Addressing Mexico’s Rural Health Needs
VOSH, NATALIE VENEZIA SAGER, AND FUNDACIÓN DEBORAH WAYNE
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Eye examination performed in San
Ignacio, BCS, Mexico. |
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Natalie Venezia Sager assists during
the health
fair in Loreto and San Ignacio, BCS, Mexico. |
 early four percent of Baja California Sur’s residents
do not have access to health care, living in rural,
economically isolated communities. In an effort to
respond to unmet needs for eye and dental care among
residents in some of the state’s most marginalized
communities, ICF partnered with VOSH-Illinois, the Rotary
Club of Oak Lawn (Illinois), locally-based Fundación Deborah
Wayne, DIF-Santa Rosalía, and DIF-Loreto. With financial
support from ICF donors John McNeece and Suzanne Cahill
and ICF’s International Children’s Fund, 29 medical and lay
volunteers were mobilized for a 10-day mission to provide
care to over 1,200 residents in Loreto and San Ignacio. Many
had never seen a dentist or eye specialist before.
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Assisting with eye exam in
San Ignacio, BCS, Mexico.
Photos provided by Natalie Venezia Sager. |
This life-changing medical mission to Baja would not have
been possible without the leadership and commitment of ICF
donor and volunteer, Natalie Venezia Sager who coordinated
the VOSH team and collaborated with ICF to secure required
permitting for the importation of medical equipment and
supplies. According to Natalie, “there are many ways to help
our neighbors – both financially and physically. Both ways are
admirable. Both are rewarding, but neither can be successful
without a coordinated and joint effort of different people
working together. It takes all of us giving in whatever way we
can to better this world.”
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