Our community programs engage local leaders and stakeholders, empowering local residents to take control of their own personal health.

MENTAL HEALTH

Harmony and Health

Sharing a vision with Hope Music Ecuador and Canadian based NGO Peace in Mind, we developed a mental health program for those afflicted with trauma. We use an integrated combination of diverse therapies such as breathing exercises, journaling, music, art, dance and yoga to create a safe space for youth and seniors to internalize and externalize their emotions in a positive healthy way.

Women’s Health

Women’s health and wellness educational empowerment program for emotional and physical abuse victims as well as those highest at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infectious diseases. We aim to provide information and protect patient confidentiality in a safe, supportive environment. We will track data long-term in order to better understand the public health sector and continue to look for gaps for areas of improvement.

CHRONIC DISEASE

Screenings and Lifestyle Plans

Our chronic disease screenings help in identifying pre-diabetic and pre-hypertensive individuals. After thoroughly evaluating our patients and only after fully understanding their lifestyles, we prioritize to lower blood pressure and sugar levels as these untreated can further compromise and complicate health. We then create personalized health plans providing information in nutrition & exercise. Included in this program are medicinal community gardens to increase patient access to healthy options.

Ethnobotanical Community Garden

Our medicinal community garden project, Amorfinos de las Plantas, is rooted in the core tenets of ethnobotany, and furthers our mission to improve the health and well-being of low-income families living in communities facing frequent natural disasters

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Vector Borne Diseases

Collect long term datasets in post-disaster scenarios addressing climate, stress and public health crisis  in relation to Aedes aegypti borne disease transmission (Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses). These findings will increase our understanding of abundance and distribution of vectors following natural disasters which may amplify human arbovirus infection risk. Our aim is to help reduce the risk of infectious diseases in vulnerable communities.

Mosquitos Y Yo is an educational program aimed at empowering local youth through science in order to reduce mosquito borne illness in vulnerable communities. Students will question and pursue their own scientific curiosities. Participants learn the connection between mosquito ecology, climate, and disease transmission. Then students will have the opportunity to work with community health workers to monitor mosquito prevalence in their own homes.

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HIV/AIDS

Partnering with an all women led group, Corazon Solidarios, focused on “Strengthening Families living with HIV” we have worked to provide transportation to get crucial donation to more than 220 families. We are currently studying the realities of our patients' lives in personal, social, economic and work contexts, their mobility, their health history and health status. We point out their experiences of discrimination in relation to being HIV+ both in work and educational environments, which violates Ecuadorian law.