Medicine & Healthcare - Be involved in the day-to-day running of a hospital

  Venezuela

• Other Cities in Venezuela: 
Santa Elena de Uiaren

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring, Summer, Throughout the year, Trimester, Winter 
Durations of Program: 1-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months, 7-12 months, 1-2 years and over 2 years
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: throughout the year

Description: The Medicine & Health care experience and observation program is tailored, where possible, to a volunteer's level of relevant experience and interests. Be involved in the day-to-day running of a hospital, observing or directly assisting doctors and nurses. If you want experience in health and medicine even without special skills, or if you are a pre-university or elective medical student or a health professional, these programs need your help.

The Peace Villages Medicine project is an invaluable preparation for a career in medicine and will enable you to broaden your medical experience in the context of medicine in a developing country. You will experience the stark contrast between Western medical practice and the realities of medicine in developing countries. Sadly, you will also see medical conditions that have remained untreated and have developed to an advanced pathological stage uncommon in developed countries.

The medical program is available for elective students, medical students with free holiday time, pre-university students and also students taking, or planning to take, specialist medical courses such as biomedical science, nursing and physiotherapy.

The key requirements in a medical volunteer are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances - a surgery with minimal equipment or an understaffed and under resourced hospital. You can assist with duties such as bandaging, taking blood pressure, and generally caring for the patients. You will find that your new colleagues and the patients appreciate the fact that you have come a long way to offer practical help.

Highlights:
Activities can Include:
Volunteers/Interns taking part in the medicine and health care program will work at the local hospital in Santa Elena. More than anything, they are able to observe or directly assist doctors and nurses at their work, and according to their knowledge and willingness they will be able to give them a hand, and possibly take over their own tasks; they can help with the general care taking, comfort little patients, observe and become part of the daily routine of a typical Latin American hospital.

You might find yourself, for example, watching a caesarean in the operating room, or working with a doctor on his rounds. You can help out in simple but practical ways, vastly increasing your own knowledge and understanding of medical practice.

We offer a number of placements, which are particularly suited to medical students in their first to fourth years, and for electives. You can use the skills and experience that you have already acquired and will be able to broaden your medical experience in the context of medicine in a developing country.

We welcome anyone thinking of taking up nursing or midwifery or already training to be a nurse or a midwife. If you're trained, training or considering training to be a Midwife, you could work with us.

Our rewarding physiotherapy programs enable you to help disabled children and adults to lead as normal lives as possible. Rehabilitation is vitally important, and whether you have experience or not, working alongside a therapist at our attention center for disabled children you will learn a great deal in a completely different cultural setting.

Local Highlights
The town of Santa Elena de Uairen is the headquarters of the Peace Villages Foundation in Venezuela and the heart of La Gran Sabana National Park. The town has about 15.000 inhabitants and is at an altitude of 900m - 1000m (3000f - 3250f) with a nearly perfect climate (16°C / 45°F - 28°C / 79°F all year round). The town was founded in 1922 as a Capuchin mission, and grew in the 1930s with the establishment of gold and diamond mines in the region. Santa Elena is surrounded by breathtaking scenery, and a wealth of nature.

The region is one of the oldest geological sites on the planet where prehistoric flat topped mountains are like ecological islands with endemic species such as carnivorous plants and lots of other natural treasures.

You will find good shopping opportunities, restaurants, internet cafes, postal and telephone services, clubs, pool halls and nightlife opportunities, as well as a wide variety of tourist travel destinations. Santa Elena is also a good place to arrange adventure tours into La Gran Sabana and Mount Roraima in particular.

The area known as La Gran Sabana, "the Great Savannah" is located in the south-eastern corner of Venezuela, at the border with Brazil and Guyana. It is a high plateau, a land of wide open spaces (75,000 square kilometers), tropical forest, spectacular tepuys (flat-topped mountains), rivers and gorgeous waterfalls. It is also home to the Pemon aboriginals. It is unknown when La Gran Sabana was first occupied, but there are artifacts that demonstrate that indigenous peoples were occupying the Orinoco Delta at least 2 to 3 thousand years ago.

At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans. La Gran Sabana was inhabited primarily by Pemon aboriginals. The Guayana shield, located in La Gran Sabana, is the earth's oldest surface. It is estimated to be 2 billion years old, and was formed when South America and Africa were still part of the super continent Gondwana.

Besides flat plains, La Gran Sabana also features tropical regions, jungle and cloud forests, rich in palm trees, fern trees, orchids, bromelias and also animals including tapirs, jaguars, pumas, deer, anteaters, snakes, are all native to the different ecosystems of La Gran Sabana.

Treks & Tours
While Peace Villages is a volunteer based NGO, we recognize the importance of seeing other parts of La Gran Sabana and having a well rounded experience while you are here. Some trips can be done on weekends, otherwise we will help you to schedule tours so that you can see everything you want to in Venezuela, while still achieving your volunteer commitments with us.

It is always best to plan to be here for a longer period of time so you can fit in a tour and still feel satisfied with the impact of your volunteer work. Peace Villages Foundation is not a tour operator but a volunteer charity!

The Adventure Tours are organized and offered by local tour operators. If interested, we will help you to make contact with companies which use ecological criteria for enjoyable nature-based Adventure Tours throughout the beautiful and diverse Gran Sabana region, here in south-eastern Venezuela. Peace Villages also assists volunteers to self-organize their trip.

A cheaper method than booking organized tours is to organize a trip yourself. When volunteers are interested in this option, we can assist them to make the necessary arrangements. Volunteers then share the direct costs of a guide, porter, food and transport, instead of buying a complete package. Costs depend on the number of group participants to share with.

Hiring indigenous guides, drivers, boat operators, and hosts directly benefits local economies and, at the same time, adds an intimate and connected feeling to your adventure. Indigenous guides will enrich your Gran Sabana adventure tour experience with their knowledge, their kindness and their dedication and enthusiasm for these places.

Qualifications:
This placement is particularly suited to medical students in their first to fourth years, and for electives. The key requirements for a medical volunteer or intern are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances, a minimum time commitment of 3 weeks and basic Spanish language skills. Only for a few specialized activities we require an advanced level of experience, conversational Spanish language skills and a 2 months minimum time commitment.

The hospital requires a doctors certificate from you with the following tests: feces, urine, uremia, crestinemia, complete hematological test, glucose, HIV, VDRL. This is basically to state that you are healthy, free of contagious diseases and parasites.

Optional - What you can donate to the hospital:
* white bandages
* common medicine, over-the-counter anti-inflammatory, such as Ibuprofen
* cotton wool
* hypodermic syringes 20 cc, 10 cc
* hospital scrubs for surgeons and/ or basic surgical equipment
* green operation cloth
* medical gloves

Cost in US$: depends on length of stay and accommodation option

Most volunteers will spend less than Euro ¬ 60 a month on other personal expenses while here, but this depends on how you like to live.

Credit Available: yes

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: A typical volunteer/intern needs to be enthusiastic, willing to learn, ready for a challenge and have a desire to take initiative. Friendliness, care, commitment and patience are among important qualities. We welcome individual volunteers, families and groups regardless of age, experience or background. You don't have to speak fluent Spanish as we provide full support and 24 hour back-up from our local staff. Volunteers and interns are the driving force of Peace Villages' work, both through their volunteering and through their financial contributions. Volunteering with us is a great opportunity to work side by side with locals, learn new skills, study Spanish, and immerse oneself in the Latin and indigenous culture. The beauty in volunteering lies in the fact that you are not simply passing through as a tourist. You are interacting with the community, building relationships and making a positive impact. It is an experience that may well change your life!

Age Range: 16 years old and up

This Program is open to American, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Venezuela Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently or in Groups of 2 - 4

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Resume

Post-Program Services Include:

• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network

Peace Villages Foundation's Mission Statement: Peace Villages Foundation support disadvantaged communities and their members in the process of achieving sustainable development, social justice and peace and promotes Culture of Peace through enriching cross-cultural exchange and voluntary community service for people of all ages, races and nationalities. We provide additional opportunities in humanitarian, educational, recreational and environmental fields and assist our beneficiaries to develop their potential and improve their own lives. Our vision is to share the values of peace, justice and tolerance, fundamentally focusing on the preservation of indigenous cultures and the empowerment of young people while valuing local knowledge and working with cultural sensitivity. Because local people know and understand what is appropriate for their own communities, we assist them in carrying out the objectives they deem important. Our Volunteer opportunities are truly the microcosm of a world where people join together giving priority to improving life for humanity and promoting a Culture of Peace as a practical way to both prevent and resolve conflict.

Year Founded: 2000