The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic serves as a positive agent for change by saving lives, improving health, and fulfilling the promise of medicine for those most in need. We are located in a very remote area in Tola, Nicaragua and see approximately 9,000 patients per year, and your contributions are vital to the continued success of our efforts.  While it may be hard to imagine the impact your financial contribution may have to such a distant community, every donation helps.  Whether it’s $5, $50, $500 or $5,000, please use this form to make your donation.

Donating only takes a minute, but will have a long-lasting effect on the people of Nicaragua.

You can also volunteer abroad with us and enjoy a nice vacation and do some social work in our clinic. Volunteer in Nicaragua is very easy and while medical volunteers and public health volunteers are very much in demand, you do not necessarily need to be in the healthcare sector. There are numerous volunteer opportunities abroad for social workers, students, teachers, lawyers, healthcare social workers, etc. If you are looking for an international volunteer experience and wish to make a positive contribution to humanity, there is no better place to gain volunteer experience than at the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic.

We constantly welcome volunteers who come to practice what they’ve learned in medical schools, doctors and specialists who come to treat patients with special illnesses and many more people who are not medically trained, but just want to help us with our public health care mission.

Take some time out to visit and volunteer in beautiful Nicaragua at our Clinic.  The community of Limon would welcome your help with open arms and warm smiles.  I promise it will be an enjoyable and inspiring experience.

Now please enjoy this video clip from our founder and Chair to the board Julia Guth, who has been working tireless to make this dream a reality.

Juan Muñoz
Executive Director

VOLUNTEER OVERSEAS: DO YOURSELF SOME GOOD, WHILE DOING GOOD FOR OTHERS

When you volunteer abroad it’s not just the people in need who benefit. Volunteer workers enjoy powerful feelings of purpose and a strong sense of accomplishment. They meet new people and make life-long friends. Volunteer work offers the opportunity to experience other cultures, learn things not found in books or classrooms and gain a new perspective on the world at large.

Past workers have reported that medical volunteering has been among the best experiences of their lives…

Whether you’re looking for a change of pace (or scenery!) from your current medical/healthcare career or are looking for an exciting way to fulfill your internship responsibilities,  The Roberto Clemente Clinic in Nicaragua presents a great volunteer opportunity – the chance to combine  the thrilling adventure of travel with the benevolent feelings of giving back to those in need.

Contact Juan Munoz,  at jmunoz @ nicacllinic.org our US-based volunteer manager to find out more about this exciting overseas volunteer program.

VOLUNTEER VACATION?

If discovering a new country through surfing, camping, horseback riding and hiking sounds ideal to you, consider a volunteer vacation to Nicaragua!

Imagine a morning filled with the smiling faces of children eager to learn basic math skills from you, followed by an afternoon of leisure at the beach. What about discovering nature strolling forest trails brimming with monkeys and exotic birds in the morning, then an afternoon of self-discovery as you feel the pride of teaching the essentials of sanitation to people without plumbing.

Volunteering at the Roberto Clemente Clinic can even give you the unmatchable experience of working side-by-side with our doctors and nurses to save someone’s life or helping to create an entirely new healthcare program for locals desperately in need.

VOLUNTEER VACATIONS CAN RE-ENERGIZE THE BODY AND THE BRAIN

Even on short notice, we can organize a robust, yet balanced schedule of volunteering endeavors and vacation/leisure activities. You can even stay in a four-star resort while on your overseas volunteer program! We’ve made special arrangements with the Rancho Santana hotel - http://www.ranchosantana.com/ - for our healthcare clinic volunteers to receive a 50% discount on a single room. There is also a moderately-priced hotel in Limon I which includes three meals and comfortable air-conditioned rooms.

WHAT DO MEDICAL VOLUNTEERS ACTUALLY DO?

In general, medical volunteers are desperately needed to provide patient care to impoverished children and their parents. Our in-country staff will match your medical skills with our volunteer coordinator team.

Because access to medical services in developing communities is often limited, healthcare volunteers are needed to improve basic services such as diabetes screenings, tooth extractions, wellness checks for babies and pre-natal exams in our local clinic, as well as manning village dispensaries. While the needs and the working conditions are very basic, your ‘hands-on’ contribution will be life-changing.

In exchange for working approximately five hours a day with Dr. Flores and / or the other members of our local team, you’ll have the opportunity to spend time in Limon 1, Rivas running our public health programs, while learning about our  internal procedures, patient care and much more.

And of course, we welcome donations of medical supplies, but there are some restrictions as to the types of medications that can legally be brought into Nicaragua. Please contact the clinic - clinic@nicaclinic.org – with any questions.

I DON’T HAVE A MEDICAL BACKGROUND, BUT STILL WANT TO VOLUNTEER!

Don’t worry! We can match your individual skill set to a local need. Social workers, students, teachers, lawyers and healthcare social workers have just as much value as physicians, nurses, EMTs, surgeons, specialty physicians, dental hygienists, pharmacists and dentists. Our international volunteers have included everybody from Peace Corps participants to high school, college and graduate students to retired professionals looking for a new challenge.

Contact Juan Munoz at jmunoz @ nicaclinic.org  to find out how your skills can be put into action in Nicaragua!

OK, I AM READY TO VOLUNTEER ABROAD, WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM ME?

Trained professionals interested in practicing in The Roberto Clemente Clinic will need to furnish the following documents four weeks prior to when your volunteer program begins:

1)    A Notarized Letter of Intention (in Spanish) describing the type of volunteer work you would like to perform if you are a certified doctor.

2)    Copies of your licences, permits, credentials and diploma*.

3)    If you need translators we can provide one and this can be paid by you in Nicaragua.

*Full credentials will exempt you from the minimum donation we typically require of our volunteers.

WHAT ARE THE COST ASSOCIATED WITH VOLUNTERING ABROAD?

1. While there are some basic fixed costs, your choice of accommodations will determine the final pricing:
2. Airfare ranges from $500 to $700 (based on travel dates chosen, time of year and departure city)
3. Roundtrip transportation from Managua <-> Clinic is $150 (The SUV has room for 4 people).
4. Housing is available in two locations:
5. Limon 1: $450 to $560 (weekly, to be paid locally; includes three meals daily)
6. Rancho Santana (www.ranchosantana.com/) where we have arranged a 50% discount for a single room for our volunteers. They also have four-to-six person Casitas and even houses with ocean views (billed at regular rates.)
7. Program donation of $400
8. Spending money of $150 per day
9. Complete our registration form Click Here

   http://www.nicaclinic.org/images/2010/registrationvolunteers.pdf

Call us at 410-777-8626 or send an email to Juan Munoz now jmunoz @ Nicaclinic.org  to begin setting up your volunteer vacation! 

You can even get expedite the process by sending your program donation online. Once you have made your travel and accommodation arrangements, we will provide you with a detailed itinerary - everything from pick-up at the airport and volunteering opportunities to leisure activities and return transportation.

change your life while changing others’ lives – sign up to volunteer abroad!

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us as soon as you can via email at clinic @ nicaclinic.org or our direct telephone number - 410-777-8626.

Regards,

Juan Munoz
Executive Director.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at the Roberto Clemente Clinic! In exchange for working approximately five hours a day with Dr. Flores or our local team, volunteers will receive a discount at Rancho Santana hotel http://www.ranchosantana.com/on a single room ONLY or we will find you a very inexpensive hotel in Limon I for the time you need to be in our location.

Please contact Juan Munoz our manager in US at 410-777-8626, he will be happy to coordinate your visit and we will have our local team to help you with the process of visiting our clinic.

You do not need to have a medical background to volunteer with us. We request a minimum donation of $400 dollar per person per week. Please contact us as soon as you can. Email us at jmunoz @ nicaclinic.org

Who Should Volunteer at the Clinic?
Anybody! (You don’t even need to have any formal health care training) Social workers, retired people, physicians, students, nurses, teachers, lawyers, EMTs, civilians, surgeons, the general public, armed forces personnel, specialty physicians, veterinarians, dental hygienists, pharmacists, general dentists, specialty dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, healthcare social workers, optometrists, physical therapists, and even other caring people may volunteer health care services anywhere in Tola Nicaragua. In fact, we’ve seen everybody from Peace Corps workers to the layperson volunteer health care services all over the world.

If you are a trained professional and want to practice in our clinic we will needthe following documents:

1- letter of intention in spanish notarized directed to us.
2-Copies of your licences
3-Copy of your diploma

This documentation must be sent 6 weeks before your arrival. Also we will exempt you from the minimum donation.

Our in-country staff will match your abilities with local work projects. Health care professionals are needed to provide patient care to impoverished children and their parents. Because access to medical services in developing communities is often limited, health-care volunteers are needed to improve basic services such as diabetes screenings, tooth extractions, well-baby checks and pre-natal exams in our local clinic, village dispensaries. While the needs and the working conditions are very basic, your ‘hands-on’ contribution can be life-changing. It’s very helpful if you can bring donated medical supplies. But please send us an email to clinic @ nicaclinic.org because some medicines are not allow in the country.

How Much Will Cost Me to Volunteer?
The cost depends of the level of comfort you want. If you stay for one week it will cost:
1. Airfare approx: $500 to $700 (variable, dependant upon travel dates & season and origin)
2. Transportation from Managua to Clinic $150 in a SUV (room for 4 people) includes the return.
3. Housing in Limon 1/food: $450 to $560 (weekly, to be paid locally; includes three meals daily) or if you want more comfortable hotel you can stay at http:// www.ranchosantana.com/ for 50% discount for a single room ONLY, or you can rent a CASITA (room for 4 or 6) or a house with view of the ocean at regular rates.
4. Program donation: $400/ weekly
5. Spending money: $150 (minimum recommended amount for in country for transportation and other daily expenses during your trip)

Thank you for your interest in volunteering in Nicaragua!

Last night I attended a benefit/fashion show called “Denim, Designers & Donations,” hosted by Elizabeth Zepp, Jill Peterson and Lisa Surino from Agora, Inc., at Red Maple in Mt. Vernon. The event, which sold out in two days, featured Agora employees modeling clothes from local stores to benefit the Roberto Clemente, Santa Ana Health Clinic in Nicaragua. The clinic supplies free and low-cost medical care to the isolated villages and communities in the southwest part of the country.

When I arrived around 6:15, Red Maple was already packed. The bottom floor was reserved for press and VIPs, but the top floor was general admission and looked wall-to-wall crowded. Attendees were sipping on Prosecco and nibbling on pot stickers and mini bruschetta (food was generously provided by businessman Greg Barnhill). I got a chance to take a peek upstairs where the models were prepping. On the girls side of the floor, Agora event coordinator/model Jill Peterson said she was a little nervous for the show, but more excited than anything. The girls were dressed in fashion provided by Babe in Federal Hill, however owner Lisa Ponzoli couldn’t attend the event because she had to watch the shop. I reached her today and she said this about her selections: “We wanted to go with the whole Nicaraguan theme with bright colors like coral and bright green,” she said. “Of course they also tied in with the upcoming spring and summer seasons. Just fun.”

Over on the guys side of the room, things were a little more low-key. They were grabbing a bit to eat (and drinking away some nerves) before the show started. All of the guys were styled by Reason (the male counterpart to Whimsy in Federal Hill). Store co-owner Jen Solomon and Reason manager Nikki Reese said they picked a broad range for the show. “Some of the clothes have a military theme, with the shoulder epaulets,” Solomon said. “But then we have more preppy looks with more of a boating feel.” Reese explained that they only had a couple of days to put the outfits together (Jean Pool in Mt. Washington was originally slated to dress the men, but unfortunately had financial difficulties because of a recent break-in). “We’ve done events like this before, but this was the quickest we had to work,” Reese said. “We wanted to show that our store really caters to every style.”

As the show was about to start, I got back downstairs and listened to the speakers. The clinic’s operational manager, Juan Muñoz, spoke candidly and passionately about the work that they do. “The idea is about building community in Nicaragua,” he said. “And providing simple healthcare for people who don’t have the money and resources that we have.” He explained that the money people donate goes to paying for doctors, nurses, and equipment for the clinic’s roughly 10,000 patients per year. There were plenty of ways to give last night. Besides ticket sales, Red Maple gave 15 percent of the drink sales towards the clinic and there was a $1 raffle with a chance to win a trip to Nicaragua, a Mt. Vernon prize package, or beautiful Nicaraguan pottery. Plus, Agora matches any donations by 100 percent.

The fashion show went off without a hitch. There were 10 Agora employees walking down the “runway” in two sets of outfits, stopping to pose under the spotlight at the end while Gutter magazine photographer Sarah Beck snapped away. The models walked from one end of Red Maple, up the stairs to the next floor, and back again. After the show, Julia Guth, who helped establish the clinic and oversees some of the financial and travel publications for Agora, gave thanks. “I’m very proud that we are helping to provide better health and sanitation,” Guth said. “We can save lives and uplift spirits in those villages.”

To find out more about the clinic and possibly donate, please see their website: http://www.nicaclinic.org

My first visit to the Clinic was in June, 2005 and it rained a lot then causing the roads to be deeply groved in mud and the rivers impassable on two different days.  However, during that trip it didn’t rain many days in a row and eventually the mud dried a little and the rivers subsided enough to cross with a four wheel drive vehicle.

The rains during this trip were daily for weeks and constant for many days in a row.  Needless to say such weather (tiempo) makes it very difficult, if not impossible for the patients and the Clinic staff to reach the Clinic.  However, such excessive lluvia brings more unusual patients to the Clinic.  This past month a baby was delivered in the Clinic because the parents were not able to travel to the Rivas Hospital.  More trauma patients have been seen for machete accidents due to the machete slipping from the intended point of contact. Fortunately, all three clinicians, Dr. Julio Flores, and nurses Carlos Pena and Martha Miranda are skilled technicians for trauma repairs.  It never ceases to amaze me how well these three clinicians execute wound closure, and restoration of function for the patient without wound infections.  Example from this trip:  An older gentleman came in from the muddy field with a deep machete wound to the top of his foot; there was tendon involvement.  After a somewhat lengthy repair with struggles of breaking suture materials, the gentleman left the Clinic with his toe function intact, bandaged with appropriate gauzes, an ace bandage and an orthopedic boot that was a bit too short for his foot.   When he returned for a dressing change some days later, he toes were moving, his wound was intact and healing nicely.  And yes, he had to walk with his orthopedic boot in the mud that was pervasive everywhere.  At the next Clinic visit, some sutures were removed and Dr. Flores gave him an exercise program to strengthen and stretch his foot and toes.

Over the past three years, I have tried to make my bi-annual volunteer Clinic visits at different months so that I gain more knowledge about the weather and how it affects Clinic operation and challenges that the weather creates for patients and staff.  This year was similar to my first Clinic experience but the conditions were magnified by 50%.  I will vividly remember this trip and the roads between Tola and the Clinic.  And I will also remember that if I choose September and October as my working vacation months again, I will make sure that I am not in a hurry to visit other areas and allow two days to get to the airport in Managua.  This trip I was lucky and left in one of the two day breaks in the rain.  Traveling to Nicaragua and working at the Roberto Clemente Santa Ana Health Clinic is worth every minute of effort and challenge.  Try it sometime, although I wouldn’t recommend October as the chosen month.

Margie Fincham, RN, MSN

Welcome to our Health Clinic

Hola amigos de NicaClinic:

There have been many positive changes for the Roberto Clemente Clinic in the past year. The theme for this update is progress.

Since mid-2007 laboratory services were provided one day a week at the Clinic. , a registered lab technician performs routine blood and urine tests including blood chemistry exams.

This service is especially good for the people of the area since many of them would travel to Tola or Rivas for these tests. A Clinic goal for 2008 is to acquire a gynecology exam table through donation so that Pap tests can be performed.

Please Click Here to download our newsletter.

Please feel free to send our newsletter to people that you consider will benefit from this information or may be able to help us in this project. Visit our website http://www.nicaclinic.org to read more about our volunteer program.

Please feel free to give us your opinion about this Blog

Gracias

Juan Munoz