Description
Primeros Pasos is a small, primary care health clinic located in the rural Palajunoj Valley just 15 minutes outside of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala by bus, serving as the only reliable source of healthcare in the entire valley as it is the only clinic equipped with doctors, dentists, a laboratory as well as a pharmacy. Primeros Pasos is a non-profit, independent organization with a comprehensive outlook on health care. With the collaboration of health professionals, health educators, volunteers, and community leaders, Primeros Pasos offers quality and affordable healthcare as well as health education to the rural, underserved communities of the Palajunoj Valley of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Primeros Pasos incorporates and combines clinical care, health education, and community outreach programs to effectively provide preventative and primary care.
In addition to offering medical, laboratory, and dental services to 4,500 walk-in patients every year, Primeros Pasos is the only clinic in the predominantly Maya-Quiche indigenous Palajunoj Valley that also tackles greater underlying health and social issues in the Palajunoj Valley--chronic malnutrition, respiratory infections, skin diseases and the epidemic of gastrointestinal parasitic infections that affects 95% of the population--through both extensive year-long Nutrition Recuperation and Education programs. Through the Healthy Schools Project that includes the 10 primary schools and 7 daycare centers of the Palajunoj Valley, Primeros Pasos provides free medical and dental healthcare to 4,067 children through mobile clinics as well as "healthy field trips" to the clinic which also involves interactive health education workshops focused on parasite infection prevention, basic hygiene, nutrition, the environment, self-esteem, domestic violence, drug addiction, and reproductive health. Each child goes home with free medication, a toothbrush, and a bar of soap. In addition, the Nutritional Recuperation Project supports chronically malnourished children and their mothers as well as pregnant women by providing medical and nutritional treatment together with health education, in turn improving family health and promoting healthy homes in the Palajunoj Valley.
