Santa Clotilde Hospital / PERU { 36 images } Created 15 Aug 2012
The health center "Neri Ramos Rivadeneyra" in Santa Clotilde is an example of very professional, one of a kind medical attention. Stationed along the Napo River in the Loreto region of Peru, Santa Clotilde is a community that suffers from the typical
Amazonian isolation: no roads and expensive, slow traveling boats.
The people of San Clotilde continue living off a financially unprofitable economy that includes hunting, fishing, gathering and a small amount of crop cultivation.
These factors are why healthcare in the Santa Clotilde region is considered a luxury. Almost no one has the money to travel to Iquitos (the only nearby town) to go to a hospital in the Amazonian jungle and there are many diseases other than the basic health demands such as emergencies and births. Santa Clotilde is a health center that serves as a true hospital, thanks to the professionalism and will of two American Catholic priests. Twenty-five years ago the small local health post was enlarged and transformed into a modern hospital where the hygienic conditions are the same if not better than a public hospital. Currently, the Health Center of Santa Clotilde is the head of a network of health posts in many communities along the Peruvian side of the Napo River. A technical staff led by a group of young, Peruvian professionals attends to dozens of patients per day-- taking advantage of modern, functional equipment and medications. One of the priests (Father Jack) continues to work as a doctor and another (father Mauricio) continues long-distance fundraising. After twenty-five years, the health center "Neri Ramos Rivadeneyra" in Santa Clotilde continues to be a major achievement that benefits a population whose only medical alternatives were visiting a shaman or a taking costly trip to Iquitos.
Amazonian isolation: no roads and expensive, slow traveling boats.
The people of San Clotilde continue living off a financially unprofitable economy that includes hunting, fishing, gathering and a small amount of crop cultivation.
These factors are why healthcare in the Santa Clotilde region is considered a luxury. Almost no one has the money to travel to Iquitos (the only nearby town) to go to a hospital in the Amazonian jungle and there are many diseases other than the basic health demands such as emergencies and births. Santa Clotilde is a health center that serves as a true hospital, thanks to the professionalism and will of two American Catholic priests. Twenty-five years ago the small local health post was enlarged and transformed into a modern hospital where the hygienic conditions are the same if not better than a public hospital. Currently, the Health Center of Santa Clotilde is the head of a network of health posts in many communities along the Peruvian side of the Napo River. A technical staff led by a group of young, Peruvian professionals attends to dozens of patients per day-- taking advantage of modern, functional equipment and medications. One of the priests (Father Jack) continues to work as a doctor and another (father Mauricio) continues long-distance fundraising. After twenty-five years, the health center "Neri Ramos Rivadeneyra" in Santa Clotilde continues to be a major achievement that benefits a population whose only medical alternatives were visiting a shaman or a taking costly trip to Iquitos.
