Barbara Jordan Joins Board of Directors for Roberto Clemente Health Clinic in Nicaragua
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic in Nicaragua, a model private, non-profit health clinic dedicated to providing affordable health care to thousands of local residents in rural southwestern Nicaragua, has announced the appointment of Barbara Jordan to its Board of Directors. Ms. Jordan is a board certified Physician Assistant with more than 20 years of experience practicing medicine in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emphasis in Primary, Urgent Care, and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“Ms. Jordan has been an invaluable asset as a medical advisor and volunteer at the clinic for the past three years, bringing a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to a country that lacks basic health care and medical treatment that many Americans take for granted,” said Juan Muñoz, Executive Director of the clinic. “She provides extraordinary leadership to our medical staff and volunteers, and shows great compassion for the many patients she has treated. We look forward to working with her for many years to come.”
Ms. Jordan is currently employed at the Sutter Health Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Santa Cruz, California, where she works at four Urgent Care clinics throughout Santa Cruz County. In her free time, she provides advice and input on clinic operations. She has traveled to Nicaragua numerous times in the past three years to volunteer her services and train staff on new sonogram equipment and medical techniques. She is currently spearheading efforts to create a community garden at the clinic to educate residents on how to grow fruits and vegetables and improve their nutrition.
“As the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, Nicaragua faces significant health care challenges that not only include limited access to medical services, but other basic resources such as running water, food and electricity,” said Ms. Jordan. “Through the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic, thousands of local residents are getting the lifesaving health care that they need, and we are helping a new generation of Nicaraguans to take better care of themselves and their families.”
Ms. Jordan trained at Stanford University School of Medicine and has a Master’s of Science degree from Arizona School of Health Sciences in advanced practice clinical medicine and health education. As a new graduate, she worked at a freestanding birth center in El Paso, Texas, as well as in Mountain View, California, providing prenatal care and delivering babies. She has helped direct an adolescent primary care high school clinic, and has taught medical residents at the Family Practice Residency Program in San Jose. For 10 years, she was on staff at A Women’s Center in Campbell, California, providing full-scale primary and women’s health care.
Jordan’s medical volunteer experience includes “Flying Samaritans,” servicing remote clinics on the Baja peninsula, and traveling to Haiti with an emergency medicine group after the 2010 earthquake. Her home away from home has become the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic where she tries to spend as much time as possible.
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic provides health care to more than 12,000 underprivileged Nicaraguans every year. The clinic provides general and emergency medical care, dental care, ambulatory surgery, lab work, and preventative health education. The clinic also provides volunteer opportunities for health professionals and students of all levels. Volunteering at the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic is the perfect way to combine compassion with medical education.
For more information about The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic, visit our website at www.nicaclinic.org, or call Juan Muñoz at 410-369-0512.