Health Care for 10,000 Nicaraguan Campesinos

Every year we run our special "jornada", a special offer for all women to receive a PAP (Papanicolau test).
This is an examen in which you take a swab of the cervix of the uterus to detect inflamation or (pre)cancer. We offer that to all our adult female patients during our consultation in the villagages or in Ocotal. It is -as all our services- free of charge.
The tests need to be examined by a pathologist in a laboratory. We take it to Ocotal and deliver it to the local lab. The doctor doing this test has offered us a special price to support our work.
We later receive the written report with the results and hand them out to the women during our next visit in the community .
Certainly if necessary we start the treatment of an infection (which happens very frequently ) or transfer the patient to the Centro de Salud or hospital if (pre)cancer is found so that a therapy can be planned.
It sounds easy and logical but it is an immense help because the coordination of doing the test, examining it in a lab and the most difficult part to let the patient know the result and organise necessary treatment is not easy and very special.
Early detection and treatment of cervix carcinoma and also infection is crucial and urgently needed for our female patients .
This year we could perform 45 tests within one month and initiate treatment where necessary .
A big succsess and we want thank you for your support making this possible!!

Delivering healthcare services using our mobile clinic — our trusted 4-wheel drive truck — can require innovation. In this case, as we were driving to the village where we planned to work, we came across a large truck hauling logs that had run off the road, blocking all traffic. As it attempted to make the tight turn, the cab slipped down the hillside, stranding the flatbed. This situation could take all day to resolve! A resourceful motorcyclist wove his way around the truck and offered to deliver our message to the village about two miles away: we were setting up the mobile clinic along the side of the road. We unloaded tables and equipment. Within an hour, patients had walked from the village and were lined up, waiting patiently to be seen by our doctor, nurse, and dentist. Our doctor perched on the tailgate of the truck. The dentist examined her patients standing up. Our nurse dispensed medicine from a table on the verge of the dirt road. One by one, we located our patient’s files. As he treated patients, the doctor made his notes in the files. As required, the nurse filled the doctor’s prescriptions. The dentist could not do any extractions, but did as much as she could. It was the best we could do under the circumstances. We were happy to have been able to show up according to schedule and see our patients, despite the log truck blocking our way.