Helping Thousands of Patients Start the Year Off Right
January 10, 2007

Julia Guth, Director of the Oxford Club and also of the non-profit foundation that supports the Roberto Clemente clinic in Nicaragua, is asking for help. The clinic needs money, supplies, and personal assistance to cope with the growing demand for its services.

When it was created five or six years ago, it treated only Rancho Santana employees, their families, and the local citizens of two small hamlets in the area. Nowadays, Julia tells me, it is working 24/7 to treat 48 area villages up and down Nicaragua's Pacific coast, as well as tourists, workers, and residents of Rancho Santana. (In one recent month the clinic saw 1,270 patients!)

It's inspiring to think that so much is being done now that was not possible before the clinic was built. For example:

One of their main needs is for a back-up electrical generation system. The electricity goes down almost every day - and when it does, it's very difficult for the clinic to operate effectively. On the drawing board is an alternative energy center that will use wind and solar power to fuel a back-up generator. This project will meet Julia's long-term goal of providing "self-sufficiency in a cost-efficient and eco-friendly manner."

In addition to providing health care, the clinic is promoting good health in the local community through educational programs. Boys and girls, 12 to 20, meet regularly with clinic nurse Marta Cerda Miranda to talk about good health practices, and the clinic's small medical staff conducts seminars at local schools.

Margie Finchman, a nurse from Northern California and part-time resident at Rancho Santana, has been acting as a clinical nurse specialist with experience in holistic medicine and primary care for rural areas. She's made two extended visits so far this year, and has recently accepted responsibility as the clinic's healthcare manager.

Still, as Julia reminds me in a recent letter, "there's a lot to do." And she tells me that Agora Inc. has agreed to provide 100 percent matching funds for any donations ETR readers make.

Read more about the clinic and what you can do to help HERE.

posted by M. Masterson @ 8:59 AM,

2 Comments:

At 11:39 AM, Anonymous Lord of host said...

"For everyone that seeks finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Matthew 7:8

 
At 11:57 AM, Anonymous Jen said...

How about 2 cases of medical grade disposable gloves? I'm a Search Engine Optimization consultant & one of my clients (www.dontheglove.com) has agreed to donate the cases. Please have someone click on the "We Care" promo box on the home page and the email will come straight to me and I will personally arrange the details. Anyone else want to ante up for this worthy cause?

 

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