My Take on Inequality and Health Care in Peru
In today’s issue of El Comercio, Peru’s main daily newspaper, this headline caught my eye. It reads, “Only 39.6% of the budget allocated to healthcare was used in 2012.”…
MEDLIFE Stories
50:50 Campaign Spotlight: Neha Nidhi
A third year at Ohio State University, Neha Nidhi likes a challenge. Despite a busy schedule balancing premed classes, a double major in Spanish and biology, and working as an…
Photo Update: Staircase Construction
This week’s Mobile Clinic in Lima is one of our biggest to date, with almost 100 volunteers from schools all over the United States. That means we can serve twice…
Patient Update: Esther Veronica Continues to Battle with Childhood Leukemia
The Baca Ortiz Pediatric Hospital in Quito is a sprawling red and white rectangular complex. Fittingly for a children’s hospital, it looks like a life-sized Lego construction. Outside, street vendors…
Holiday Cheer in Unión Santa Fe
This week’s Mobile Clinic, made up of students from Florida International University, got off to an early start Sunday with a special holiday event in Unión Santa Fe. As you…
Slow But Steady: Mariano Borja and Culluctus Bathroom Construction Updates
Don Pedro picks us up in the late morning. Martha sits in the front seat, and I sandwich myself between Mirian Manzano, a coordinator for Colta’s Department of Education,…
Project Update: Wawa Wasi Construction in Unión Santa Fe
MEDLIFE began planning for our first Wawa Wasi Day Care construction project approximately seven months ago, in April of 2012. The Wawa Wasi is an important national day care program…
Mobile Clinic Update: Dana Hills High School
Our first Mobile Clinic of the season marked another first for MEDLIFE — a clinic made up entirely of high school student volunteers! Over Thanksgiving week, 50 students and six…
School as a Second Home: Columbe Lote 1 y 2, Ecuador
The road goes from pavement to cobblestone, to dirt. Small tin-roofed houses reveal themselves, hidden high in the hills. They can only be found by following the trail of concrete…
Celebrating Our 50th Staircase
Our 50th staircase project in Lima, Peru is a special one for a number of reasons. Like our very first staircase project, this one came directly out of the…
Patient Update: Meeting Alex Javier Chafla
On a visit to a small school compound in Valle Alto, a poor rural community in the humid hills of Cumandá, Ecuador, Maria, PJ, and I met with a new…
From MEDLIFE patient to volunteer
Remember the story of Gisela Neyra, the young woman from Pamplona who came to us for help with her hearing loss? MEDLIFE helped Gisela with various tests and doctors’ appointments,…