Prevention International: No Cervical Cancer (PINCC)
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March 10, 2011
I was a PINCC RN volunteer in El Salvador and Nicaragua in both 2009 and 2010. PINCC is a most effective international grass roots women's health initiative. This organization trains local medical professionals in India, Africa, Peru, and Central America in the utilization of WHO approved acetic acid (white vinegar) to screen for pre cancerous cervical lesions. Often in developing countries with minimal medical infrastructue and a highly rural population, many women can not obtain Pap smears or access treatment in a timely manner. PINCC trains the medical professionals in the screening techniques, as well as in the use of donated equipment to treat identified lesions on the same day as the woman's visit.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
The women are extremely grateful for the service that is so much more readily accessible to a greater number and without having to return for innumerable visits when a lesion is discovered.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I would continue to develop the visual aids. I would like to see additional reproductive health information printed materials in the women's native language.
March 8, 2011
PINCC is an organization that gives meaning to the phrase "more bang for the buck." Although it runs on a shoestring - using a virtually 100% volunteer workforce (medical and non-medical) - it leverages the power of it's endeavor by creating and supporting self-sustaining operations at target sites. I have participated with PINCC in Central America and in Africa as a physician-trainer, offering local healthcare workers an effective and inexpensive approach to 1) early diagnosis of cervical PRE-cancer and 2) accompanying treatment to prevent progression to cancer. Training efforts are directed at healthcare facilities that provide low cost or free women's services.
These procedures are office-based, inexpensive, and highly effective. PINCC re-visits each site several times to validate the quality of work being done and to certify individual healthcare workers (physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse-midwives, medical officers, etc.) in the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures they have been taught. PINCC also donates equipment and supplies where necessary, enabling recipients to maintain a very low cost clinical operation over time. The focus may seem narrow, but cervical cancer is the number one cancer killer of women in the developing world. The significant impact of the efforts of this organization, now in operation for 6 years, is expanding over time.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I have observed a number of healthcare workers become proficient in the specific diagnostic and treatment procedures that will save lives on a weekly and even daily basis.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
PINCC will certainly continue to work on improving the media materials it employs in its teaching, training, and quality assessments.
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Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
Did your volunteer experience have an effect on you? (teaching you a new skill, or introducing new friends, etc.)
It was emotionally fulfilling to work with a number of other volunteers from medical and NON-medical backgrounds.
How did this volunteer experience make you feel?
I felt I expanded my skills and it was deeply gratifying to put them to good use.
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2011
May 30, 2010
I had the good fortune to end up with PINCC when looking for a summer internship for my MPH program. The staff and volunteers have been wonderful in giving me an inside look at how a small non-profit goes about making big differences in the lives of women around the world. PINCC has been an exciting and inspirational place to start putting some of my classroom learning into practice.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
the records of the thousands of women who have been saved from cervical cancer by early screening and treatment
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How frequently have you been involved with the organization?
About every week
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2010
May 29, 2010
When I heard about Prevention International: No Cervical Cancer (PINCC), I knew it was where I was supposed to be giving my time. The focus of the organization is on the grassroots level, on training health care providers in rural areas, on empowering women, and on developing sustainable programs that provide a direct service to the people who need it. I had the privilege to go to Africa with PINCC this past February as a non-medical person. The team was fabulous and we worked together as if we had been doing so for years-even though we were from all different parts of the country/world. We went places that tourists do not go. We met the most amazing courageous women, who against many odds came to be screened, to share their stories and lives with us, and to get help and treatment. To see the face of a woman, filled with relief at receiving treatment, and know that she was not going to die from this disease, is beyond words really. There were many times that I wept with joy as well as with sadness for those we could not help. PINCC is a very small organization that in 5 years is now on 3 continents and in 9 countries working to end death and suffering caused by cervical cancer. Unlike developed countries, cervical cancer is the number 1 cancer killer for women in the developing world. Personally I like the fact that it is a small organization without a large bureaucracy. PINCC like many ngos is struggling in this economy and is also trying to build its infrastructure a bit more, which it needs to do in order to maintain and expand its programs. PINCC relies on volunteers to make up the medical teams; and it relies on the generosity of individual people to open their hearts and wallets to support their important work.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
seeing women with pre-cancerous lesions be treated by nurses and doctors in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania who were being trained by PINCC.
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How frequently have you been involved with the organization?
About every week
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2010
May 29, 2010
I am a nurse practitioner and nurse midwife who has been volunteering in both urban and rural sites in El Salvador and Nicaragua for the past two weeks. It has been an intense and rewarding experience, taining nurses, family doctors, gyn residents and gynecologists to do the "see and treat" method described below to try and make a dent in the terribly high rate of cervical cancer, a completely preventible disease.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
Latin America
More feedback...
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2010
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