Project Nicaragua http://www.projectnic.org Bringing Quality Healthcare to the People of Nicaragua Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:25:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 UCSD March 2013 http://www.projectnic.org/ucsd-march-2013/ http://www.projectnic.org/ucsd-march-2013/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:10:41 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1297 The big goals for the year is to raise funds for the next upcoming water filter trip.  And to get more people and members involved in going and raising funds for this trip. One major goal is to get the Spina Bifida Research data we’ve been collecting published. Obtaining more donations for Medical Trip is also a current goal.

We are having our members help out with Medical Donations. A letter that they can send out to potential donors such as hospitals, clinics, medical doctors/private practices and or other resources has been formulated for them so that they can begin asking for donations. The deadline for all donations to be gathered is Friday of week 10, March 15, 2013.

As for the medical trip that will be taking place this Spring Break, one of our main goals is to bring back as many Spina Bifida surveys as we can from those who suffer from it and to bring back 30 controls for Dr. George Chiang. As of now, the American research acquired for Spina Bifida shows no trends and therefore the data is inconclusive. Thus, the Chapter is depending on Nicaraguan surveys.

We had a training session for the Research that will be conducted in Nicaragua on February 27th.This training also served as a workshop and information session on how to conduct the surveys, and upon Spina Bifida and the reasons behind it being so prevalent in Nicaragua.

Upcoming Events, next quarter we will be selling fried plantains and Cacao. Our main goal here besides raising funds, is to have our members bond more with the officers and become further connected with the Project. We want our members to be more engaged and learn a little more about Nicaragua culture by tasting some traditional food at the same time. The goal is to have everyone help out in preparing the plantains and Cacao as well as selling on library walk.

Our successes for the year is being able to keep in contact and work together with the Doctors both in Nicaragua and in San Diego. We are looking forward to publishing our Spina Bifida research based on the Preliminary Analysis on the American side and the surveys that will be obtained from the Nicaraguan side.

 Best,
Cynthia Beltran
Project Nicaragua Director of Resources and Publicity
]]> http://www.projectnic.org/ucsd-march-2013/feed/ 0 Vanderbilt March 2013 http://www.projectnic.org/vanderbilt-march-2013/ http://www.projectnic.org/vanderbilt-march-2013/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:09:47 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1295 The Vanderbilt chapter of Project Nicaragua is looking forward to our 10 day trip to Managua and Leon in May! We have hundreds of eyeglasses collected and will be distributing and helping with vision exams at the Central Eye Hospital in Managua. We are also in the process of collecting dental supplies to donate to La Mascota Children’s Hospital. In Leon, we will take an educational approach and lead classes on exercise, diet, sanitation and hygiene, and sex education for high school students. We are also working with the non-profit organization FriendsNE and are in the process of raising money to build a home for a family in need in Leon. If you would like to make a donation, please follow this link: http://www.friendsne.org/vanderbilt-university-housing-project/.

All of the officers have been working so incredibly hard! We are looking forward to our first trip to Nicaragua and many more to come. Thanks for reading!

Rebecca Wang
Vanderbilt Campus Director
]]> http://www.projectnic.org/vanderbilt-march-2013/feed/ 0 UCB March 2013 http://www.projectnic.org/ucb-march-2013/ http://www.projectnic.org/ucb-march-2013/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:07:59 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1293 Hello,

The Project Nicaragua UC Berkeley halfway through the second semester of our first year of existence. In preparation for next year we are in the process of seeking and selecting our successors and have made great strides towards our water filtration project.

We applied and received grants through the school of public health and the student government. We are also in the process of setting up an online fundraising platform. This summer the UC Berkeley Chapter will be implementing a water filter project in the region of Esteli Nicaragua. We are working in collaboration with La FEM a Nicaraguan NGO centered on the empowerment of women and purchasing the filters from the Waves4Water. If there is additional funding we will also construct a school or community garden.

The trip date will be a set in a couple weeks but will most likely take place in early June. The filters will be installed amongst the 17 women-led agricultural fair-trade cooperatives, housed under La FEM. In addition to the installations we will host a series of workshops on water sanitation, the environment, health and nutrition for the communities we’ll be working in. As a part of the ground team you will be required to help strategize and provide input for the project.

We are really exited to find new leader for the chapter and to implement our project this summer. Please stay up to date with our project, we will have an online fundraising option soon. Thank you for your support.

Mauricio D. Castillo
Campus Co-Director | Project Nicaragua Berkeley Chapter 
]]> http://www.projectnic.org/ucb-march-2013/feed/ 0 OSU March 2013 http://www.projectnic.org/osu-march-2013/ http://www.projectnic.org/osu-march-2013/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:06:58 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1291 With the new year and new semester there has come a new focus here at the OSU branch of Project Nicaragua.  We have recently found out that we will be going on a trip to Rancho Grande, Matagalpa, Nicaragua in May along with a team of doctors.  We also are working on four current projects to implement when we go on our trip including a survey to measure our past successes and how we can make future improvements in Rancho Grande, a library project to increase the number of educational materials they have at the school there, a program with the local casa maternal, and a new composting program for the farm.

Outside of the survey project, our other three have been submitted to Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) and we hope to hear back soon on whether or not we will be invited to attend for them in the first week of April, but in the meantime we are working on them regardless, because we’ll be implementing them on the May trip.  Also, with the survey we are collaborating with Dr. Brent Sohngen, a professor of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics here at Ohio State and his graduate student, Lea. They have been a great aid to us in figuring out how to structure our survey and hopefully gain IRB approval before our May trip so we can publish our results later.

In addition to working on projects, our branch is also conducting many fundraising events as well; from arena clean ups at the Schottenstein Center, to working Nationwide Arena events, and pairing up with local businesses for “fundraising nights.”  We are also hosting our first ever Volleyball tournament on Sunday, April 7th along with the help of a business fraternity on campus, Delta Sigma Pi.  All proceeds from the event will go to benefit the community of Rancho Grande.

We are very much so looking forward to the challenges ahead of us with planning a trip, conducting research, implementing projects, and continually fundraising this year and hope to continually grow our OSU branch as after the May trip, our focus will shift to membership development as August will bring a fresh group of roughly 15,000 new students to campus here at Ohio State.

If you have any questions or concerns, let me know!

Thanks!

Patrick Schaffer

OSU Webmaster

]]> http://www.projectnic.org/osu-march-2013/feed/ 0 UCLA March 2013 http://www.projectnic.org/ucla-march-2013/ http://www.projectnic.org/ucla-march-2013/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:05:35 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1289 UCLA Project Nicaragua is excited for a trip later this year. We will be focusing on continuing to fund the medical scholarships we have provided to students for medical school in Nicaragua. Some of our other goals include gathering medical supplies for our mobile clinics and continuing our epidemiological research on head trauma.

We were able to secure a sponsorship with the Blue Cable Company to help pay for the scholarships we are providing. Additionally we are having local fundraisers on campus. We have contacted several companies including Johnson and Johnson and Bayer for further financial and medical supply grants. Additionally we have met with Dr Lazareff to discuss our research project on neurotrauama epidemiology.

We have upcoming fundraisers on campus at Rubio’s, Panda Express, and California Pizza Kitchen in Westwood. Contact us at ucla@projectnic.org to find out how you can get involved.
We hope to secure sufficient funding so that we can succesfully fund Nicaraguan medical students, make short term contributions through mobile clinics, and long term contributions to a body of research.

Brian Gandara
UCLA Director of Development
]]> http://www.projectnic.org/ucla-march-2013/feed/ 0 December 2012 OSU Update http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-osu-update/ http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-osu-update/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:04:28 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1238 The new school year and transition period into semesters here at Ohio State has brought about some challenges to our Chapter, however we have continued to grow and conduct events similar to when we previously were on quarters.  In October we held our annual Euchre Tournament and raised around two hundred dollars.  We also had the opportunity to have our head contact with Love In Action, Noemi Caiazzo, at the event and talk about our work in Nicaragua and help promote our group to not only our members, but all participants involved.  Also, in November we hosted Fishbowl Improv, a comedy improv group on campus for a fundraiser, after they threw a great performance for us last spring at a similar event.  This show was great as well, and through it, we raised one hundred and sixty dollars as well as several donations of hygiene products for the community of Rancho Grande, another desired goal of the event.

As we go forward into the new year and the next semester, our goals are to improve member and organizational development as well as continue to have awareness and fundraising events.  Part of our member development is applying to the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU).  CGIU is an annual meeting where students, topic experts, and celebrities come together to discuss and develop innovative ways to solve pressing global issues.  This year it is being held at Washington University in St. Louis April 5th-7th.  We have gone before and realize that it is a vigorous process getting in, but we hope to send three different groups of four members this year. Also, organizationally we want to further develop by researching our impact and effectiveness as a group in our efforts to help better Nicaragua.  We will be doing this in collaboration with Dr. Brent Sonhgen, a professor of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at Ohio State.  We’re really looking forward to getting the results of this research so we can make our chapter better than ever before.

Patrick Schaffer
PN OSU Webmaster

 

]]> http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-osu-update/feed/ 0 December 2012 Berkeley Update http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-berkeley-update/ http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-berkeley-update/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:01:12 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1236 The UC Berkeley Chapter is currently in the process of securing funding for its Water Filtration Project, which will be a collaboration with the UCSD Chapter. They are also busy establishing contact with representatives for La Fem, a nonprofit outside of Esteli, in hopes of establishing on-site partnership with the rural communities in which the filters will be installed. They have decided that the filters for the project should be purchased from Waves For Water, a nonprofit that works in Nicaragua as well as many other countries around the world. These filters are effective, inexpensive, easy to assemble, and they provide lots of water in a way that limits opportunity for re-contamination. Finally the chapter is also searching for hospitals to reach out to for medical supply donations that will go to Lenin Fonseca Hospital during their trip to Nicaragua this coming Summer.

 

Devin Derby
PN UCB Co-Campus Director

]]> http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-berkeley-update/feed/ 0 December 2012 Vanderbilt Update http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-vanderbilt-update/ http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-vanderbilt-update/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:00:02 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1234 I along with eight other students from Vanderbilt University are excited to announce that we will be joining the Project Nicaragua family as their latest chapter addition! I began looking into starting a chapter last summer after having volunteered in Central America and after being inspired by the stories of members from the OSU chapter of Project Nicaragua.

We will make our first trip down to Nicaragua for two weeks in the month of May. The first week will work with La Mascota Children’s Hospital in Managua teaching programs on health, hygiene, nutrition, and first-aid. The second week we will work in Leon with local schools and small clinics in the community, as well as collaborating with the NGO FriendsNE to help build a house for a family with $2,000, 25% of which they would pay back over the next four years.

Some things on our agenda for next semester include holding donation drives for dental supplies, personal care products, as well as continuing our eyeglass drive from the fall. We are also planning to host a Nicaraguan gala  to raise funds with a group of medical students at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine who are also traveling to Nicaragua on a medical mission trip in March.

All of the officers are working extremely hard to make the most out of this first trip. We look forward to learning, growing and serving together as an organization, and can’t wait to see what this next year will bring. Happy Holidays from Vanderbilt!
Rebecca Wang
Vanderbilt University, Campus Director
]]> http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-vanderbilt-update/feed/ 0 December 2012 UCSD Update http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-ucsd-update/ http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-ucsd-update/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:59:18 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1232 Fall Quarter we held a presentation about Project Nicaragua at an AMSA meeting. We also presented information and how to get involved with our org at an Abroad Informational Session for Marshall College.

As for our upcoming Medical Trip, we have decided to change it from December 15 to Spring Break in March. We will be joining forces with the UCLA chapter and hope to book our flights by the beginning of Winter Quarter.

Due to the quarter almost coming to an end and finals week right around the corner we will not be having any more General Body Meetings until the beginning of next quarter.

As for Fundraising, at the time we are advertising MCAT Kaplan Books.

Cynthia Beltron
PN UCSD Officer
 

 

]]> http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-ucsd-update/feed/ 0 December 2012 UCLA Update http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-ucla-update/ http://www.projectnic.org/december-2012-ucla-update/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:55:28 +0000 webmaster http://www.projectnic.org/?p=1230 Project Nicaragua was able to continue funding three medical students’ education. During the last trip we were able to provide Hospital Lenin Fonseca with 4-5 boxes full of medical supplies. Additionally through our mobile clinic we were able to provide a local small village with glasses, helping improve their invaluable sense of vision. Furthermore data from 270 patients were taken for an epidemiological study that found the most prevalent illnesses in Hospital Lenin Fonseca.

Project Nicaragua UCLA is working on fundraising by communicating with local churches and businesses and as well as national banks such as Goldman Sachs who have donated to our chapter before. Additionally regular fundraisers at the Rubio’s and Panda Express restaurants on campus are being done to help raise money.

Fundraising is being done to possibly help defray the cost of the trip but primarily for our scholarship program in which we cover the medical school education of three Nicaraguan students and is a central element to our chapters mission.

Chapter members will have a conference with Dr. Jorge Lazareff, the founder of Project Nicaragua, to discuss further spina bifida research in Managua as well as future projects, goals, and the direction of Project Nicaragua.

Brian Gandara
PN UCLA Director of Development

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