FIMRC

Five kilometers outside of San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica, approximately twelve thousand five hundred Nicaraguan refugees and impoverished Costa Rican citizens settled outside of central Alajuelita (“Little Alajuela”). The majority of this population, comprised largely of women and their children, is medically uninsured. Admirably, Costa Rica promises universal healthcare to its native 3.8 million citizens; unfortunately, the poorest sector of the population slips through bureaucratic cracks and Nicaraguan political refugees still receive no insurance. Though the World Health Organization estimates a remarkable eighty-nine percent of Costa Rica’s population have primary medical insurance, many people including Nicaraguan refugees still struggle to find much needed healthcare.

The most rampant medical issues plaguing this population are readily treatable with preventative measures, education initiatives and continuous healthcare monitoring: diarrhea, head lice, malnutrition, persistent bronchial infections, gastrointestinal microbe infections, unplanned pregnancies, alcoholism, drug addiction, and HIV. Coupled with these medical issues are equally persistent and pervasive social problems—the absence of clean water and sanitation facilities, absent or overcrowded schools, underemployment, and overwhelming poverty.

The FIMRC clinic in San Felipe, Alajuelita was established in January of 2005 and is just a short walk to the underserved communities, Jasmín (“Jasmine”) and Los Pinos (“The Pines”). The San Felipe Clinic is staffed by our Medical Director, Dr. Cristian Elizondo, and Health Education Coordinator, Dayan Alvarado. The centrally located three-room space serves as a FIMRC base within the community for well-child and acute care visits. In addition to maintaining a base at the clinic, FIMRC works on community services initiatives in conjunction with the mayor of Alajuelita.

The principal goals of our work in Alajuelita include the following:

1. most crucially, to establish an effective system for the delivery of acute and preventative healthcare to members of this underserved Costa Rican community;
2. transition from a system of triage healthcare to one of continuous care by implementing biannual well-child visits for the entire community, all the while monitoring key indicators of overall health;
3. achieve a marked decrease in pediatric malnutrition and in the number of underweight children in the community;
4. curb the devastating spread of common endemic disease caused by preventable microbial infections; and
5. promote and sustain programs in health education, with particular focus on pediatric and maternal health initiatives

Project Alajuelita currently welcomes volunteers traveling individually or in groups of up to 10. Availability is year-round, so please contact us with the dates you would like to travel and we will do our best to accommodate you!

The nature of the volunteer mission to Alajuelita will vary depending on the number of volunteers in each group, the length of the volunteer trip, respective proficiencies in Spanish, medical expertise, and the current needs of the community and the clinic upon arrival. What FIMRC can guarantee, however, is that every volunteer mission will be culturally and socially enlightening to its volunteers. Each volunteer will have opportunities to examine Costa Rica’s systems of medical provision in numerous ways and learn about health care disparities as outlined below.

Standards of medical care are extremely divergent within Costa Rica – you may witness modern hospitals comparable to those in the US, but in the same day witness communities receiving a very low standard of care, with no medical insurance coverage.

Outside FIMRC’s clinic, volunteers may spend time developing health educational initiatives in Tejarcillos, a soup kitchen located in the underserved areas of Alajuelita where children play in safety and receive hot meals daily. Also in central Alajuelita is a small orphanage in need of regular visits from volunteers for educational aid for its children.

Progress in the clinic itself accelerates daily. Recent needs from the clinic included repainting and furnishing with medical supplies. Volunteers have been instrumental in our early construction projects. Volunteers will also maintain important roles in the clinic’s future—establishing medical record systems, building health education curricula on HIV, parasites, dental health etc, charting patients’ vital signs and observing clinical interactions with medical staff. There are lots of opportunities for shaping an itinerary to your interests, as FIMRC’s goal is to provide every volunteer a memorable, worthwhile experience that will instill lasting impressions about healthcare in developing communities.

We have found that volunteers’ favorite aspect of their volunteer missions is the clinical experience – we give each volunteer the opportunity to shadow the doctor in the examination rooms, administer medications, and take vital statistics of patients. It is important to note, however, that a visit to a FIMRC clinic may not revolve around clinical or medically focused experiences for the volunteers. While giving an injection, for example, may be an inspiring experience for a volunteer interested in a career in medicine, FIMRC maintains the policy that medical care must be delivered by qualified, trained professionals for the benefit of our patients. Those volunteers with medical background or expertise will likely have the opportunity to work in a medical capacity alongside our clinic staff. Student volunteers are asked to enhance our projects by participating in and conducting health education seminars, construction related projects, and other activities that promote the FIMRC mission, in addition to their time in the clinic. FIMRC asks that all volunteers be flexible and willing to help FIMRC staff out where needed.

The following is a sample itinerary of a one-week volunteer mission with Project Alajuelita. This itinerary has been made to provide a clear, general impression of the way volunteer time is spent. Please note, however, that in order to ensure that a volunteer’s work has the greatest, most relevant impact on clinic and on the communities we serve, actual itineraries are established upon a volunteer’s arrival at the clinic.

Volunteers stay with a Costa Rican family in the comfortable suburb of Santa Ana. Santa Ana is located about 20 minutes outside of San Jose, and is about 30 minutes from the clinic site. Santa Ana has a number of internet cafes where it will be possible to send emails or otherwise communicate with friends and family in the U.S. FIMRC’s homestay coordinator, Rita Zuniga, screens all families and ensures that everyone is satisfied with their placement. We ask that you indicate all housing preferences, including food preferences and pet and food allergies in the enrollment forms. All of the houses are clean, with western style toilets and showers. All transportation will be provided by a reputable hired driver with whom FIMRC has been working since the inception of Project Alajuelita’s volunteer program.

Country-specific vaccination requirements change from year to year, based on the health situation of a particular country. Please refer to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for updates on outbreaks and vaccination suggestions via www.cdc.gov.

For the safety of our volunteers, FIMRC requires all participants in the Global Health Volunteer Program to possess health insurance for the duration of their volunteer mission. If your current health policy does not cover you for a minimum of $50,000 emergency medical evacuation, there are numerous travel insurance companies from whom trip insurance can be purchased.

Please remember to bring sufficient personal medications, if needed, for the entirety of your time away from home.

US citizens can enter the country with their U.S. Passport. Volunteers who do not hold a US passport must check with the embassy for current regulations. Please see the embassy website and look up visa requirements.

The following are costs payable to FIMRC for a volunteer mission in Costa Rica:

• Program donation: $699 per week
• Housing/Food/Transport: $450 per week (includes three meals per day)

The following are additional estimated costs:

• Airfare approx: $500 to $700 (variable, depending upon travel dates & season. Volunteers are responsible for booking their own flights)
• Spending money: $150 (approximate recommended amount to bring)

Long-term placements are negotiable.

The Project Alajuelita Team

The following staff members have been essential in establishing the first successes of our clinic in Alajuelita. To contact a team member with further questions please email info@fimrc.org.

Stacy Wallick, MPH
VP of Project Development
Member, Board of Directors

Stacy was among the first FIMRC members to visit the Project Alajuelita Clinic at its inception in early January 2006. She is responsible for implementing all aspects of the volunteer program and managing the Project Alajuelita clinic.

Dr. Reinhart Stedem
Physician

Dr. Stedem is the staff doctor in charge of providing medical care for all children served by Project Alajuelita.

Tatiana Blanco
Psychologist

Tatiana provides psychological treatment and counseling to children and young adults in Alajuelita as part of Project Alajuelita.

Dayan Alvarado
Program Coordinator

Dayan concentrates on developing educational programming for the volunteers and works directly with the volunteers outside the clinic in Tejarcillos and the Alajuelita orphanage. He is also responsible for managing day-to-day activities of the Project Alajuelita clinic. He also works closely with Vladdi to organize outreach initiatives throughout the community.

Rita Zuniga
Volunteer Coordinator

Rita successfully places all volunteers traveling to Alajuelita with Costa Rican families. She manages all transportation of volunteers between Santa Ana, Alajuelita, and San Jose. Rita also provides qualified information about independent weekend excursions around Costa Rica.

Sara Schoenleber
VP of Volunteer Programs, Global Health Volunteer Program

Sara manages the Global Health Volunteer Program, handling all stateside logistical issues. Sara is responsible for the coordination of volunteers prior to departure and management of volunteers worldwide.

If you are interested in volunteering at this site, please email missions@fimrc.org.