Description:

Centro Medico Humberto Parra is a community medical clinic located in the rain forest in eastern Bolivia, 72 miles outside of Santa Cruz, the largest city in the country.

Our goal is to improve the health and overall quality of life of the surrounding communities by providing first-rate medical care and other health services. It is the only free medical clinic in the surrounding 40,000 person area.

The Daniels Hamant Foundation of River Forest, IL funds and helps manage Centro Medico. The Daniels Hamant Foundation relies exclusively on private donations, and the Centro Medico Humberto Parra is heavily dependent on volunteer physicians and healthcare workers from the US and Bolivia.

Centro Medico facilities include a medical clinic and volunteer residence. The clinic has three exam rooms, an infirmary/treatment room, a dental suite, an ophthalmology suite, a laboratory, a small pharmacy, a classroom with internet access and a small children's library. The volunteer residence has Wi-Fi Internet access, five air-conditioned bedrooms, a full kitchen, living room, screened-in porch and 3 bathrooms with hot showers.

Volunteer

Volunteers are the heart and soul of the clinic. Our volunteers are doctors,nurses, medical students, public health workers, social workers, teachers and more.
Volunteers take on many critical roles at the clinic.

US doctors volunteer from a few weeks to several months taking care of Centro Medico patients and supervising rotating US medical students and residents. Meanwhile, the doctors gain valuable knowledge of tropical diseases and learn to apply their knowledge in a clinical setting with minimal technology. Residents and 4th year medical students complete tropical and rural medicine rotations at the clinic for credit. Some students also teach basic healthcare to community groups.

Non-clinical volunteers have performed needs assessments of the surrounding communities, developed a variety of health programs, taught health education and set up classes in computers and English. Volunteers in the US have also helped fundraise and coordinate clinic events.

Many of our volunteers have come in not knowing much about healthcare in Bolivia, but despite these obstacles, have accomplished impressive goals and helped saved lives.

Overall, our volunteers come from other countries but always end up becoming a part of Bolivian culture and leave with a new family.