Project Huancayo and La Merced, Peru
Students from the University of Illinois on the Winter 2014 trip
Below is a video from the Missouri State University PreMed society's trip to FIMRC's clinic in Agallpampa.
The UIUC FIMRC chapter has sent volutneers to the Peru clinics for several years. This rewarding trip allows volunteers to experience the rural community clinic in Agallpampa as well as a a hospital setting in the coastal city Trujillo. Volunteers spend half of their trip in each location.
Huancayo
Nestled among the the Andes mountain range and pastoral landscape sparsely populated with adobe houses, Huancayo is the regional center of a sprawling network of Andean villages located 10,000 ft above sea level. Despite the beauty of Huancayo, the people of Huancayo and surrounding villages live in extreme poverty. Most men and women work in the fields, performing jobs that require intense physical labor. Families tend to live on a simple diet, eating only what food that is grown on the land, and cook inside the home on a fire. Many health problems, such as malnutrition and respiratory infections, are a direct result of these difficult living conditions.
Due to the sparseness of the region, medical access is extremely limited, and many families have to walk for hours to reach a medical clinic. FIMRC works with local clinics to help expand the reach of the medical care provided by assisting with medical campaigns and working on health education. Through monthly efforts in the outlying communities, as well as working alongside doctors in the health posts, volunteers are exposed to the untouched population that resides in Huancayo.
La Merced
La Merced, located in the province of Chanchamayo, is a small town in the jungle surrounded by mountains. The community is known as the gateway to the indigenous populations of the Ashaninka, Yanesha, and Amuesha, communities rich in native languages and culture. Many of the most common health issues are related to the rural, Amazonian location of La Merced.
Huancayo
Nestled among the the Andes mountain range and pastoral landscape sparsely populated with adobe houses, Huancayo is the regional center of a sprawling network of Andean villages located 10,000 ft above sea level. Despite the beauty of Huancayo, the people of Huancayo and surrounding villages live in extreme poverty. Most men and women work in the fields, performing jobs that require intense physical labor. Families tend to live on a simple diet, eating only what food that is grown on the land, and cook inside the home on a fire. Many health problems, such as malnutrition and respiratory infections, are a direct result of these difficult living conditions.
Due to the sparseness of the region, medical access is extremely limited, and many families have to walk for hours to reach a medical clinic. FIMRC works with local clinics to help expand the reach of the medical care provided by assisting with medical campaigns and working on health education. Through monthly efforts in the outlying communities, as well as working alongside doctors in the health posts, volunteers are exposed to the untouched population that resides in Huancayo.
La Merced
La Merced, located in the province of Chanchamayo, is a small town in the jungle surrounded by mountains. The community is known as the gateway to the indigenous populations of the Ashaninka, Yanesha, and Amuesha, communities rich in native languages and culture. Many of the most common health issues are related to the rural, Amazonian location of La Merced.
Volunteering in Huancayo
In Huancayo, volunteers shadow and assist the medical professionals in the primary care clinic as well as provide health education to local school systems, promote preventative health measures, and assist in vaccination campaigns among the Andean villages near Huancayo.
During the stay in Huancayo, volunteers live together in a guesthouse-style homestays. These homestays are comfortable with hot water and western-style toilets. All meals will be provided through the homestay.
Volunteering in La Merced
Volunteers in La Merced will have a unique experience in that they work alongside doctors and medical residents in public hospital rather than a FIMRC clinic, allowing volunteers experience a medical system vastly different than that of the US. Volunteers will do tasks such as broadcasting health programs on the local radio, patient waiting room education, giving talks at schools, and working with mothers in the community.
Accommodations for volunteers in La Merced are similar to those of Huancayo in that the volunteers will stay in a guesthouse-style homestay that is a short drive from the hospital. Homestays will have telephone access and are also located within a short distance from internet cafes. All meals will be provided by the homestay.
In Huancayo, volunteers shadow and assist the medical professionals in the primary care clinic as well as provide health education to local school systems, promote preventative health measures, and assist in vaccination campaigns among the Andean villages near Huancayo.
During the stay in Huancayo, volunteers live together in a guesthouse-style homestays. These homestays are comfortable with hot water and western-style toilets. All meals will be provided through the homestay.
Volunteering in La Merced
Volunteers in La Merced will have a unique experience in that they work alongside doctors and medical residents in public hospital rather than a FIMRC clinic, allowing volunteers experience a medical system vastly different than that of the US. Volunteers will do tasks such as broadcasting health programs on the local radio, patient waiting room education, giving talks at schools, and working with mothers in the community.
Accommodations for volunteers in La Merced are similar to those of Huancayo in that the volunteers will stay in a guesthouse-style homestay that is a short drive from the hospital. Homestays will have telephone access and are also located within a short distance from internet cafes. All meals will be provided by the homestay.