Health Care for 10,000 Nicaraguan Campesinos

The big news this quarter at Nicaragua Projekt’s health-care project is the addition of a new doctor, Dr. Luis Flores, to our medical staff. Dr. Flores is a general practitioner originally from Esteli, a city not far from Ocotal. Dr. Flores started work in October and participated in the monthly visits to the ten villages we serve. He also began treating patients in our consulting rooms in Ocotal. He is young, energetic and understands our patients’ circumstances very well. Dr. Evertz Tercero, who has worked with our project since spring of 2018, will be leaving at the end of the year to join his wife, who is a doctor practicing in the United States. We wish Dr. Tercero all the best in his future endeavors.

 Many patients attend the monthly clinics in the villages, but the bedrock of our program is our local health-care providers – brigadistas -- who see patients in their home villages on a daily basis. If necessary, the brigadistas consult by telephone with the doctor in Ocotal. They may also refer the patients to Ocotal, where we have relationships with several specialists who treat our patients for a reduced fee. To date, during 2019, our brigadistas, nurse, and doctors, have recorded over 4,500 patient visits from inhabitants of the remote villages encircling Ocotal.

 Our local healthcare providers received their initial training from Accion Medica Cristiana (AMC) in 2016-2017. When Dr. Tercero joined our staff in 2018, he initiated quarterly continuing education seminars for the brigadistas. During these training sessions, not only do the brigadistas have the opportunity to review and improve their medical skills, they also share information about situations they have encountered and learn from each other’s experiences. These quarterly meetings are an important part of our program. The final training session of 2019 was held on November 9 at our headquarters in Ocotal, with both Dr. Tercero and Dr. Flores participating.