Meet Roy
Roy is a playful three-year-old boy living with his family in Ongoto Bajo, an impoverished community on the outskirts of Tena. Read Roy’s story to learn about how MEDLIFE fights against unequal access to high-quality medical care every day.
Access to high-quality medical care in Roy’s community
We first met Roy at one of our Mobile Clinics where we bring free, high-quality medical care directly to communities that lack basic health services. Students from Universidad de Puerto Rico-Aguadilla, University of North Dakota, and Georgia State University joined us at this clinic as part of a Service Learning Trip. They helped to make the clinic possible.
Roy suffered from a high fever and extreme pain in his hip at the slightest movement or touch. The pain left him unable to play, walk, or go to school and learn. The conditions in Roy’s community added to the challenges his family faced.
Roy’s father worked hard on the farm every day to provide for his family. To make matters worse, there was limited access to high-quality medical care in their community. The constraints of poverty meant that Roy’s condition continued to deteriorate until he found MEDLIFE at one of our Mobile Clinics.
How MEDLIFE bridged the gap
When Roy arrived at our Mobile Clinic, our team of local nurses took immediate action. They rushed him to the local hospital. After running some tests, the local medical professionals discovered that he had a critical bacterial infection in his hip.
The infection spread to his blood and approached his bones. Roy needed urgent surgery. Left untreated, the infection could have threatened his life. With the support of MEDLIFE and local medical professionals, Roy received life-changing surgery within a week. The successful surgery transformed Roy’s daily life. He is now back at school and enjoying life as a happy, healthy kid.
It is not uncommon for our in-country staff to face life-and-death situations like Roy’s at our Mobile Clinics. By connecting students, local services, and impoverished families, our team works to empower communities like Roy’s to overcome the constraints that make high-quality medical care inaccessible. In Roy’s case, MEDLIFE bridged the gap between local medical professionals and the families of Ongoto Bajo.
Join a Service Learning Trip to support our worldwide Movement to create a world free from constraints of poverty such as health disparities! Thank you to the students from Universidad de Puerto Rico-Aguadilla, University of North Dakota, and Georgia State University for their hard work and dedication at the M40 Clinic in Tena.