Dominican Republic Medical Partnership

In impoverished villages surrounded by sugar cane fields in the Dominican Republic, families face significant challenges, with young children particularly vulnerable due to poor nutrition and limited healthcare access. The DRMP, in partnership with Light a Candle Foundation, focuses on monitoring children’s growth and addressing malnutrition and related health issues through counseling on nutrition and preventive practices.

Special interventions such as pediatric referrals, medications, and emergency food assistance are provided to children with severe problems, followed by long-term plans to empower families to sustain good nutrition.

Using World Health Organization growth monitoring standards, physicians and trained staff weigh, measure, and counsel children, recording data on growth charts to track progress over time and offer more specialized support. The program also includes community education sessions to educate parents and caregivers.

The Health Promoter program, initially launched by DRMP and now supported by Good Samaritan Hospital, assigns one Health Promoter to each batey, providing them with training, supplies, and a stipend. These promoters serve as vital resources within their communities, distributing medication, offering family planning advice, and providing general health counseling.

Additionally, Health Promoters assist DRMP by organizing medical clinics, notifying communities about clinic dates, and supporting follow-up care for patients treated by multiple teams. Their role extends beyond health education to practical logistical support, enhancing community health and well-being.

The DRMP addresses childhood nutrition challenges by educating families on the importance of a diverse diet that incorporates foods from essential groups like fruits and vegetables (yellow, green, orange), energy sources (rice, potatoes, bread), and growth/strength providers (eggs, milk, chicken, beans). By emphasizing these food groups, often available locally through community resources like neighbor’s chickens or nearby fruit trees, parents are encouraged to improve their children’s nutrition despite limited means.

Educational sessions also cover optimal breastfeeding practices, such as exclusive breastfeeding for six months, and safe feeding practices to ensure child supervision during meals. The program also teaches hygiene practices including handwashing, water purification and safe food handling.

Each medical clinic includes a hypertension station where patients receive a three-month supply of medication and view educational videos in Spanish and Kreole about hypertension’s health impacts. In collaboration with the Light A Candle Foundation and supported by the Clymer Family Happy Hearts Initiative, DRMP enables consistent monitoring of patients throughout the year to maintain healthy blood pressure.

Data gathered within the last two years indicated that 40% of monitored patients have achieved healthy blood pressure levels, marking significant progress from the initial high prevalence of hypertension in these communities, where 90% of tested individuals were diagnosed in 2022. The Happy Hearts grant enables quarterly health evaluations, medication, and vitamin refills for affected individuals, aiming to improve long-term health outcomes.