Volunteers have been a reality since inception of Mision ILAC. Their goal is to improve the quality of life for the farming families of the Dominican Republic through health education, disease prevention and basic medical attention. Simultaneously they create a socio-cultural interchange between the culture of the Dominican farmer and the foreign customs of the students, leaving behind an indelible impression on the participatnts as well as on the communities that welcome them.
The volunteers are placed in the houses of the families in the communities that become their adoptive fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters during their stay. In this natural cohabitation, far from their own cultures and comforts of home, they share food and all means of subsistence with their adoptive families.
Creighton University Summer Program
For more than 30 years, Creighton University has supported the work of Mision ILAC in the area of health in the rural communities of the Dominican Republic. Their medical program offered every summer they provide more than 2,300 medical and dental consultations. They also get involved with the education plans in preventative medicine for the ‘Cooperadores’ in their communities.
This 5 week plan begins with an orientation process at Mision ILAC. During orientation the students study the Spanish language and Dominican culture. Every year more than 70 students and professionals form work teams in the disciplines of dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy
Medical Program of Loyola University, Chicago
The medical college of Loyola University has a rotation in family and community medicine. The medical students that are enrolled in this course are immersed in one of our communities, offering consultations for basic medical attention under the supervisión of family doctors, pediatricians, internists, gynecologists from Loyola University and a local doctor. Close to 400 medical consults are performed by this team every year.
Medical Program of Georgetown University
Previously selected students who have finished their first year in Medical School, are submitted to a process of immersion in a rural zone to work on disease prevention and health education. They also provide consultations in general medicine under the supervision of specialists in family and community medicine. Close to 1,000 patients are evaluated, medicated, and oriented in community health issues. By the same means, this program serves as support for the programs for attention to women, children, and adults in the community of the Ministerio de Salud Pública y Asistencia Social. It is directed through the Dean of International Programs at the school of medicine, who selects each one of the candidates together with the Chaplain.
Medical Program of the University of Missouri
Beginning in 2013, this project is initiated to provide medical consultations under the supervisión of two specialists in family and community medicine, with the goal of helping to solve the health problems faced by poor communities in Cibao. The students come from the University of Missouri, in the state by the same name, in the city of Columbia in the United States.