Overview
Presenting the Idea and Identifying the Qualification of the Personnel
Children that are currently the patients of hospitals often feel difficulties in coping with home assignments because of specific environment and conditions they experience. Similar concerns are connected with children treated in Houston are hospitals who need specific assistance to meet the educational purposes. In this respect, the Cougars for Kids, a volunteer program initiated by Houston University community service seeks to establish an efficient avenue to enable students to realize the significance of making community services contributions and helping pupils meet their educational needs.
Describing the chosen community
Specific focus will be made on children with visual and aural impairments as well as the ones who spent most of their time in hospitals that need especial assistance. Due to the fact that the program will have high standards that are consistent with universal ethical and moral values, students will be thoroughly selected and will be approved by the faculty staff.
Defining the key participants and problems addressed
The program will be carried by UH students, the faculty staff as well as alumni who will provide children with volunteer assistance and will cooperate with existing staff in schools and hospitals to meet the needs of those children. What is more the community is in extreme need with American language specialists as well as specific materials and equipment for educating of children with disabilities. The staff will also assist children in overcoming psychological pressures of existing educational inequalities.
Background
The Community Background
The community under consideration will mainly consist of children staying in hospital of Houston. These are Texas Children’s Hospital, Methodist Children’s Hospital, Shiner’s Hospital, Memorial Herman Children’s Hospital, and HealthBridge Children Hospital. Hence, Texas Children’s Hospital mostly addresses the problems of child’s mortality and provides education and treatment for about 80,000 children worldwide (Texas Children’s Hospital, 2011, n. p.). Methodist Children’s Hospital provides care 24-hours a day and seeks to meet the needs of children of all ages (Methodists Children’s Hospital, n. d.). All this health care establishments are always in need of support and financial assistance to provide more care and understanding on the part of the community.
Identifying the Benefits of the Partnership between CCPH and the University Sponsored Organization
Due to the fact that Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) promotes specific health reforms whose major aspects are considered in a broad sense and encourages University sponsored communities activities aimed at improving health issues, our program perfectly meets its main objectives and purposes (Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, 2011). Furthermore, the proposed program will contribute greatly to the quality of education, specifically among children with disabilities and improve the overall welfare in the community.
Methods and Schedule
Objectives and Materials
The main objectives include:
- To meet the needs of children with disabilities and those who spent most of their time in hospitals;
- To engage the community, particularly UH students and alumni into developing strong social networks helping children in overcoming educational difficulties;
- To create effective conditions and facilities for assisting children in studying;
- To find American Sign Language professionals that would train students to help students with ear and sight disorders;
- To enhance the network system and involve more volunteers to the program.
The faculty staff has created a number of specific criteria according to which volunteers can be accepted for the program. Before being admitted to the volunteering, they should take specific training course and pass the orientation session where they will be informed about the specific of working.
The Workings of the Organization
The volunteers from Houston Universities will be engaged in helping children with reading, writing, playing games, storytelling, and doing home assignments. In this respect, special literature will be needed to develop specific children skills. More importantly, the program is also orientated on creating a favorable environment for socialization and interaction to enhance children’s communicational skills, which is an inherent condition for children’s effective learning and development. Finally, the organization will also plan to introduce strategies aimed at minimizing psychological pressure that children endure while staying in hospital.
Steps to be Implemented
Due to the fact that the program is oriented on meeting the need of children with disabilities and creating specific conditions for effective communication and interaction, students will, first of all, need to be carefully selected before being accepted to the program. In particular, the faculty staff will conduct a number of interviews to understand students’ competencies and readiness to enter the program. Further, students will need to familiarize with major activities they are going to conduct as well as major purpose they need to achieve (Gargiulo, 2010, p. 44). Disabled children should feel that they acquire knowledge and proper education just as healthy children. Because the program is person-oriented and focuses on meeting individual need of a child, it does not have specific schedules of accomplished because different problem have different deadlines for solving those.
Staffing
With regard to the presented scheme, it should be stressed the UH program Cougars for Kids has a well-organized chart for carrying specific workings of the organization. Each member is responsible for particular operations. Hence, all volunteers should report to student officers who control proper accomplishment of all planned activities. In their turn, they report to faculty sponsors and staff concerning the money spent and the stages fulfilled. There is a certain subordination among the volunteers where UH students and alumni are subjected to faculty members, including teachers, professors, and tutors.
It is also worth saying that the program will be oriented on introducing specific strategies of educating and treating people to the hospital staff. This training program will involve the presentation of the cultural and ethical values that should be pursued by the program. The training program is considered as a compensation itself because it is directed et enhancing the overall cultural and social atmosphere in the facilities concerned.
Budgeting
Funding will be allocated among three major categories: facilities, equipment, and materials. The latter involves all necessary literature, textbooks, and lectures that should be worked out and selected for a step-by-step program accomplishment.
Pie Chart: Budget Allocation
It is impossible to prioritize each of the proposed categories because they are all equality important. In this respect, the budgeting will be nearly evenly distributed. The overall value of the project is evaluated in about $ 100.000 to start up the process and involve people. Further funding is also inevitable because more and more hospitals will be involved. Other categories are not involved because it is planed to be a volunteer program based on students’ awareness and responsibility. Separate funding should be oriented on campaigns engaging more and more people to participate in the proposed activities.
Expected Results and Feasibility
The program seeks to improve the existing conditions in hospitals and introduce modernized equipment for children with disabilities. In particular, specific facilities, literature, and proper assistant will help kids feel more comfortable and save. Moreover, their educational level will be equal to that obtained in schools.
In this regard, the program will create great partnership between the University of Houston and CCPH by means of enhancing the quality of education and health care.
Conclusion
The program called Cougars for Kids provides a number of solutions to the problems existing in Texas hospitals. In particular, the program seeks to establish a favorable psychological environment for children who have unequal access to education. The established program procedures and the identified training staff provided by the faculty staff will greatly contribute to the improvement of the present conditions.
Reference List
Community-Campus Partnership for Health. (2011). Transforming Communities and Higher Education. Web.
Cougars for Kids. (n. d.) University of Houston Technology. Web.
Gargiulo, R. M. (2010). Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality. US: SAGE.
Methodists Children’s Hospital (n. d.).Hospital Highlights: Methodists Children’s Hospital of South Texas. Fast Facts. Web.
Texas Children’s Hospital (2011). Center for global child health announced by Texas Children Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. Texas Children’s Hospital. Web.