Portuchada

  • Overview
  • Medical
  • Dental
  • Water
  • Business
  • Public Health

Overview

Portuchada is located in the province of Darién, in the eastern part of Panama. A typical house in this community is made of zinc sheets. Portuchada has a school that offers kindergarten to 9th grade. Most of the community members work in agriculture (farming rice, corn, and root vegetables), tending livestock, and unskilled manual labor. There is no health outpost in the community, so they must travel to the nearest larger town for healthcare. Portuchada has a gravity aqueduct that functions well. The top needs expressed by the community were improvements to healthcare access, education, and security.

District: Pinogana
Province: Darién

*the above image of a farm in East Panama does not necessarily reflect the appearance of Portuchada

Homes : 200
Population : 700
Water System : Yes
Community Bank : No
Electricity : Yes
Health Center : No
Community Health Workers : No
Homes with Latrines : N/A
Education in the Community : Up to 9th grade
Distance from lodging facility : 30 minutes

Medical

Program Status

  • Planning
  • Active
  • Complete

HEALTH CARE ACCESS:

Even though Panama is a country with a lot of economic growth, this growth does not apply equally to all Panamanians, especially those in rural areas. This results in stark inequality when it comes to healthcare access. The Panamanian Ministry of Health (MINSA) provides two different types of health facilities throughout rural Panama: Centros de Salud and Puestos de Salud. Centros are the larger of the two, often found in municipalities, and typically have at least one physician on staff at all times with nurses and potentially a dentist. Puestos are found sporadically in rural communities and generally have a single nurse available. 

Even with this coverage, the Centros frequently lack a full pharmacy and the staff capacity to see every patient each day. After walking long distances or paying for a bus, rural visitors to the Centros can expect long wait times given the limited staff and resources to meet the demand from all neighboring communities. The physician density in Panama remains around 630 people for every one doctor. According to the World Health Organization, there should be a maximum of 435 people per physician to qualify a country as having adequate access to medical attention.

Portuchada does not have any health facilities in the community, and the nearest Centro de Salud is a short bus ride away in the town of Metetí. The most common illnesses seen within the community of Portuchada are diarrhea, vomiting, and the common cold.

363

Volunteers

4,083

Medical Patient Consultations

59

Health Education Workshops

N/A

Vision Screenings

COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS:

A group of CHWs from East Panama, trained in 2019

The community of Portuchada does not yet have Community Health Workers. Global Brigades Panama Medical Program is working diligently to train volunteers as CHWs in its partner communities as part of the Holistic Model. Portuchada will receive training as soon as possible to further support the health of its community members.

Community Health Workers, or Agentes Comunitarios en Salud (ACeS), work on a volunteer basis as advocates for healthcare within their communities. Their primary responsibilities include: educating community members to prevent common illnesses, providing emergency first aid, supporting pregnant mothers and newborns, and following up with chronic patients. The presence of these volunteers and their advocacy for health within their community contributes to the sustainability of healthcare supported by Global Brigades’ Medical Program and is one of the most impactful disease prevention strategies in rural communities.

BRIGADE INFORMATION

A brigader shadows a patient consultation in El Jobo, West Panama.

Medical and Dental Brigade clinics are hosted in Portuchada’s school building. The various stations of the clinic are held in the classrooms. Volunteers assist with intake and triage, then shadow local doctors, dentists, and pharmacists. Each day of the brigade, an average of 3 educational workshops or charlas are facilitated with the clinic’s patients.

  • AVERAGE PATIENTS ATTENDED: 401

MEDICAL/DENTAL VOLUNTEERS IN PORTUCHADA

Chapter Date # Of Volunteers Chapter Date # Of Volunteers
University of Colorado Boulder Medical Brigade March 2012 47 Mayo Medical School Medical Brigade July 2012 41
Grinnell College Medical Brigade March 2013 31 University of Oxford & University of Washington Medical Brigade August 2013 42
University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Brigade March 2014 33 Dalhousie University Medical Brigade August 2014 22
Indiana University Medical Brigade May 2015 23 Texas Tech University Medical May 2016 32
Rutgers University – New Brunswick Medical Brigade May 2017 16 University of Texas Dallas Medical Brigade May 2019 24
Villanova University Medical Brigade May 2022 28

Dental

Program Status

  • Planning
  • Active
  • Complete

DENTAL CARE ACCESS

A dental charla in Ipeti Emberá, Panama

In working closely with the medical program, the dental program provides fillings, extractions, and fluoride treatments as a standard part of medical brigades. Most community members do not have regular access to dental care due to the lack of dentist within a reasonable distance.

686

Dental Patient Consultations

364

Fluoride Treatments

216

Extractions

34

Fillings Performed

BRIGADE INFORMATION

A brigader shadows a patient consultation in El Jobo, West Panama.

Medical and Dental Brigade clinics are hosted in Portuchada’s school building. The various stations of the clinic are held in the classrooms. Volunteers assist with intake and triage, then shadow local doctors, dentists, and pharmacists. Each day of the brigade, an average of 3 educational workshops or charlas are facilitated with the clinic’s patients.

  • AVERAGE PATIENTS ATTENDED: 401

MEDICAL/DENTAL VOLUNTEERS IN PORTUCHADA

Chapter Date # Of Volunteers Chapter Date # Of Volunteers
University of Colorado Boulder Medical Brigade March 2012 47 Mayo Medical School Medical Brigade July 2012 41
Grinnell College Medical Brigade March 2013 31 University of Oxford & University of Washington Medical Brigade August 2013 42
University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Brigade March 2014 33 Dalhousie University Medical Brigade August 2014 22
Indiana University Medical Brigade May 2015 23 Texas Tech University Medical May 2016 32
Rutgers University – New Brunswick Medical Brigade May 2017 16 University of Texas Dallas Medical Brigade May 2019 24
Villanova University Medical Brigade May 2022 28 Arizona State University Dental Brigade December 2022 24

Water

Program Status

  • Planning
  • Active
  • Complete

Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in Portuchada but has not yet begun with the Water Program. Now in the planning phase, the financing, delivery, and installation of a water system infrastructure, or repairs to existing infrastructure will start as soon as feasible.

Water System : Yes
System Type : Gravity aqueduct
Homes connected to water : 100%
Water Council : Yes

Business

Program Status

  • Planning
  • Active
  • Complete

Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in Portuchada but has not yet begun with the Business Program. In the planning phase, local staff is working with community members to assess the economic needs of the community, establish a community bank, and identify micro-enterprises that can benefit from on-brigade consultations.

Community Bank : no
Community Bank members : N/A
Economic Activities : agriculture
Existing microenterprises : Grocery, sewing and chicken breeding

Public Health

Program Status

  • Planning
  • Active
  • Complete

Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in Portuchada but has not yet begun with the Public Health Program. Now in the planning phase, the financing, delivery, and installation of household health infrastructure products will start as soon as feasible.

Homes with flushing toilets : N/A
Homes with latrines : 100%
Homes with bath/shower : N/A
Common house materials : wood, concrete, zinc

Legal Empowerment

Program Status

  • Planning
  • Active
  • Complete

PORTUCHADA’S LEGAL EMPOWERMENT  CHALLENGE

Legal services are difficult to access in Darien for two primary reasons: location and cost. Most often, there are no legal services set up within rural communities and are instead concentrated in urban areas. Therefore, rural Panamanians must travel multiple hours to access these services. Not only does traveling to these urban areas cost money, but the legal services themselves are frequently too expensive.

In addition, there is an attitude of mistrust among the rural clients. Historically, there have occurred many cases in which lawyers have come to rural communities, the community members have paid for the legal services, but the lawyers have returned to the city without resolving the cases. Therefore, it is a challenge to gain trust of the community members when it comes to dealing with their personal human rights issues, and to prove not all lawyers will take advantage of them

38

Volunteers

11

Legal Consultations

4

Cases Closed

N/A

Participants of Educational Workshops

Civic Engagement and Empowerment

By focusing on specific aspects of legal access and inclusion, Global Brigades’ Legal Empowerment Program aims to empower communities like Portuchada to overcome the obstacles mentioned above. Starting in March 2013, Brigaders have been able to tackle family law cases, execute pro-bono legal clinics, and perform educational workshops.

Family Law: The most common legal issues within the community include issues of alimony and childcare, land issues, domestic violence, and some violent crimes. Without a lawyer in the community, many legal issues go unresolved or unattended for many years, and seemingly simply legal troubles can go unanswered. Volunteers, in conjunction with Panamanian lawyers, have been able to resolve 4 family law cases to date in Portuchada.

Legal Clinics: Global Brigade’s Legal Empowerment Program has been able to offer their pro-bono legal services to community members in Portuchada with the help of Panamanian lawyers as they are shadowed by volunteers. Both community members and volunteers work together to challenge the stigma of lawyers in the region by offering real, professional services for free.

Educational Workshops: Volunteers have performed workshops in Portuchada. Capitalizing on the use of education as a tool for community empowerment, volunteers lead discussions and workshops with students and families about issues that have direct consequences and effects in their everyday lives, including: the right to education, child abuse, bullying, and child labor laws.

LEGAL EMPOWERMENT VOLUNTEERS IN PORTUCHADA

Chapter Date # Of Volunteers Chapter Date # Of Volunteers
University of California Davis & University of California Los Angeles Legal Empowerment Brigade June 2013 23 London School of Economics & University of Oxford Legal Empowerment Brigade  June 2015 15

 

Local Reference Points

View the map to see the closest volunteer lodging facilities, hospitals, and other relevant points of reference.

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