Volunteers Provide Health Education and Care in Peru
Midwife Amy Kogut has been working in the women’s clinic, treating patients but also providing counseling and health education.
A second rotation of Project HOPE volunteers joined the New Horizons 2012 team, eager to make a difference in the Chincha area of Peru. Chincha is about 45 minutes from Pisco, where volunteers participating in the first rotation of the mission provided medical care.
Amy Kogut, a midwife from Boston and second time Project HOPE volunteer, has been working with the OB/GYN military personnel in the women’s clinic, treating patients but also providing counseling and health education.
Kogut worked with Project HOPE previously in Haiti, and she hopes to develop counseling and women’s health education sessions at the medical sites while in Peru.
“The women I’ve been seeing and counseling are so sweet and friendly,” she says. “It makes me feel like they really appreciate us being here.”
The medical team in the Chincha area is being run by an Army team, which means the clinics are set up and run differently than the previous medical sites in Peru. This requires flexibility on the part of the volunteers, but also allows the Project HOPE team to experience a different way of working and approaching the clinic set-up.
Michelle Urbanek , a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner student and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse in Ft. Lauderdale, has come to the mission ready for the challenge. “You can’t come with any expectations,” she says. “I have always wanted to do humanitarian work and take care of kids who are really in need. It’s why I do what I do in my career.” The challenge is not without it’s hardships, though, for Michelle. “I’m really excited for this opportunity and I love to travel, but I miss my dog!”