MEDLIFE is an organization that helps families achieve greater freedom from poverty, empowering them to live healthier and giving them the necessary tools that lead to better lives. By believing that healthcare is a basic human right, MEDLIFE works with the community in order to improve low income families’ access to MEDs: Medicine, Education, and community Development. Every year, this organization travels around the world offering clinics to a community in need. This year’s Mobile Clinic is headed to Riobamba, Ecuador from January 4 to the 12th, and they are looking for volunteers!
A MEDLIFE Mobile Clinic is a basic medical clinic that provides patients with dental, OB/GYN, pediatric care, and access to preventive tests to the poor. A mobile clinic is set up in communities in Lima and Cusco, Peru, Riobamba, Esmeraldas, and Tena, Ecuador, and now in New Delhi, India, and Tanzania, Africa. According to the organization’s website, “the typical Mobile Clinic week includes three days volunteering on-site at the Clinic, one day working with local community members on a development project, one day completing a tour of the project site, and two days of cultural tourism.” Volunteers will work alongside the staff at patient intake, triage and pharmacy, and also help run the educational programs.
Last year, MEDLIFE UPRRP traveled to Lima, Peru in May in which member and president of the chapter, Alexandra Acosta, was able to participate. “I believe my trip to work on a mobile clinic in Lima, Perú was the most humbling experience of my life. Not only did it open my eyes to what millions of people suffer every day in communities where there is no such thing as a basic level of health care, but most importantly, attending this mobile clinic opened my heart to men, women and children who, although have very little, offer the world to those who come to their homes to help them live better lives. It made me become aware that so much has to be done in this world to help others live their best lives, and that anyone can be a part of this, you just have to have an intense desire to do so. Pieces of my heart reside in Pamplona Alta, Perú.” Now it’s your turn for you to be able to experience this and more.
The best thing about these clinics is that you don’t have to be a pre-med major or even study anything related to health. In order to participate, all you need is the desire to help those in need. If you are interested, you’re still on time to attend their second meeting on October 2 at 11:30 in the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Send them an email with your information at medlifeuprrp@gmail.com or add them on Facebook: Medlife U.P.R.R.P.
Photographs were taken from MedLife UPRRP last year’s trip to Peru.