Mary Grimanis

About Mary Grimanis
As a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant at Children’s Hospital in Boston, I am eager to work with Ghanaian and global health care providers to bring health care to the underserved community of Akaa and its surrounding villages located in the Eastern region of Ghana. Similar to other communities in Ghana and the developing world, many families have no access to health care, and have insufficient income to pay for medical insurance or expenses.

The Akaa Project was spearheaded by Lauren Grimanis in March of 2008 when a student at Wayland High School. The project gained further momentum over the past 4 years while studying global development and management at the College of Wooster in Ohio. The project is Massachusetts-based yet has federal standing as a US based nonprofit institution, 501 c 3.
The project's mission is community centered, providing families themselves with the opportunity to improve their way of life through educational, health care and business initiatives. A school has been developed providing elementary education to children who never attended. This major endeavor has become the fulcrum of the other initiatives, building community leadership and engagement. In fact, 2 nearby communities joined the school in September of 2012. Women are becoming empowered by actively participating in decision making within the school and their involvement in community projects. In December 2012 /January 2013, 2 boreholes were drilled by partnering with the Water Resources Institute; families now have access to clearn water. The community voted women to be in charge of the wells, further enhancing their positions as they gain respect, trust and leadership.

With respect to health care, families continue to rely on the prophet of the community and traditional healers. Over the past few years a health worker from the ministry of health comes at intervals to provide immunizations to infants, children and mothers. Efforts were made to provide mosquito nets for each family for malaria prevention. The Marie Stopes Foundation has provided some preliminary family planning and STD counseling to adolescents and adults.
As health care coordinator of the Akaa Project, I am in the process of building alliances and networks to not only link families to health care, but to navigate high quality systems to save lives and improve human dignity. This task can only be accomplished by uniting the efforts of volunteers, educators, entrepreuners, health care professionals and business leaders, alongside national and global academic, business, and health care institutions.
In this regard, the Akaa Project has joined hands with the United Nations' Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and has become a stakeholder in the Every Women, Every Child Program launched by the UN Secretary General. The Akaa Project also has a committment through the Clinton Global Initiative.
The project web site can be found at: www.theakaaproject.org