volunteer nursing in central america

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hello,

I am hoping to take my family to Central America in about 2 yrs. I am looking for a volunteer program that would allow me to use my nursing skills (mostly obstetrics) while my family and I are immersed in the culture. Ideally we could live with a family, the kids could go to school, or at least take spanish classes. My husband could also lend a hand wherever needed. Our kids will be 6 and 10 yrs old at that point. We will be on a budget but hopefully could trade volunteer time for room and board. We are thinking 3 months or so.

Thank you so much for any leads! :nurse:

Silverdragon102, BSN

1 Article; 39,477 Posts

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the volunteer forum

BonnieSc

1 Article; 776 Posts

I spent a month in Guatemala a couple of years ago, and there's good infrastructure for volunteering there. Finding a place where you could get room and board (especially for all of you) in exchange for volunteering might be difficult as resources are so very limited, but Guatemala is an inexpensive country. The people are so lovely and are very welcoming to American children (adults too, of course). Do you speak Spanish? If you don't, you'll find that most places won't be interested in working with you until you do--you could spend the first month or so in Spanish classes and then start volunteering.

The school I attended will set nurses up with a midwifery clinic in another town: http://www.spanishschools.biz. Other schools will do this, too. Then there is this place: Hospitalito Atitlan.

akmama75

11 Posts

Thank you so much for the information, I can't wait to look into it! I do speak spanish and my husband and kids speak/understand a little. My spanish is enough for conversations anyway, grammer and med terminology needs some work though. Again, thank you! :nurse:

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