Village Development

Village Health and Development (GHM Project #17-G3100) A new model village development project responding to needs identified by the community and training village health workers to promote the health and well-being of their families and communities, and prevent disease before it happens.  Goal: $8,550

The impressively named pilot program, "Preventive Health Care for a Full Life with Participation of Community Leadership," drew more than thirty representatives from nine communities in the region surrounding the village of Nahualapa, El Salvador. During an earlier series of planning meetings last year, three representatives were elected by each community to be trained through the program in first aid and CPR and serve as first responders to emergencies.

The force behind the successful initiative in community health is the Rev. Concepción Marina Angel Vanegas, pastor of Christ the Liberator Lutheran Church in Nahualapa, and also Coordinator for Health Programs of the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod.

    Pastor Concepción

Assisting her in the pilot course was Sandra Iverson, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner from the Cedar Lake Clinic in Minneapolis, MN, Jon Moe, nursing instructor at Normandale Community College, Mark Hollabaugh, also a Normandale instructor, and Linda Dahlen, a lawyer with Mn/DOT, who served as interpreter for Moe.

        Students reviewing with Sandra Iverson how to assist a choking victim

 A university-trained nurse, Pastor Concepción sees “health as an element integral to the well-being and functioning of individuals, families and whole communities in harmony with the natural environment. As each person enjoys health and maintains balance," she said, "they should also be active in maintaining and promoting it with concrete action coordinated with the larger community.”

Starting with the two-day first aid workshop, continual training will take place every two months on topics of personal and community health with an emphasis on what they and their communities together can do to achieve and foster health and prevent disease.

         Students participate in discussions about responding to emergencies

 Participants in the first course received a complete first aid kit especially designed for the event and packed by volunteers at Global Health Ministries. Monthly group meetings will be held to measure the impact of the health promoters, motivate the continuation of actions in the communities, and to hold the group together with a purpose that unites them. A June training is planned on children's health from zero to five years, height, weight development and nutrition theory and practice.

                   Village Health Worker Training at Nahualapa village hall

A distinctive feature of the initiative is its ecumenical nature and the integration of other governmental and non-government entities in providing training resources. While the program begins as an outreach ministry of a cluster of small village-based Lutheran congregations, the intent is to integrate the efforts of all institutions and residents to enhance community health.

                                                     First class to graduate

Pastor Vanegas envisions this model being replicated so that these trainings gradually reach everywhere in El Salvador where sixty congregations of the 15,000-member church are located, empowering its members to take responsibility for their own health and that of their families and communities. For more information about the program or opportunities to volunteer for short-term mission, contact GHM at 763-586-9590 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it To help finance the program’s expansion, designate donations to El Salvador Village Development, #17-G3100.