HOMBRE partners with medical schools within the Dominican Republic to offer primary care services to the underserved communities in the Villa Mella, Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican Republic. Temporary week long clinics are established throughout the year which will see approximately 70 – 100 patients daily. These patients include pediatrics, adolescents, adults and geriatric populations.
As a family medicine physician I will see patients and treat common acute and chronic medical conditions. I will also supervise one of my residents from the residency where I am faculty as well as Dominican medical students students.
The community served is very low income with little access to medical care. The medical outreach project has been going to the same community since 2006. It provides access to care and connects patients with local medical providers while providing a space for immediate access to care. This work is in collaboration with two medical schools (INTEC and PUCMM), and local physician volunteers.
HOMBRE works to improve access to health services as well as general well being of the local population. Regular medical missions provide dependable primary medical care. The mission also helps to support the local health infrastructure by educating future healthcare providers that will go on to serve these communities.
I have participated in many trips in the past that have all made me a better physician here in the United States. Since residency, I have exclusively practiced in an FQHC setting, where many of our patients come from low resource countries. Seeing what healthcare looks like in other places allows me to be better informed about their prior experiences. In addition to this, I am faculty at a new residency program. I hope to build a long term relationship and partnership with the organization for our residency so that our residents can have the exposure to medical missions and have the opportunity to serve these communities.
During our trip to the Dominican Republic with the Dominican Aid Society, we were able to partner with local medical students to serve a community with little access to the public health system. We set up a week long clinic where the community presented for care (both acute and for chronic conditions). The Dominican medical students were able to assess patients and then present each case to us, allowing us to participate in their education and in the care of the patient. Many months of medications were provided to the patients at no cost. In addition to this, we were able to walk through the community and provide care to those for whom it may be harder to leave their homes. The mobile clinic returns regularly to the community, making it a stable and regular source of care for those that need it.
We were grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with local medical students in both their education and in the care of patients.
