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Countries/States Served:
Guatemala, Peru
People Utilized or Employed:
Dentistry, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, General Preventive Medicine, Pediatrics
Types of Students Allowed:
Medical Students, Premedical Students, Dental Students, Predental Students |
Program Length:
Short Term (Less than 1 month)
Language Skills:
Religious Affiliations:
University Affiliations:
Midwestern, Nova Southeastern University
College of Osteopathic Medicine |
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Mission Statement: (See Web Site For Updated Information)
DOCARE International, NFP, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization comprised of health care professionals representing many disciplines. Founded by an osteopathic physician in 1961, the all-volunteer membership includes DO and MD physicians, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, physician assistants and interested lay people who contribute special skills.
A medical outreach organization, DOCARE's primary objective is to bring needed health care to primitive and isolated people in remote areas of Western Hemisphere countries. Other service areas have been and may be included in the future including responding to disasters in our own country.
DOCARE medical missions have gone to northern Mexico to serve the Tarahumara Indians in the past. More recently efforts have concentrated on Central Yucatan to serve Mayan Indians and to Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador. Areas of concentration change as the need changes and also depend on the improvement in availability of medical care locally. Missions have also taken place in the Caribbean, and an orphanage in Nogales.
The areas served by DOCARE are usually remote. In the past, DOCARE teams flew their own private aircraft to those areas. For many reasons, this is not done much today. When missions take place in remote areas, participants fly commercially as close as possible and arrange for transportation to the final destination. This may be provided by the local physicians assisting in organizing the mission or may be by rental vehicle or bus.
DOCARE has a philosophy about the establishment of services in a new area. There must be a need based on unavailability of care in the area -- this can be that the area needs more help than the local physicians can provide or can include the need for specialty care not readily available in that area. DOCARE prefers to have the assistance of a local physician when possible. Once a clinic is established, DOCARE tries to continue periodic care to that area until local medical services are adequate. This requires a tremendous amount of effort on behalf of DOCARE members to periodically make themselves available for these missions.
DOCARE missions can be organized at any time of the year. In the past, these have usually been in the Spring or Fall. It basically depends on the availability of members and their schedules. A team captain coordinates all details of a mission and participants bring their own supplies and equipment. Upon arrival in the program area, DOCARE members are sorted into teams to provide health care services to the host and neighboring communities for the next several days. The lengths of the missions depend on the volunteers' time schedules. Seven to fourteen working days are ideal but can be more or less.
DOCARE's team approach in providing total health care is unique in that services may include medical, dental, eye, foot and animal health problems. DOCARE has gained wide acceptance in host countries and recognition in the United States. DOCARE International is a private voluntary organization (PVO) registered with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Participation in DOCARE missions is limited to dues-paying members. Health professionals must be licensed in their respective disciplines and all mission participants must pay their own travel expenses -- transportation, food and accommodations. Members are kept informed of DOCARE activities, including scheduled missions, through a periodic newsletter.
DOCARE has no paid officers or staff. Its operational budget is derived from annual membership dues plus contributions from individuals, church groups and service organizations familiar with the DOCARE program. All gifts, including dues, are tax-deductible. DOCARE funds are used only to purchase needed drugs, equipment, supplies and services essential to its operation. In addition, many U.S. pharmaceutical companies donate substantial quantities of medicine, equipment and instruments for use in the DOCARE program.
While DOCARE is not aligned or affiliated with any religious or church organization, its medical outreach efforts often come under the umbrella of established, religious missionary groups only because they are usually located in areas of greatest need. DOCARE also cooperates with other organizations which support and sponsor health care programs in these countries.
DOCARE members represent a variety of disciplines, interests and geographic regions. But there is one common thread that binds them together. It is the concern that they share for the unmet health needs of people deprived of such care because of terrain, language and cultural barriers.
The American Osteopathic Association grants class I-B CME for DOCARE missions based on the actual hours spent providing health care. These trips, while financed by the individuals going on each mission, are generally tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Class I-A CME credits may be available if a formal lecture schedule is organized and completed during the mission.
For nearly four decades this organization has offered medical outreach to isolated, underserved people in South and Central America and the Caribbean. This year s missions are going to Guatemala and Peru. Volunteers work in local clinics and venture into remote villages, where they provide care in schools and other makeshift clinics. Primary care physicians are needed. The period of service is typically two weeks.
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