| Issue/Objective |
The mission of Somos Amigos Medical Missions: In partnership with the community of Naranjito, we commit to deliver unparalleled quality and reliable healthcare to isolated mountain communities in the Dominican Republic. |
| Methodology/Approach |
Somos Amigos has operated a primary care medical and dental clinic in a rural area of the Dominican Republic, near the border with Haiti, for nearly thirty years. Teams of visiting volunteers, increasingly in partnership with local healthcare providers, staff our clinic quarterly and serve a region of several thousand. |
| Results |
The majority of our patients have been under our care for years. We deal with most common chronic conditions. Our dental services include prophylaxis and restorative work, oral surgery and endodontics, pediatric dentistry and we have an on-site denture lab. Our on-site blood lab allows us to perform several dozen rapid and point of care diagnostics. Women's health initiatives have responded to the needs of those patients, and we have an insulin outreach and diabetes care program. All of this is achieved in our facility located literally on the side of a hill in a remote, rural region. Our patient charts, medical and dental, document the care we have provided and the outcomes achieved. |
| Discussion/Conclusion |
Medical and dental volunteerism are long-standing traditions in the respective professions, and every year thousands of well-meaning practitioners travel to under-served areas of the world to provide care, expertise and training. But in remote areas of developing countries, areas without access to basic necessities such as electricity and clean water, can a high level of quality care actually be delivered? How does an organization ensure that the benefits offered to patients are sustainable? When local government doesn't address the healthcare needs of a remote population, what role can a group of "outsiders" play? Somos Amigos has developed a success and sustainable model over nearly thirty years. |
| Presenters and affiliations |
Frank Brightwell Somos Amigos Medical Missions |
