Description of Service

How do you boil down two years of Peace Corps Service into two pages?  I don't know, but Peace Corps makes you try.  Here is a snippet from my Description of Service:

Primary Activities

Jessica Corley completed training and was sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  She was assigned to he Corozal District in Northern Belize and engaged in the following projects and activities as part of the Rural Family Health Project:

• Every Wednesday, Corley hosted a Non-Communicable Disease Open House in the community center with her Community Health Worker counterpart.  Over two years, 127 individuals attended the event at least once to check their blood pressure, body mass index, and blood glucose level.  Of attendees, 27 demonstrated sustained knowledge on NCDs.  Counseling was provided in regards to diabetes and hypertension.  Topics such as diet, exercise, and staying on prescription medicine were presented by CHW and CHW trainees.
• Corley made 79 home visits along with the CHW, specifically targeting individuals that are affected by diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic illness.  The activity aimed to provide information about diet and activity level appropriate for diabetics and hypertensives.  Repeat visits were made to individuals with mobility issues or more advanced cases.
• Corley and the CHW visited eight expecting mothers or mothers of newborns at least two times each.  Topics covered at home visits included exclusive breastfeeding, nutrition, essential maternal care services, antenatal visits, when to seek immediate care, and birth plans.
• Corley hosted two community health fairs in 2016 in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.  Over 130 individuals attended. HECOPAB of Corozal presented an activity demonstrating how to make a balanced meal. Peace Corps Volunteers facilitated sessions on diabetes and hypertension. Vector control warned attendees of the dangers of mosquito-born illnesses. CHWs facilitated a discussion about breast, cervical, and ovarian cancers.
• Corley assisted public health nurses and CHW at mobile clinic by weighing and measuring children, offering additional information about infant nutrition when appropriate, and record keeping.  Topics covered at sessions included childhood illness, exclusive breastfeeding, and young child nutrition.  Between 2014 and 2016, 62 individuals were educated at the mobile clinic sessions.
• Corley co-taught health classes to 351 students between two primary schools.  Topics varied, but they included hand washing, food groups, and NCD-related topics.  Between 2014 and 2016, 178 students showed improved hand washing skills, and 52 showed improved knowledge of food groups.  Corley worked along with teachers and student teachers to develop interactive health lessons.
• Corley co-taught 98 students in physical education classes at the primary school level.  Students engaged in games and sports for approximately one hour each week.  She worked with teachers to develop PE classes that have a warm up, main activity with cardio component, and cool down.
• Along with primary school counterpart, Corley worked with a group of students to plant vegetables in a public space.  All vegetables harvested were shared between those that helped with the garden.  In all, 45 students learned about gardening, practiced technique, and harvested vegetables.  Crops included radishes, cilantro, and tomatoes.
• Corley hosted a fitness class open to any community members three times per week at the primary school.  Exercise included high-intensity cardio exercises in the afternoon with the addition of a running and walking group in the morning .  Between 2014 and 2016, 33 individuals attended.  Of those, 22 showed an increased level of physical activity.  
• Corley served as a Special Olympics coach to seven students with varying levels of disability at the primary school level along with a teacher at the school. She worked with students as they practiced leading up to regional and national events.  She accompanied them as they competed in sports including football, speed walking, short distance running, and shot-put.

Secondary Activities

• Corley worked along with counterpart, the primary school principal, to devise a safety plan that would improve security of 160 students and 10 teachers to include a fence along the campus perimeter.  She helped implement fundraising and community work days over several months for the fence construction with $5000 US budget.  
• Corley worked with counterparts from two primary schools to implement a two-fold literacy project.  She worked weekly with 18 young readers, ages 4-6, on alphabet sounds and simple word recognition.  She also worked twice per week with 17 remedial readers, ages 6-14, identified by teachers as having reading skills below grade-level.  With them, she worked on sight words, spelling, and phonics.  
• Corley worked to plan, implement, and facilitate weeklong summer camps for girls ages 10-14.  She attended four planning sessions in preparation for Camp GLOW 2016 and assisted with fundraising, lesson planning, and logistics.  At the camp, she facilitated small group activities for groups of 8-10 girls related to leadership, goal setting, and health.  She facilitated large group activities for group of 35 girls covering fitness, arts, and life skills.  
• Corley was invited to serve as Volunteer Trainer for incoming Peace Corps Trainees.  She facilitated half-day training sessions to groups of 25 individuals.  Topics included time management, how to effectively work with counterparts, and health technical subjects.
• Corley was selected as one of four counselors to serve as a member of Volunteers Serving Volunteers, a peer support network.  She participated in quarterly trainings on issues including crisis intervention, domestic violence, mental illness, mediation, and conflict management.  She fielded phone calls from fellow volunteers in crisis or predicament and offered counseling while maintaining highest level of confidentiality.
• Corley was selected as one of two volunteers to serve on the Project Advisory Committee.  She engaged in conversation with regional and national representatives of the Ministries of Health and Education as well as Peace Corps staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the Rural Family Health Project at the village level and create action plans for improvement. 

Love always, 

Jess