©2011 La Isla Foundation
Since we created La Isla Foundation in 2008, we have made remarkable progress in organizing an effort to fight the epidemic of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the communities of Chichigalpa, Nicaragua.
Working with modest resources and the Foundation's small staff of local organizers and international advocates, we have begun to build a long-range campaign to end this epidemic and win reforms in industrial agriculture in Nicaragua.
OUR PROGRAMS
Medical Intervention Program
Even with the Foundation's success in re-opening the local health clinic in La Isla, the communities of La Isla and Candelaria suffer from very limited health care services. The poor health of the community contributes to the prevalence of CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) among sugar-cane workers and their families. Sick and malnourished men are more vulnerable to developing CKD. This is turn leaves their families, dependent on their incomes, in greater poverty and at increased risk of also developing health problems.
In La Isla, there is no potable water and precious little health care or other services provided by the Chichigalpa municipality or the state. Shallow local wells are dug by community residents and are polluted by pesticides and human waste. Common diseases that are treated easily elsewhere are serious health threats in the communities. Children are especially vulnerable; they suffer from acute respiratory infection, asthma, diarrhea, parasites, dengue, chicken pox, malaria, and severe malnutrition.
To address this health crisis in La Isla and Candelaria, La Isla Foundation developed a basic health care program in coordination with Dr. Cesar Berrios Castro and a team of doctors from National Autonomous University of Nicaragua-Leon (UNAN-León). The physicians are donating their time, and costs are limited to supplies, equipment, and medicine. Dr. Castro and his associates will provide bi-weekly comprehensive check-ups for La Isla residents. The check-ups will include basic physical examinations and medication, provided free of charge, and medical education on CRI and other illnesses. With regular medical examinations, the number of children affected by preventable diseases can be dramatically reduced.
In collaboration with the municipality of Chichigalpa and with the local office of the Ministry of Health (MINSA), the Ministry of Health), we also aim to build a health clinic in Candelaria, modeled on our successes in La Isla. Through all of these efforts, we hope to build confidence in the limited treatment options that currently exist.
School Reward Program
La Isla Foundation organized a school supply award program for students in the local elementary school in La Isla. The school is woefully under-supplied with school books and other materials. To address this problem, the Foundation organized an effort to supply the students with school books, paper, pens, and backpacks. But local residents asked organizers Juan Salgado and Eugenia Cantillano Romero only to award the school supplies to the top 50 students in the school. The program was thus created as an incentive program to reward the top performing students.
The project was hugely popular with parents in La Isla. They desperately want their children to escape the poverty into which they are born -- and that condemns their sons to work on the sugar-cane plantation, where premature death from kidney failure more than likely awaits them. The school supply program has further cemented the communities’ alliance with La Isla Foundation. We are renewing the program in the new school year.
PROGRAMS:
On The Horizon
Health Brigades
In coordination with Dr. Berrios's program, La Isla Foundation is organizing health 'brigades' that will go door to door in La Isla and Candelaria to provide health information and screening and dispel people's fear and apathy regarding medical treatment. We are also organizing this effort with Dr. Roberto Fernandez, head of the local office of the Ministry of Health (MINSA), and with the Mayor of Chichigalpa, the Institute of Social Security (INSS), and the Labor Ministry (MITRAB).
Volunteers from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua-León will train community brigade members to seek out victims of CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) in order to keep track of incidences and to encourage the victims to seek medical attention. These brigades will be essential in order to establish a dialogue between those affected by CKD and the general public. The brigades will also be important in providing information on CKD prevention and amelioration, and they will be a daily social monitor on the progress of victims of CKD. Brigade members will encourage patients to participate in medical studies and treatment.
A multi-tier approach encompassing home-visits, workshops, and presentations will provide a low-cost solution that can deliver profound results in the overall health of the communities. CKD is a preventable disease and also reversible in its early stages. The health brigades serve an essential role in helping to save lives. These brigades will be incredibly effective at unifying the communities and empowering them to take care of one another.
... and its revolutionary history, as we try to understand the roots of present day conflicts between land reform and industrial agriculture.
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