The HEAL Project (Health Education and Adult Literacy) was developed as a way to introduce Health Education curricula and materials into the ABE and ESL classroom. Funded by National Organizations Strategies for Early Detection and Control of Breast and Cervical Cancer, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control through a grant to World Education in Boston, the Project was field tested in five New England states.
In the fall of 1995, California's State Literacy Resource Center (SLRC) was approached and asked if they would like to participate in the HEAL Project. With a small grant provided by World Education, a group of 12 teachers and administrators from adult schools, library literacy programs and community-based organizations were trained December 1995 in Pleasant Hill, CA. The grant also provided a complete kit of materials (accessible through the SLRC Regional Center in Sacramento). SLRC used its own funds to purchase smaller core kits for each of the trainees to use in their programs.
A recent follow-up to the initial training was held in July 1996. The purpose of the meeting was to determine what people were doing with the materials, what successes they were having, what challenges they had met, and what they needed to succeed in the future.
One outcome of the meeting was a discussion of each trainee's experience with the materials in a classroom or with other teachers or tutors. Many interesting stories were related but one stood out as so moving and motivating that Wanda Pruitt (a teacher at Berkeley Adult School) was asked to write it down so that others could share in her experience. The following is Wanda's story.
As I sat through the first HEAL training, I recalled a telephone conversation I had with a very close friend who I affectionally call "my brother.". Immediately I became personally connected to the subject of cancer and my future study and presentation of the HEAL materials in a way I had not expected.
It was in late 1994 that my brother shared with me that his doctor had found a growth on his colon. I tried to convince him as well as myself it was not cancer. However in April of 1995, he had colon surgery to remove both the growth and his colon.
As he continued to recover from his surgery, I continued to share his strength with my students, especially when he visited our classroom. Later that year, we learned that the cancer had taken residence in his lower back. I was careful to explain to my students the importance of early detection and the need for proper health care.
My first HEAL class presentation was April 17, 1996; however, through my tears the students and I discovered how much we did not know about cancer and its early detection. Many of the students were hesitant to talk about cancer and wanted to avoid discussion of such a depressing topic. It was also a very emotional topic for me. At the close of my presentation, we decided to do part two on June 5, 1996. Shortly after this first presentation my brother made his third visit to the hospital for an intensive chemotheraphy and radiation treatment.
On the days to follow I had an difficult time not allowing my emotions about my brother's cancer to effect my total teaching style. I continued to visit with my brother and watched as the cancer continued overtake his body, moving from one area to another. It was imperative for me to seek more information both for myself and for my class of young adult students.
Early in May my brother called my class and left a message for me to return his call. The students immediately located me and told me to call him. I watched forty (40) young, aggressive literacy students patiently wait for me to dial the number and speak to my brother. They quietly listen to see if I was receiving bad news. At the end of my conversation, the whole class responded "is everything okay?" I tearfully responded "pretty good".
In the weeks to follow, several of the female students shared with me they had scheduled their first mammogram since hearing about and from my brother, and no matter what the outcome they wanted to be as strong as him. The subject of cancer was now very real to each of them because they knew and cared about someone who was a cancer victim.
I continued to prepare for the next presentation, making several visits to the Women's Cancer Group at Brookside Hospital in Richmond, CA, and collecting data from Kaiser Hospitals. By this time I felt I was much better prepared to present a thorough workshop on June 5th.
On May 30, my brother lost the battle he so diligently fought against cancer and on June 4 we memoralized his life. My scheduled presentation and material were ready, but my heart was broken.
Knowing I couldn't face my students alone I sought the assistance of my brother's Hospice Nurse and a friend with HIV. The where with all to develop an opener for my presentation was far from my mind. As I stumbled trying to open the presentation, several of my students suggested I use the Ten Steps to Intimacy as an ice breaker. It was perfect for the setting.
These adult literacy students demonstrated a real sense of loss and a feeling of family. Many of them shared with our guests and each other their fears of cancer, death and dying. My students were totally unaware of the related diseases which can occur once a person has been diagnosed with AIDS The very real situation of my brother brought the disease into a personal realm.
They opened up and were more willing to address this dreaded issue and see its potential relationship to their own lives.
This school year has been challenging, heart-breaking and, yes, even rewarding. Learning to live with my loss has been a challenge, but being privileged to teach and enlighten a group of caring adult learners how to address their own health needs has been a reward I shall never forget.
