Information is brought to students of public middle schools and community centers in poor neighborhoods in São Paulo by young college students trained by the Institute. After these lectures on health and cancer prevention and diagnosis, participants take home a necklace to their mothers/grandmothers and a passport to book a mammogram in the neighborhood hospital. The necklace has beads of different sizes to teach women about lump sizes and help identify them during self-examination. The passport is a way to direct women to the local hospital, previously arranged by Se Toque.
The institute trains college students, and hires them as trainees. They teach 7th and 8th grade students about sexuality, prevention of sexual transmitted diseases and undesirable pregnancies, and breast cancer diagnosis. Se Toque reaches out to children of 4th and 5th grades through theater plays about health awareness. The institute also holds presentation on community centers for the adult public.
Se Toque coordinates its work with hospitals to ensure that all the women who signed up for mammography will attend the appointments, or that there will be a follow up with the women who missed their appointments. The institute is partnering with the local Unidades Basicas de Saúde- UBS (Basic Health Units), training workers and linking them to the population and the hospitals. Currently Se Toque has secured partnerships with Hospital Vila Nova Cachoeirinha, Hospital Oswado Cruz, and the School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo.
The works of the Insitute covers one school per month, and has reached out to 25,000 people in 2010. The cost of the program, covering administrative expenses, two schools, for 6 months is estimated to be R$60,000.00 or US$34,400.00. The organization is funded by private and institutional donors. Instituto Se Toque is currently planning the work of mobile units at the end of 2010.
Additional Information
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