Dear Friend of the Clinic,
As summer comes to a close here in the U.S., we want to bring you some important news from Nicaragua. Don’t worry; it’s not bad. I expect you are as tired of the onslaught of negative news as I am. So, to brighten your day, our Clinic U.S. Development Office Administrator sends you wonderful news of what the Clinic has accomplished in recent months thanks to your continual support.
Julia Cooke Guth, Chair of the Board, The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic
Impactful Volunteer Projects by Restoration Smile, Zachary Swanson and the FIMRC
This summer was busy! The volunteers keep coming, and we are loving it. We had the great pleasure of welcoming a group of dentists led by Dr. Cole Anderson with Restoration Smile. We gave them a tour of the Clinic and shared our mission and objectives for the future. They were very eager to start working with our local dentist, Dr. Meyling Rojas. During their visit, they treated 10 patients with procedures such as routine dental cleaning, extractions and fillings – all performed free of charge.
It is a great delight when experienced emergency medical technicians come to volunteer. Every year, numerous lives are saved because of their commitment to helping others. Zachary Swanson spent two weeks volunteering at our Clinic, and we cannot thank him enough for his time and dedication.
During his visit, he worked closely with our ambulance team, responding to emergencies. He helped us create refined emergency protocols and trained our team with his vast knowledge and experience.
Swanson has been working on some innovative studies to battle diabetes. We would be delighted to have him back in the near future to help us with our efforts to combat the chronic disease, which affects many people in our communities.
Another fantastic group of volunteers came from the Engineering World Health organization in the month of June. This great organization has a volunteer program in which engineers and biomedical engineering students perform repairs on medical equipment. Their efforts were invaluable to our Clinic. During the entire month of June, these volunteers devoted their time to checking and improving the performance of all of our equipment. Their immeasurable efforts helped our Clinic immensely. Being able to utilize reliable and functional equipment allows us to offer accurate diagnoses. A total of 12 pieces of equipment from our Clinic benefited from their visit. We would be thrilled to have them back next year!
We’ve always been excited about the idea of creating and strengthening a network of local volunteers. For this reason, we recently met with the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) to express our desire to work together to improve the development of our Tola community. Our first project together will be working on a new organic garden for the community. FIMRC actively supports our Diabetics Club, a group our Clinic started to improve the quality of life of those who live with the chronic disease. The club also educates our community to prevent additional cases.
We love our volunteers! Their strong desire to help others is so admirable. You can be our next hero! Volunteers are always welcome.
Being a Sponsor Changes Lives Forever
The Padrino Program has improved the lives of more than 70 children since its inception in 2011.
Your regular contribution makes a significant transformation in a child’s health and education. As one of our longtime sponsors Steven King recently expressed, “I had been to the Clinic a couple times before, and I saw how much it helps the community. But then it was time to fly home, and I was always wanting to help more. The Padrino Program lets me continue to help Fabio Antonio and his family, and for that I cannot be more proud.”
In July, we had our semiannual gathering with our sponsored children. During this event, they all received a second set of uniforms for school, physical examinations, assessments of their nutrition and growth levels, and dental checkups offered by a volunteer from the ARTS (A Reason to Smile) organization. As always, this all took place in a festive atmosphere, which included food and piñatas for the children and their parents.
Today, we want to share with you the story of one of our sponsored children, Daysi.
Daysi is 4 years old and had a hemangioma in her upper lip since birth.
Her mother had been going to Managua for treatment since she was born. It was a complicated case. They tried to reduce the tumor to make it operable, but it kept growing bigger as time went on. There were no professionals in Nicaragua with the resources and knowledge to perform this complex surgery.
When we heard about Daysi’s story, we immediately got involved in her parents’ mission to find a solution for this little angel. She became part of our Padrino Program in early 2016.
Thanks to her sponsors and the entire Clinic team, Daysi’s life has been changed forever.
Our Clinic team joined forces with the Illinois/Indiana Chapter of Healing the Children, an organization that provides critical medical care to children all around the world. It immediately expressed interest in helping Daysi achieve a better quality of life, and a beautiful chain of love started to form.
After many months of preparation for the big trip, little Daysi was able to travel to the United States in June. Her surgery was a massive success! As a matter of fact, about a week and a half later, Daysi was already on her way back home. Her family was anxiously waiting to see her pretty face again… but without the tumor this time. Thank you, Healing the Children!
Healthy Gardens, Happy Bees
Our organic garden was originally created to battle health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, tooth decay, weight gain and anemia – which are all very common in the area.
As our gardener extraordinaire, Eliezer, started promoting our Healthy Eating Initiative by teaching the locals basic gardening techniques, they started getting more excited about the possibility of growing their own vegetables. Today, there are five organic gardens in different communities of Tola.
We also have great news to share about the Beekeeping Program. We were finally able to divide the beehives to start a second colony! This is a very complex process and a great accomplishment made possible by Eliezer’s expertise, the helping hands of our entire Clinic team and you. Thank you for your donations for new beekeeping equipment!
The Gift of Clean Water
Significant process and structural improvements have recently been made to our water treatment plant with the purpose of optimizing its performance and enhancing the water quality.
A new structure was created in the area for filling and packing. This improvement speeds up the filling process and ensures the cleanliness of the bottles by avoiding residues and external agents that could contaminate the purified water.
Due to the lack of potable water in the communities around the Clinic, this project has great potential to impact the lives of many locals. Moreover, nearby businesses are starting to show interest in our water, which could help this project achieve self-sustainability.
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic is 100% supported by donations. We receive matching funds from The Oxford Club LLC. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit registered in Maryland, so all donations are tax-deductible. We accept funds through PayPal. To donate, visit http://nicaclinic.org/individual-donations/ and select the program you would like to contribute to.
Sincerely,
Lorena Cernadas
U.S. Development Office
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic
www.nicaclinic.org
P.S. GreatNonprofits – the No. 1 source of nonprofit stories and feedback – is honoring highly regarded nonprofits with its 2016 Top-Rated Awards. You can help us raise visibility for our work by posting a brief story of your experience with us! All content will be visible to potential donors and volunteers. It’s easy and takes only three minutes! Go to http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/write/roberto-clemente-santa-ana-health-clinic-inc to get started!
P.S.S. We are currently fundraising for two significant causes – to prevent and eradicate Zika in our communities and to find new sponsors for our Padrino Program. We currently have five children on our website who need sponsorship. We are trying to bring people together through one-on-one connections. Please click here to get involved with any of our programs and projects http://nicaclinic.org/. Thank you!