Wicklow Primary Health Care - A Model Of Good Practice
National Traveller MABS aims to ensure access to financial services for Travellers in Ireland. To accomplish this, we must be certain that we remain focused on issues relevant to the community.
We do this by regularly consulting with our Traveller specific Consultative Forum, made up of specific Traveller groups throughout the country. These expert groups act as a forum for us to discuss the concerns of the community and flag possible solutions.
Wicklow Primary Health Care
The Wicklow Primary Health Care group, part of this consultative forum, has been a shining example of how best practice can be implemented at local level. Recently the group participated in the MABS money management training, ‘A Way of life’, designed specifically to meet the needs of Travellers. The training covering everything from budgeting, increasing income to savings, banking, and borrowing, was delivered by Ella Darragh, Money Advisor from Arklow MABS.
Ella said that what the training brought home to her was
the importance of sharing the knowledge that the Primary Health Care workers had amongst themselves.’ This shared knowledge and skill will be passed on by the Primary Health Care workers to other members of the Traveller community.
A certificate presentation took place on completion of this course on the 8th November and an article relating to this was published in the local newspaper, The Wicklow Times.
The Wicklow Primary Health Care group actively promotes the MABS and CIC outreach clinic, held locally in the Bray Traveller Development Group. The Primary Health Care workers distribute information about the clinic to the families they work with. By working closely with National Traveller MABS, Bray MABS and Arklow MABS, the Wicklow Primary Health Care workers have built up a strong working relationship with local services.
If any organisation/ project is interested in participating in the MABS money management training or would like to support the development of an outreach MABS clinic in their area, please do not hesitate to contact Dermot or Liz at 0761 072230.