procedures, documentation and record-keeping, and nursing care for women’s health services.
  • After training in Atlanta, a Women’s Wellness Center staff member began to offer pap smears at the WWC. This represented the first time in Georgia that a Women’s Wellness Center provided such services.
  • US partners developed and reviewed infection control procedures for the WWC. They conducted in-service training workshops and provided a translated outline of infection control procedures for the WWC staff.
  • The Kutaisi WWC was awarded a $50,000 grant through the Susan Komen Foundation for a project on promoting breast health among women in Kutaisi.

  Community Outreach

  • NIS partners established a community health council responsible for planning community health intervention strategies in the Kutaisi region.
  • In February 2002 the Kutaisi WWC implemented a four-month project in Kutaisi secondary schools on reproductive and psychiatric assessment of teenage girls. Over 2,000 teenagers took part.
  • The WWC continues to provide community classes on childbirth, prenatal health, family planning, breast self-examination, and breastfeeding.



Partnership Data

   Date of MOU Signing: Signed by the Atlanta and Kutaisi partners September, 1999.

 


Participating Institutions


 



Updated on July 25, 2003