The Mission Emanuel Medical Center has four separate ministries and nine current employees.
Anna Bianco - Medical Director
Ministries:
Community Health
On February 15th, 2010 Mission Emanuel began a Community Health Program. The purpose of this program is to emphasize preventative medicine. Weekly seminars are being given in the community on health topics ranging from Malaria, Dengue or Typhoid to Basic Hygiene, Dental Care or Prenatal Health. A community health education course will begin in April. This 10 week course will teach basic preventative health measures and how to be a health promoter. This includes information on how to take blood pressure, temperature and administer vaccines. Out of this 10 community health workers will be selected to work in Cielo. Each will be assigned a number of families (10 to 12) and will be responsible for educating these families and knowing their health concerns. The community health workers will report back to the Community Outreach Coordinator, which will provide more accurate information on the health conditions in Cielo.
In addition, a program called Sanidad del Cielo is under the Community Health Program. Sanidad del Cielo provides financial assistance for short-term and long-term health needs. Those in need of assistance meet with a doctor to discuss their health condition, treatment and economic situation. The doctor fills out a form, which is then provided to a committee to determine how much money will be awarded. This committee also works to find funding to assist those in need.
Staff:
Dr. Maria Mosquea - Community Outreach Coordinator
Diana Zorilla Reyes - Community Programs Assistant
Dental Clinic
The dentist is available Monday mornings and works with the school children in the Mission Emanuel sponsorship program. He has his own private practice and also works with the Dominican government providing dental care. Part of each grade comes to the dental clinic on Mondays to receive information on how to brush and care for their teeth. Afterwards the dentist sees each child individually to provide a teeth cleaning and evaluate their needs. It is very important to teach the children while they are young to care for their teeth and prevent cavities and infection. It has been amazing to see how many three and four years olds mouths are full of cavities and abscessed teeth. These infections can spread throughout the body and eventually prove fatal. For this reason, Mission Emanuel hopes to be able to provide another day or two during the week for the dentist to work with the community at large.
Staff:
Dr. Jose Manuel - Dentist
Heidi Caceres - Dental Assistant
Pediatrics
La Clinica Infantil or Mary Budd Children's Clinic at Mission Emanuel provides consultations to over 50 children and their families weekly. The clinic is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 to 12:30. Consultations are given for 50 pesos (less than $1.50) and medicines that have been prescribed by the doctor are provided for 5 to 10 pesos a piece (about $0.15 to $0.30). Vaccines provided by Public Health and UNICEF are administered at the clinic for free. Vaccinations provided include tetanus, polio, Hepatitis B and measles, mumps and rubella.
Staff:
Dr. Tatiana Cespedes - General Practitioner
Mary Esquea - Medical Assistant
Physical Therapy
The newly equipped and painted physical therapy center has been a blessing to special needs children living in the community. The children can come up to three times a week (PT has the same hours as the children's clinic) and receive physical and occupational therapy in the well-equipped and spacious physical therapy center. Many of the special needs children that are currently being seen have Cerebral Palsy while others have Down's Syndrome, paralysis, or developmental issues. We are currently in the process of hiring a licensed physical therapist / occupational therapist. Aquilino has been working with the mission for years and is a passionate, dedicated employee who loves the Lord and the children he serves. We hope that with more training, he can become a licensed therapist as well.
Staff:
Aquilino Morillo - Massage Therapist
Alexander Payanos - Driver for Special Needs Children
