28 June 2011 St. Paul, MN
Since I last posted a year ago, La Clinica de la Mariposa, supported by the non-profit, Santé, Inc., continues to grow. Student intern teams now include students from the massage therapy program at Northwestern Health Sciences University (NW) (Bloomington, MN). Since June, 2010, fourteen chiropractic interns, four massage interns, and four professional massage therapists have served. All teams, October, February and June, have been supervised by eight MN-licensed doctors of chiropractic
I am waiting for the June, 2011, patient-visit data to be delivered by the third-week supervisor, but I will not be surprised if La Clinica (and its team of eight chiropractic-interns and four massage therapists) breaks a patient-visit record.
Support continues from MN United Way and from NW, but other donors would, of course be most welcome. We are currently gathering funding for two new portable chiropractic tables with pelvic-drops and a carrying bag ($1000 each table). We also would welcome support sent directly to the Al Traina La Clinica Fund at NW (2501 West 84th St, Bloomington, MN 55431) to support student intern travel, room, and board. Students often have to borrow money to fund their participation.
Jim Hulbert, PhD
Bioethics faculty, NW
Previous Stories
21 June 2010 NW Basic Sciences Dept For ten years, this project has been an ethical, courageous, and successful venture into providing primary health screening and care to people in several underserved communities in Costa Rica. In contrast to single-treatment "mission trips," La Clinica takes detailed health histories and maintains Minnesota-quality health records on each of its now-5000 (and growing) patient population. Leaders of La Clinica de la Marisposa have been succesul in involving US and Costa Rican health care training institutions in collaborative and "integrative" (chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, and medical) care before the buzz word began to buzz. Currently, upper-level chiropractic students from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, MN, work with patients side-by-side with physical therapy and medical students from professional training programs in Costa Rica. There are three structured visits planned per year of three weeks' duration, each involving from 200 to 400 patient-visits total across three communities. Students and patients benefit; students have said, "I traveled to Costa Rica a student intern, and I came back a doctor." Virtually all donations are spent on durables: treatment tables, lasers and other treatment equipment; and non-durables: clinic supplies, childrens' toys, and transportation to clinic communities. Some donations, such as dental supplies, are directly donated by MN dentists. Selected US volunteer students have been paying $1200 to $1500 to participate, some borrowing the money to make the experience a reality. Scholarship funding would allow more studednts to consider participation. La Clinica de la Mariposa (Santé, Inc.), is a small, focused, well-managed, and ethical project that continues to make a difference in the lives of all who associate with it. Jim Hulbert, PhD Board member
Review from Guidestar
My husband Steven and I heard about Clinica Mariposa after we moved to Costa Rica and some mutual friends introduced us to the founder, Dr. Thomas Davis. We were invited to assist while the doctors and chiropractic students from the United States came to Costa Rica, on their own time and expense to treat patients in the poorest of poor barrios. Many of these patients have had unattended chiropractic problems for decades and looking at the faces of these people before and then after treatment was like night and day. What a Christian Ministry Clinica Mariposa is--healing through procedures and touch. It is an amazing organization that we have had the pleasure of being, in a small way, part of. Steven and Theresa Howard Tambor de Alajuela Costa Rica
Review from Guidestar