Sexual Education in Las Lagunas
Friday evening on September 28th a group from the Foundation travelled outside of Moca to Las Lagunas to give a presentation on sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Miguel Angel Almanza, our general medicine Doctor, spoke about frequently transmitted STDs, symptoms to look for, ways to prevent them, and how to get help or support.
Dr. Almanza is also the youth leader at his local church, and encouraged a young group of men who like to sing, to make up a song about preventing STDs and preform for the crowd. They were definately a big hit. Also, Code Red, a Christian dance group of children from the church, and a young female singer preformed as well.
All put together, it proved to be a very successful conference. The crowd of people ranging from young children to older adults, were very attentive and paying close attention to all the information provided. The Foundation was welcomed with open arms, and every single person seemed to be very appreciative of the presentation.
Taiwanese Mission Group
A large group of over 50 Taiwanese Medical Peace Corps came to travel through Haiti and the Dominican Republic in early September to provide people in need with free medical and dentistry care. The Foundation was there to help host the group throughout their travels and aid in identifying key communities where the work would most be appreciated. Over the course of a long work week, the Taiwanese Corps treated an incredible number of 1867 patients.
The entire mission was extremely successful and everyone involved really put in their best effort help make it so. The Foundation was very excited to be a part of it, and we were glad to aid the Taiwanese troops in all ways possible.
This trip has become an annual medical trip, and we are looking forward to working with them again next year.
Physicians for Peace
For a week long mission trip, a group of urologists and their teams came down from Norfolk and Ottowa to perform surgeries on children in the public hospital here in Moca. The Foundation was here to assist the physicians in any way possible, and to make sure that their mission group went as planned. We worked closely with one of our partner foundations, Fundación Niños qué Reín, to provide lodging and meals for the whole group and to assist in the hospital settings as much as possible.
Here Dr. Horton and his 4th year resident, Chris, performed a surgery as the director of the hospital and a medical student watched and observed the surgeons’ techniques. A goal that the Foundation shares with the Physicians for Peace program is to not only do mission work, but to educate the local healthcare staff of the country as well.
In this photo Kim, the CRNA, injected the patient with a caudal block in order to numb the lower half of the body before surgery began.
Dr. Luis Diaz, co-founder of one of our partner Foundations and a general surgeon in the Dominican Republic, observes the work of Dr. Leonard and his 4th year resident, Gayana. A typical surgery usually lasted between 1 and 3 hours.
In all the Physicians for Peace mission group performed 33 surgeries in their 5 days of free surgeries at the hospital. The families and patients were all extremely thankful and gracious towards the teams, and we hoping that the physicians may be able to return in 6-9 months to perform check ups and possibly perform more surgeries!
Donating Medical Supplies to the Childrens Hospital in Santiago
Last week we travelled to Santiago with several boxes of medical supplies to donate to the childrens hospital. The director came right out with a warm welcome and posed wth us for a few pictures. Many of the supplies were initially donations from the U of Chicago medical students to the Foundation, many of which were specifically pediatric materials or were advanced supplies that we wouldn’t have been able to use at the Foundation. We donated materials such as catheters, CO2 monitors, and tracheotomy tubes.
They were very grateful to recieve the donations and assured us that all the materials will be put to good use!
We were then able to tour the hospital to see the recently-opened childrens burn unit (the only other childrens burn unit in the country aside from one in Santo Domingo, the capital), and the children’s oncology unit.
University of Chicago Medical Mission Group
In mid-June, a group of 26 Chicago University Medical School 1st year students from the REMEDY program came down to the Dominican Republic with 60 bags, each weighing exactly the maximum allowable weight of 50 lbs., and filled with medicine and medical supplies. They split their time, efforts and donations between 4 locations in our country, and the Foundation was lucky enough to be one of them!
While the students were here, the visiting doctors also volunteered their time and we were able to treat 678 patients completely free! They were diagnosed and perscribed medicines accordingly. Then, with all the donated medical supplies we were able to fill their perscriptions right here in the Foundation- also for free!
With the donated supplies from the students we were able to build our own small pharmacy that hopefully will last until more donations come.
A big thank you to all the students who visited and worked long days for our community! You all made a big difference!
Fundación Sol Naciente, Inc.
Hola and Welcome to the new blog from Fundacion Sol Naciente, Inc!
We are an non-profit organization located in Moca, Dominican Republic, with the mission to propel the harmonious development and integration of the people through the investigation and programs of Health and Education, in accordance with other related institutions, in the endeavor of creating a more just and fair society. Unfortunately, with the expenses of medicine and patient treatment, healthcare can be difficult to obtain. For this reason, we work to provide very inexpensive healthcare and free medicine to those who come to us. For example, a consultation with a general medicine physician costs $100 pesos (just over $3 U.S. dollars), half of which goes to the physician, and half of which goes back into the Foundation. We believe that healthcare is a human right and should be available to all who seek it! This blog will allow us to keep you updated on our work in the Foundation and you will be able to see exactly what our donated funds are put towards. Enjoy!
Fundación Sol Naciente, Inc. 
