The Inter-American Health Alliance's Guatemalan partner is Primeros Pasos ("First Steps"), a innovative community health program that provides an integrated program of community-focused clinical care and health education in collaboration with 12 schools and 18 day care centers in the Palajunoj Valley, Guatemala.

Overview:

Primeros Pasos works in the Palajunoj Valley, a poor rural valley in western Guatemala with high rates of communicable diseases, malnutrition, and untreated chronic diseases. Primeros Pasos is the only reliable and affordable source of local health care for the residents of the Palajunoj Valley . Primeros Pasos has a long-term vision for the improvement of healthcare in the Palajunoj Valley, integrating its clinical healthcare service with health education and preventative care.  Primeros Pasos seeks to maximize existing resources, partnering with communities and other organizations to find efficient solutions to health care challenges.

Clinical Care

Primeros Pasos provides primary care, dental services, lab exams, and medications for the approximately 15,000 people living in the valley. Our clinical staff includes a physician, a dentist, a lab director, and a dental assistant. Rotating medical students from the University of San Carlos and foreign universities supplement the capacity of our full-time clinical staff.

Each year, approximately 7,000 patients visit Primeros Pasos.

Health Education

 Primeros Pasos has developed a large health education program in the community for children and a growing health education program targeted at adults. In 2007, Primeros Pasos gave over 500 health education workshops in the Palajunoj Valley and started a adult health education in 10 communities in the Valley.

Healthy Schools Program

Through the Healthy Schools Program, Primeros Pasos brings rural schools and day care centers in the valley

This program includes working with rural schools in the area to provide medical care. Daily, classes from rural, underprivileged schools are brought to the clinic. Prior to their visit, the students are given sample cups and asked to bring in fecal samples for analysis in the clinic’s laboratory. During time designated for the educational programs, students are taken one by one to be examined by our physician, fourth year medical students attending the University of San Carlos Medical School or by medical staff from abroad. While at the clinic the children are broken into groups for educational classes about nutrition and hygiene.

Service Learning & Medical Education

Primeros Pasos is a center for health education, serving as a primary care rotation for Guatemalan medical students from the University of San Carlos - Quetzaltenango and for foreign students who participate in away rotations under the supervision of Primeros Pasos' attending physician. .

Cost-Effective

Primeros Pasos is a very cost-effective operation, providing medical services to over 6,000 patients and health education to thousands more for approximately $35,000/year in 2007. IAHA provides Primeros Pasos with approximately 80% of its funds.

For more information on Primeros Pasos, visit their website at primerospasos.org.

 

Primeros Pasos was formed in June 2002 as a non-profit organization under the name of Salud de Tierra Colorada, based out of a rural clinic in Tierra Colorada Baja, a primary Mayan Quiche community in the outskirts of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The program focus was to provide free medical service, medication and basic health education to the children of Tierra Colorada and neighboring communities through the public school system.

As the project progressed, we were able to identify trends in both the medical results and areas of interest for the children and the mothers, as well as the need to have a more integrated program to address the needs of different communities.Today the project is known as Primeros Pasos and has become the only clinic in the area to see both adults and children. Our Healthy Schools Program has expanded to include all the schools in the Valley, the daycares, after school programs in Xela and of course the population from the Valley that do not attend a school or daycare and/or are older than 17 years of age.