Wednesday was a fantastic day that had the outreach team working in the high Andes. We conducted clinic at over 14,000 feet above sea level in a mining camp. Our team of healthcare providers were able to serve in a number of different ways – from the direct delivery of medical care (mostly upper respiratory tract infections) to dental care (extractions and screening examinations) to health education and physical therapy instruction. In a little over 6 hours our team attended to almost 150 patients. Our campaign is conducted in collaboration with our long term in-country partner agency – The Mission of Alto Cayma.
For over 12 years the Mission of Saint Paul has been delivering integrated care to the underserved communities of Alto Cayma. The mission has a “brick and mortar” clinic that delivers healthcare services to over 22,000 patients each year and provides over 600 meals each day to the most marginalized of the community. Current programs are facilitated out of Parish owned amenities and are under the direction and fiduciary auspices of the Parish Council.
Working in a team based approach – the mission utilizes the “triage” services of a social worker to identify and enroll persons into a social advocacy program. The mission has developed comprehensive vocational training programs and child advocacy projects that help to link underserved families with educational, social and economic resources. The Mission provides outreach to isolated mountain communities two days per month and helps to ensure adequate access to medical and dental care through the main clinic. Our remote clinic was an extension of the on-going longitudinal healthcare provided by the Mission; and is designed to continually connect marginalized populations to services.
One bi struggle the Mission is currently facing is the advancing cost of food. As the cost of basic food stuffs and general healthcare services have far outpaced the wages available to the people of Alto Cayma employed in the informal sector – the need for more expanded advocacy services is ever apparent. Many of the families living in Alto Cayma fall into the lowest socioeconomic strata as determined by the Government of Peru – and do not posses the economic leverage to purchase even the simplest staples of food and housing/shelter.
Our collaborative plans call for the expansion of the nutrition and feeding program and an expansion of the integrated healthcare delivery model that will provide greater access to general healthcare services to a broader geographic area. You can support to this expanded capacity project by donating to Health Bridges International.
Once again – thank you for your continued interest in the work of HBI and our “bridge building” efforts.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sometimes it feels like you are sticking a finger in the dike
Today was another day of outreach into a community school. We were a scaled down team of providers that worked out of the Maria Madre Clinic in Alto Cayma. In just over 5 hours were attended over 140 children – many suffering from malnutrition, advanced peri-oral disease and respiratory tract infections.
The amazing part of working in Alto Cayma is the opportunity for longitudinal care. As our clinic outreach efforts are merely extensions of the on-going work that Father Alex’s clinic provides in the community – our efforts are closely tied to a bigger mission which is to change the plight of poverty in this vast peri-urban settlement.
The number of children seen in the outreach with significant malnourishment was astounding. It seemed like ever other child was classified as falling below the 5th percentile for weight, height and age matched indicators. Our response to this issue is to develop a program that sends a social worker into the homes of the highest need families and works to identify resources for social and economic advocacy. We have “flagged” all of the patient’s charts and plan to conduct home visits and re-check the children’s height, weight and hemoglobin status in the next 3-months.
Long term visions include the expansion of a nutrition/feeding program and the development of a mobile health care clinic to serve the school and surrounding area with twice monthly health screening and wellness clinics. We are also evaluating the development of a “school based health clinic” model that will send nurses from the clinic into the schools surrounding the parish every week for triage services and to continually track high risk children and their families; our ultimate goal is to create a “safety net” mechanism to catch children most vulnerable to homelessness or the myriad of preventable pediatric maladies.
Wednesday has our team in the mountains working in an isolated mining community at almost 15,000 feet above sea-level. Our goal is to bring medical and dental care to an impoverished area and to support the on-going efforts of the Parish of Father Alex. Stay tuned to our BlogSpot for more updates.
The amazing part of working in Alto Cayma is the opportunity for longitudinal care. As our clinic outreach efforts are merely extensions of the on-going work that Father Alex’s clinic provides in the community – our efforts are closely tied to a bigger mission which is to change the plight of poverty in this vast peri-urban settlement.
The number of children seen in the outreach with significant malnourishment was astounding. It seemed like ever other child was classified as falling below the 5th percentile for weight, height and age matched indicators. Our response to this issue is to develop a program that sends a social worker into the homes of the highest need families and works to identify resources for social and economic advocacy. We have “flagged” all of the patient’s charts and plan to conduct home visits and re-check the children’s height, weight and hemoglobin status in the next 3-months.
Long term visions include the expansion of a nutrition/feeding program and the development of a mobile health care clinic to serve the school and surrounding area with twice monthly health screening and wellness clinics. We are also evaluating the development of a “school based health clinic” model that will send nurses from the clinic into the schools surrounding the parish every week for triage services and to continually track high risk children and their families; our ultimate goal is to create a “safety net” mechanism to catch children most vulnerable to homelessness or the myriad of preventable pediatric maladies.
Wednesday has our team in the mountains working in an isolated mining community at almost 15,000 feet above sea-level. Our goal is to bring medical and dental care to an impoverished area and to support the on-going efforts of the Parish of Father Alex. Stay tuned to our BlogSpot for more updates.
Monday, June 23, 2008
HBI Team Peru - Week 1
Our first week of clinic has been a smashing success. In just over 4 and ½ days of clinic our team of Peruvian and American healthcare providers were able to provide medical, dental, psychological evaluation and focused counseling and health education services to just over 840 patients. Our fantastic team of dedicated providers made this week of clinic one of our most successful outreach events yet!
Our project was conducted in the communities of Mala, Chincha, Pucusana and Asia (communities strongly impacted by the massive earthquake of August of 2007 – see: http://hbint.blogspot.com/2007/08/internatioanl-aid-for-peru-help-is-on.html). This last week was our 11th outreach campaign into these communities and was conducted in collaboration with our long term partner Union Biblica del Peru and is a part of our bigger schools based outreach program.
The Health Bridges International Schools Advocacy for the Vulnerable and Endangered Children (SAVE) program is a comprehensive approach to addressing poverty and childhood endangerment. The foundational element of the SAVE outreach program is volunteer mission teams – staffed by Peruvian and U.S. physicians, dentists, nurses, psychologists and dedicated helpers. Working in close partnership with Union Biblica – HBI is attempting to create a programmatic response that will make a meaningful impact in the lives of homeless and abandon youth. The programmatic goal of the SAVE outreach project is to create a “response” that will work to prevent familial breakdown before young children become abandoned to the streets.
The schools based outreach program is designed toward reaching into the poorest communities – areas where families are at greatest risk of breaking down. The SAVE program focuses on geographic areas in the country of Peru where economic depravity and social violence fracture family stability; areas where the children that live on the streets of Lima are coming from. This week found us working in such schools; institutions with very little resources and few of the standard academic opportunities found in the U.S.
The mission of the SAVE program is to identify youth who are at greatest risk for homelessness – and connect these children to outreach workers. The outreach/social workers then build trust and relationship with the family unit to provide a broad range of services that are designed at keeping the family from fracturing. As is the case in most developing nations, the community schools of rural and impoverished areas are often the strongest element of the social network. Partnering with teachers and community leaders enables the SAVE program to build a “safety net” in communities that are extremely vulnerable to economic and political ebbs and flows.
In essence, the SAVE program is designed at offering an “up stream” approach to a social problem that is firmly entrenched in economic disparity. Research studies have now connected the degree of social capital in a community (as defined by the collective efficacy or the belief a community has in its own abilities to create and structure change) to health outcomes, economic prosperity and crime figure adjustments. What this means for the SAVE outreach program is that by creating an even stronger community foundation in the schools - homelessness can be prevented in vulnerable youth populations.
This last week had our teams working in some of the poorest schools in Peru. Through compassion and true commitment to providing the highest quality healthcare services possibly – our team was able to reach out and hopefully change the lives of desperately impoverished children.
As the bulk of our school based program is designed around identifying children who are at greatest risk of homelessness and abandonment to the streets – our greatest assets are the community workers from Union Biblica who spend so much of their time working in the schools where we provide clinics. Union Biblica helps with case management of identified high risk children and family level interventions. The social workers from Union Biblica have great relationships with the teachers, staff and children of the schools where we work. The Union Biblica social workers were available all week to consult with a physician or provider about a potential “Vulnerable Youth” – and help to connect the youth with resources. The Union Biblica schools workers then help with follow-up and even conduct home visits when needed.
In a home visit scenario, the Union Biblica social worker develops a more global understanding of the family’s needs and the stressors that are underlying family unity and cohesion. The social worker works very closely with the child’s school and assigned teacher to create a comprehensive care plan to prevent further vulnerability with in the child’s development. Throughout of week of clinics we were very fortunate to have Alan Chang as our Union Biblica Schools Outreach Worker. Alan’s dedication to serving the underserved and commitment to helping vulnerable children was a real motivation for all of our team members.
This next week has our team working in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa with another long term HBI partner and long term program collaborator - the Mission of Alto Cayma. Stay tuned to our BlogSpot for updates and on-going news of HBI’s Team Peru 2008 Campaign. Thank you for your support!
Our project was conducted in the communities of Mala, Chincha, Pucusana and Asia (communities strongly impacted by the massive earthquake of August of 2007 – see: http://hbint.blogspot.com/2007/08/internatioanl-aid-for-peru-help-is-on.html). This last week was our 11th outreach campaign into these communities and was conducted in collaboration with our long term partner Union Biblica del Peru and is a part of our bigger schools based outreach program.
The Health Bridges International Schools Advocacy for the Vulnerable and Endangered Children (SAVE) program is a comprehensive approach to addressing poverty and childhood endangerment. The foundational element of the SAVE outreach program is volunteer mission teams – staffed by Peruvian and U.S. physicians, dentists, nurses, psychologists and dedicated helpers. Working in close partnership with Union Biblica – HBI is attempting to create a programmatic response that will make a meaningful impact in the lives of homeless and abandon youth. The programmatic goal of the SAVE outreach project is to create a “response” that will work to prevent familial breakdown before young children become abandoned to the streets.
The schools based outreach program is designed toward reaching into the poorest communities – areas where families are at greatest risk of breaking down. The SAVE program focuses on geographic areas in the country of Peru where economic depravity and social violence fracture family stability; areas where the children that live on the streets of Lima are coming from. This week found us working in such schools; institutions with very little resources and few of the standard academic opportunities found in the U.S.
The mission of the SAVE program is to identify youth who are at greatest risk for homelessness – and connect these children to outreach workers. The outreach/social workers then build trust and relationship with the family unit to provide a broad range of services that are designed at keeping the family from fracturing. As is the case in most developing nations, the community schools of rural and impoverished areas are often the strongest element of the social network. Partnering with teachers and community leaders enables the SAVE program to build a “safety net” in communities that are extremely vulnerable to economic and political ebbs and flows.
In essence, the SAVE program is designed at offering an “up stream” approach to a social problem that is firmly entrenched in economic disparity. Research studies have now connected the degree of social capital in a community (as defined by the collective efficacy or the belief a community has in its own abilities to create and structure change) to health outcomes, economic prosperity and crime figure adjustments. What this means for the SAVE outreach program is that by creating an even stronger community foundation in the schools - homelessness can be prevented in vulnerable youth populations.
This last week had our teams working in some of the poorest schools in Peru. Through compassion and true commitment to providing the highest quality healthcare services possibly – our team was able to reach out and hopefully change the lives of desperately impoverished children.
As the bulk of our school based program is designed around identifying children who are at greatest risk of homelessness and abandonment to the streets – our greatest assets are the community workers from Union Biblica who spend so much of their time working in the schools where we provide clinics. Union Biblica helps with case management of identified high risk children and family level interventions. The social workers from Union Biblica have great relationships with the teachers, staff and children of the schools where we work. The Union Biblica social workers were available all week to consult with a physician or provider about a potential “Vulnerable Youth” – and help to connect the youth with resources. The Union Biblica schools workers then help with follow-up and even conduct home visits when needed.
In a home visit scenario, the Union Biblica social worker develops a more global understanding of the family’s needs and the stressors that are underlying family unity and cohesion. The social worker works very closely with the child’s school and assigned teacher to create a comprehensive care plan to prevent further vulnerability with in the child’s development. Throughout of week of clinics we were very fortunate to have Alan Chang as our Union Biblica Schools Outreach Worker. Alan’s dedication to serving the underserved and commitment to helping vulnerable children was a real motivation for all of our team members.
This next week has our team working in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa with another long term HBI partner and long term program collaborator - the Mission of Alto Cayma. Stay tuned to our BlogSpot for updates and on-going news of HBI’s Team Peru 2008 Campaign. Thank you for your support!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Is it really any better?
Peru: 90 percent of Peruvians feel country's growth has not helped them
For almost 15 years HBI has worked and traveled to Peru. Our organization has spent an enormous amount of time in a variety of economic sectors - from the very wealthy of Miraflores and San Isidro - to the desperately impoverished of the high Sierras. One thing that has been painfully obvious over the last couple of years is the growing divide between the wealthy of Lima and Arequipa and the increasing levels of poverty amongst the people of rural communities.
As this divide grows greater and greater it will be ever more important that organizations work to create programs and projects that help to bridge this tremendous division. More and more emphasis must be placed on creating effective and sustainable models of infrastructure and professional development for Peruvians to assist the marginalized segments of their population.
Pasted below is a news article that appeared on the daily website "Living in Peru" (see: http://www.livinginperu.com/). The information outlined in this brief articles confirms the long held assumptions of many social scientists and social justice activists - the economies of Latin America (and more specifically Peru) are growing like "gang busters", but the impact of this massive economic revolution is not penetrating down to the people who need it the most.
Author: Israel J. Ruiz - "Ninety percent of Peruvians feel the country's economic growth over the past several years has affected them very little or none at all, revealed a national poll carried out by CPI polling firm.
• According to the survey, 71.9 percent of the people polled throughout the Andean country affirmed that Peru's growing economy had "not benefited Peruvians at all", while 19.3 percent of those polled stated it had benefited them "little".
• Polls showed that more people outside of Lima (78.6%) felt they had not been affected positively by the country's growing economy.
• 68.6 percent of residents surveyed in Lima assured they had not benefited from the country's improved economy.
• On the other hand, there were more people in Lima (23.6%) than in provinces (13.6%) that said their livelihoods were "a little better".
• CPI's survey revealed that only 3.5 percent of the people living in Peru that were surveyed said the country's growth had had a positive effect on their lives.
The study also showed that the main problems Alan Garcia's administration had not solved were poverty, low wages and unemployment. It was reported that more people living outside of Lima made these complaints. 1,443 people were polled in 24 of Peru's regions."
For almost 15 years HBI has worked and traveled to Peru. Our organization has spent an enormous amount of time in a variety of economic sectors - from the very wealthy of Miraflores and San Isidro - to the desperately impoverished of the high Sierras. One thing that has been painfully obvious over the last couple of years is the growing divide between the wealthy of Lima and Arequipa and the increasing levels of poverty amongst the people of rural communities.
As this divide grows greater and greater it will be ever more important that organizations work to create programs and projects that help to bridge this tremendous division. More and more emphasis must be placed on creating effective and sustainable models of infrastructure and professional development for Peruvians to assist the marginalized segments of their population.
Pasted below is a news article that appeared on the daily website "Living in Peru" (see: http://www.livinginperu.com/). The information outlined in this brief articles confirms the long held assumptions of many social scientists and social justice activists - the economies of Latin America (and more specifically Peru) are growing like "gang busters", but the impact of this massive economic revolution is not penetrating down to the people who need it the most.
Author: Israel J. Ruiz - "Ninety percent of Peruvians feel the country's economic growth over the past several years has affected them very little or none at all, revealed a national poll carried out by CPI polling firm.
• According to the survey, 71.9 percent of the people polled throughout the Andean country affirmed that Peru's growing economy had "not benefited Peruvians at all", while 19.3 percent of those polled stated it had benefited them "little".
• Polls showed that more people outside of Lima (78.6%) felt they had not been affected positively by the country's growing economy.
• 68.6 percent of residents surveyed in Lima assured they had not benefited from the country's improved economy.
• On the other hand, there were more people in Lima (23.6%) than in provinces (13.6%) that said their livelihoods were "a little better".
• CPI's survey revealed that only 3.5 percent of the people living in Peru that were surveyed said the country's growth had had a positive effect on their lives.
The study also showed that the main problems Alan Garcia's administration had not solved were poverty, low wages and unemployment. It was reported that more people living outside of Lima made these complaints. 1,443 people were polled in 24 of Peru's regions."
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Team Peru 2008
And off we go - this summer marks the ELEVENTH Team Peru Medical, Dental and Social Outreach to Peru. This team promises to be an amazing experience with a broad group of team participants, a diverse set of projects lined-up and an enormous amount of donated supplies. In fact, this year has been our best year yet for raising support (financial) and procuring supplies.
The main objectives for this outreach campaign are:
(1) To continue to support our in-country partner Union Biblica del Peru in their efforts to bring preventive medical, dental and social care services to impoverished children. Our work continues to focus on using screening methods to identify children who are most vulnerable to becoming abandoned. We work to connect families of need with social service advocates to prevent homelessness and family fracturing.
(2) We will be working in the Mission of Alto Cayma to bring support and assistance to the on-going community health care efforts of this Parish run program. Our campaign will help with the construction of a home for a medically fragile child, the delivery of health care services to isolated mountain communities, and we will be working with our Peruvian colleagues (nurses, physicians, dentists, and social workers) around "mini" educational forums and training symposiums.
(3) We will be continuing to work with Union Biblica to bring construction assistance to their "for profit" (i.e. money generating - the monies that are received from the rental of the property go directly into the various ministries of the agency) Camp Kawai in the costal Community of Mala. We will work on a few re-building projects as a result of the devastating earthquakes of 2007.
(4) Finally, in keeping with the organizational mission of HBI - we will be working to build bridges between our North American volunteers and our in-country partners. Our goal is to create "relationships" for change that will allow people from various walks of life to partner their resources and share their talents.
Look for updates from our 2008 Team Peru Outreach posted to this Blog Spot throughout the month of June.
Thank you for your continued support.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Economic Growth in Peru
World Bank: Economic growth helped reduce poverty in Peru
From the ANDINA News Agency - The sustainable economic growth of Peru brought greater investments, more employment and better incomes, which contributed to diminish poverty, not only in the urban areas but also in the rural ones, reported today the World Bank.
The regional director of the World Bank for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, Felipe Jaramillo, said this growth is linked to the bigger investments of the last two or three years, the good economic management, a better access to foreign markets and some of Peru’s government programs.
“What we see is that there is a virtuous circle in the Peruvian economy, because is growing and it has started to create work, each time of a better quality and for the whole Peru”, he said.
The international representative also stressed on the study called “Poverty in Peru 2007”- whose results represent the sustainable economic growth of Peru during the last years.
“We think these estimates should not impress anyone since Peru has achieved a high suitable growth during the last years”, he said.
(Please note: This news story originally appeared in the "Living in Peru" News Archive on May 27, 2008)
From the ANDINA News Agency - The sustainable economic growth of Peru brought greater investments, more employment and better incomes, which contributed to diminish poverty, not only in the urban areas but also in the rural ones, reported today the World Bank.
The regional director of the World Bank for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, Felipe Jaramillo, said this growth is linked to the bigger investments of the last two or three years, the good economic management, a better access to foreign markets and some of Peru’s government programs.
“What we see is that there is a virtuous circle in the Peruvian economy, because is growing and it has started to create work, each time of a better quality and for the whole Peru”, he said.
The international representative also stressed on the study called “Poverty in Peru 2007”- whose results represent the sustainable economic growth of Peru during the last years.
“We think these estimates should not impress anyone since Peru has achieved a high suitable growth during the last years”, he said.
(Please note: This news story originally appeared in the "Living in Peru" News Archive on May 27, 2008)
2008 Alto Cayma Medical Conference
The First Annual Alto Cayma Medical Conference and Training Symposium
In keeping with the organizational mission to provide opportunities and programmatic responses for in-country organizations and individuals, Health Bridges International, Inc. developed and produced the “First Annual Alto Cayma Medical Conference and Training Symposium” in April of 2008.
The training, facilitated through a dedicated group of volunteer healthcare professionals from the United States and Peru, was a two-day intensive learning experience with both didactic and hands-on instruction. Over 30 invited participants enrolled in the various workshops and didactic lectures – with the highlight of the event being the informal networking conversations and exchanges that developed during the program breaks. Overwhelmingly conference participants rated their attendance at the event as a great success.
The main purpose of the conference was to unite young Peruvian medical and healthcare professionals who are enthusiastic and passionate about working with underserved communities. With eleven concurrent workshops, facilitated by speakers with recognized expertise in their professional disciplines and fields, the conference included a broad range of topics as diverse as - “Nursing Skills Updates” and “Diagnostic Ultrasound for the Primary Care Provider.” The symposium brought together energetic young professionals and top presenters to create an environment for learning and sharing. Post conference surveys demonstrated a significant learning impact on the participants – with a majority of attendees rating their knowledge and skills of the subject matters presented at the conference as vastly improved after their participation in the training.
Equally important to the mission of HBI is the creation of sustainable improvements in people’s health – this was facilitated by the conference through the creation of a training and learning symposium for Peruvian health care providers. HBI is dedicated to supporting and mentoring the next generation of “change agents” in communities and countries of need, the “First Annual Alto Cayma Medical Conference and Training Symposium” helped to bridge in-country providers with North American volunteers to create collegial exchanges and opportunities for mentoring, professional development and knowledge and skills acquisition. Overwhelmingly – the conference was a great success.
Post Conference Survey Question:
After Attending Conference - how would you rate your knowledge and skills?
Participant’s Response:
“The speakers were very good. They removed many doubts and provided themes and ideas that I can apply to my patients.”
Number of Participants = 43
Number of Workshops = 11
Number of Invited Speakers = 12
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