One of the things that excites me most about this round-the-world trip is the opportunity to share stores about good work that might otherwise go unnoticed. Like the Yanamono Medical Clinic on the Amazon River, for instance.
The clinic was started in 1990 by Linnea Smith, an American doctor, who fell in love with the Amazon jungle and its people.
Originally she operated the clinic with no staff, electricity or running water from a tiny thatched roof room. Now it’s a clean, relatively spacious structure that was built by Rotary clubs from Duluth, MN., Thunder Bay, Ontario and Iquitos, Peru. The place is powered by solar energy and provides all the necessities for people in need.
This is what one of the exam rooms looks like.
Until Dr. Smith’s arrival, people in the local villages had no access to health care. Now they can receive medicine, vaccines, emergency care and more. The clinic sees about 2,500 people each year.
There’s an on-site laboratory.
There’s also a one-room dental clinic. They put on programs for the local kids to teach them about preventative dental care.
I was impressed by the clinic’s simplicity — how it cuts right to the heart of caring for people. It’s nothing fancy, but it does the job and it does it well.
It’s located in a fairly remote place on the river, providing valuable services to communities that have very little access to anything else.
Patients pay what they can for services, which is usually about $1.
To learn more about the clinic, Dr. Smith or the non-profit Amazon Medical Project, visit the website here.
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