My passion and focus for public
health first arose through my involvement with a nationwide global health organization,
The Timmy Foundation. Because this is an
International Health Seminar, and Timmy focuses on international health (or
more so, global health), I find I should explain what Timmy Global Health is
and what they do.
Timmy
Global Health is a non-profit based in Indianapolis, Indiana (close to home!). Their mission is two-fold: expand access to
quality healthcare and empower volunteers to tackle this challenge. Timmy is active nationwide through community
groups and university chapters from Colorado to North Carolina. Every two to three months, Timmy sends groups
of volunteers to community-based clinic sites in the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, Guatemala, and Nigeria. The
Purdue chapter works with partners in Quito, Ecuador. Timmy also hosts volunteers in each site to
live for longer periods of time to serve as liaisons between the local
community and the States.
By community-based clinic sites,
I mean Timmy has solid, trusting relationships with community leaders in these
cities and countries. Timmy is much
different than other NGOs, or Non-Governmental Organizations, in that the
foundation strives to begin and maintain powerful and trusting relationship
with the people and leaders in the communities they serve. Timmy is also different in that while volunteers
go on short-term trips to these communities, Timmy aims to have a long-term
effect on the health of those populations by sending another set of volunteers
to the same site two to three months later.
In March of 2015, the Purdue
chapter of Timmy Global Health flew eighteen student volunteers (including
myself!), three doctors, two nurses, and two pharmacists to Quito,
Ecuador. Each night, we spent many hours
packing suitcases and bags with medical supplies and medicines to bring to
different rural community sites that had been allowed for our use by community
leaders. Each day we would see up to a
hundred patients: taking history, taking vitals, giving medications, and counseling. At the end of each day, we would be thanked
by the gracious and very kind community members, as they made appointments to
be seen again in three months by the Ball State University chapter of Timmy. It was an amazing and eye-opening experience.
In recent months, the Ecuadorian government has banned international
organizations from having a presence in the country. Timmy Global Health, however, has been
pardoned due to the trust that the foundation has built with community leaders. The bond Timmy makes with the communities
they serve is the main aspect I love about Timmy. If you ever want to become more involved with
global health, Timmy is an amazing organization and I would highly encourage
anyone with an interest to become involved!
They are always looking for medical doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and nurses to
accompany their trips, so remember that when we get out of school as well.
Source:
Lisa, This is a very nice and I was also very inspired when I gave a talk to you folks at Timmy. It is very important for us to be connected to health issues around the globe if we want to make a difference. In today's world, many a times these trips by students from developed countries to areas that need help become one way tourism experiences with out a sustained value. But am so glad to see Timmy Global health adding sustained value and working on a long term relationship with the community members and working towards making a difference.
ReplyDeleteWe will celebrate, appreciate and critique many such initiatives in our class discussions and BLOG.
Lisa, this sounds so amazing! It is so wonderful to have organizations like Timmy on Purdue's campus that work so hard to improve the health and wellbeing of people all over the world. I am wondering why the Ecuadorean government would put a ban on international organizations coming into the country. You would think they would like the help that is coming over. Are they offended that people think they are in need? Does the Purdue Timmy chapter travel to any of the other locations or just to Ecuador?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why most other NGO's don't try to form relationships with the communities they are serving.
Your photos are amazing and I hope we can hear more about your trip throughout the semester!
Lisa .. great post! I didn't hear about Timmy before. I believe such initiatives are highly important especially in developing countries that suffer many health issues along with lack of resources. I loved the way they follow by building strong relationships with the people there. I also admired following up the same people by sending orher compaigns few months later. In my opinion, this is a key point for thier sucess. Maintainance of new healthy life styles and assuring people compliance after offering them the health services is the most difficult and influencing part to assure life-long change in order to reach a more healthy life.
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