2018 April - June Newsletter
So much has happened in these last three months at Primeros Pasos. We are excited to share our most important accomplishments with you!
Water for Wellbeing
In June 26, Primeros Pasos launched the Ecofiltro campaign to provide clean water to families and schools in four of the communities of the Valley with the greatest need. Ecofiltro is a company that makes ecological filters which can provide clean water to a family for up to 2 years.
This ongoing campaign aims to support families to purchase the filters for themselves at the affordable cost of 50 Quetzales. Once 155 filters have been purchased, Ecofiltro will donate filters to all of the schools in these communities. Click below to learn more and contribute!
Outreach Program
This May we were very happy to welcome our new Outreach Coordinator Monica Pérez to the Primeros Pasos familiy! Since arriving she has been working hard on building an effective and sustainable outreach program, based on the specific needs of the four most vulnerable communities of the Palajunoj Valley.
With help of volunteers and local health care providers she spent one month weighing and measuring kids and pregnant women of the communities to assess the rate of malnutrition and other nutritional anormalities. She now started hosting nutrition education sessions to classes and parents based on her findings, and will lead the first mobile clinics coming fall!
Mother’s Day Fundraiser
This May, Primeros Pasos ran an online fundraising campaign for Mother’s Day and empowered some of the women in the communities of the Palajunoj Valley by sharing their stories on our social media sites. Several women from these communities were interviewed regarding their families and the impact Primeros Pasos has had on their health. This fundraiser raised $912 in total.
Weekly Vaccination
Many of the infectious diseases that are commonly spread are easily preventible through vaccination. That is why Primeros Pasos, together with local health care providers, started a free vaccination service every Wednesday at the clinic.
Jornadas
This quarter, we held multiple jornadas in order to offer specialty services to residents of the Palajunoj Valley and promote sexual and reproductive health! So far, jornadas have offered IUD implants, PAP smears and ultrasounds, and we look forward to seeing these jornadas continue to grow in the future!
Thank you
Despite the incredible work done by our doctors that remain here at the clinic, we would not be able to serve our community nearly as well if it were not for the externos that come to us through our partnership with the Faculty of Medical Sciences of San Carlos University. In April, we said goodbye to a wonderful group of externos, but soon welcomed in a new bunch that have been hard at work learning more about the medical profession and how they can best serve their communities! Also special thanks to all the volunteers who have helped to make this second quarter as successful as it was.