Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children

 

The Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) is a U.S.-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing modern medical care to disadvantaged children worldwide. FIMRC currently conducts medical care clinics or projects in seven countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Nicaragua, Peru and Uganda.

History

FIMRC was founded in 2003 by Vikram Bakhru, a then-medical student (at George Washington University) and current MBA candidate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Today, FIMRC coordinates the volunteer efforts and clinical rotations of over 600 people annually, and has provided medical care, either directly or indirectly, to hundreds of thousands of children.

Foundation goals

FIMRC seeks to provide medical care in underserved areas by:

1. Raising funds to build pediatric clinics
2. Providing direct medical care via volunteers
3. Encouraging students to become involved in its mission through service and leadership

Activities

FIMRC operates CHIRP (Comparative Healthcare Immersion Rotation Program) as an elective credit rotation program designed to provide third and fourth-year medical students with exposure to healthcare in Central American countries. Students who participate in CHIRP typically spend two weeks each at clinics in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and follow a structured curriculum that focuses on medical issues specific to each site.

Locations

Costa Rica

In 2005, FIMRC established a clinic in San Felipe, Alajuelita (approximately 5 km outside San José). Serving the largely Nicaraguan refugee population of San Felipe, Jasmín, and Los Pinos, the clinic provides women and children with consistent access to desperately needed healthcare, health monitoring, and health education. The clinic directs its efforts towards treating and preventing health concerns such as head lice, malnutrition, persistent bronchial infection, gastrointestinal microbe infections, unplanned pregnancies, alcoholism, drug addiction, and HIV.

El Salvador

FIMRC operates a clinic in Las Delicias (near San Salvador) that seeks to treat gastroenteritis, influenza, malaria, measles, pneumonia, and bronchitis, each of which is caused or complicated by the malnutrition, poor sanitation, and poor housing conditions that the children of Las Delicias experience.

Haiti

FIMRC operates in Pignon, Haiti in conjunction with Hộpital Bienfaisaince – a hospital providing healthcare services to over 45,000 patients per year. Its partnership with the hospital allows FIMRC to provide professional medical support to their hospital and regional clinics, develop pediatric and maternal health initiatives, lead nutritional study research groups, and work towards decreasing malnutrition and the spread of endemic disease caused by preventable microbial infection.

India

Through its partnership with the Betsy Elizabeth Trust, FIMRC provides health education and primary healthcare to 110 children living in the poverty-stricken Dalit community of Kodaikanal, a small town located in the hill country of Tamil Nadu.

Nicaragua

FIMRC has partnered with the Roberto Clemente Rancho Santana clinic to provide medical care to children living in the rural western town of Limón, Nicaragua, which is near the city of Rivas. FIMRC helps staff the clinic by providing volunteers to work alongside its doctors, nurses, and other medical staff.

Peru

FIMRC volunteers in Peru work directly with the Ministry of Health to treat and educate Peruvians. This is done by offering hands-on assistance to medical doctors in hospitals, operating interactive health education workshops in local schools and orphanages, and forming cultural connections with local communities through various activities.

Uganda

FIMRC has partnered with the Arlington Academy of Hope in Bumwalukani, Uganda, to establish a clinic that provides health care and education to both students of the school and the surrounding community.

External links

• FIMRC website