Yale Alumni Bring Needed HealthCare to Leon Region
A group of more 68 people from the Yale Alumni Service Corps visited Trohilo, a small community near Leon, to provide medical care and other projects. In five days, they provided medical consultation and care to more than 400 people from Trohilo and nearby communities.
Jelen Yalisa Espinoza, 16, said she came to the clinic to get treatment for a headache and couldn’t remember when she had last been to the doctor previously. In Trohilo there is a health clinic with a doctor and a nurse, but the clinic is only open part time. They don’t have the capacity to serve everyone who needs care, said nurse Esperanza Quiroz, and there are no specialized doctors in the community, like cardiologists or internists. Many people have to travel to the city of Leon to receive treatment or medicine. “I feel confident to say they have saved lives by diagnosing people, like women with cancer, who never would have known they were sick otherwise,” Quiroz said.
She has been working at the clinic for 8 years and said the two primary health concerns in the community are women’s health needs like Human Papilloma Virus and the devastating Chronic Kidney Disease that kills many people in the community, especially men who work in the nearby sugar farms — dehydration and exposure to pesticides both greatly increase the risk for that illness, she explained.
“Everyone who lives here is at risk for CKD,” she said.
She has been working at the clinic for 8 years and said the two primary health concerns in the community are women’s health needs like Human Papilloma Virus and the devastating Chronic Kidney Disease that kills many people in the community, especially men who work in the nearby sugar farms — dehydration and exposure to pesticides both greatly increase the risk for that illness, she explained.
“Everyone who lives here is at risk for CKD,” she said.
In addition to bringing needed care to residents, the group brought supplies including medicines and a biopsy microscope. The healthy ministry is only able to provide a limited amount of medicines to clinics like the one in Trohilo, and it’s never enough for all the patients who need it, Quiroz said.
This is the third year the YASC has visited Nicaragua through CEPAD, and a group of nurses from Yale has been visiting for eight years — this year the nurses group set up a clinic at a school in Managua. We are so thankful for Yale’s partnership! For some people in Trohilo, it was meaningful to see the group of North Americans willing and excited to role up their sleeves and provide health care and other services. As always, a big part of CEPAD’s work is building relationships with the partners in the community. A small group from the Yale team visited the homes of some patients who couldn’t visit the clinic. Two-year-old Jose has very delayed development, and there are no treatment options for him in the community. The nurses visited with the family to discuss solutions, like creating tools to help him stand up.
In addition to the medical work, the group helped construct a new classroom, did crafts with kids, and taught entrepreneurship. In five days, the group accomplished a lot. We look forward to their return in 2015! In the meantime, the people of Trohilo have a better chance at a healthy year, a larger school, and some new friendships.
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