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Patient Story: Janet Reynoso

Aside from the responsibilities of a family, there are people who always take responsibility for the wellbeing of others in their community, especially for those with health problems who need support and don’t know their way around the bureaucracy of the Peruvian health care system.

 JanetR2Among these people are the Health Promotion Specialists, men and women who voluntarily attend to patients with serious health problems, helping them to obtain treatment and the correct documents they needin order to receive such treatment. These Health Promotion Specialistswork in collaboration with the Ministryof Health in Peru but do not receive any compensation for their practices.

Janet Reynoso is a Health Promotion Specialistwho has dedicated her life to ensuringthe wellbeing of her family and of many others in her community. She is a 41-year-old woman who is constantly in check with her patients — their necessities, their treatment, and their progress. She always remembers what her sister told her: “don’t do something good only to expect something in return.” Since then, Janet has strived to live her life by her sister’s words.

We began our first Mobile Clinics in Nueva Esperanza two years ago — a community located the district of Villa Maria del Triunfo in Lima where Janet lives. Janet was inspired to get involved with MEDLIFE’s work and reached out to our organization.

She first began collaborating with us by assisting at our Mobile Clinics throughout different districts in the city of Lima. It was due to her dynamic and pro-active character that she was able to mobilize hundreds of community members, inspiring them to receive medical attention at our Mobile Clinics. Because of her excellent work, MEDLIFE promoted Janet to be the Coordinator of Mobile Clinics, a position that requires her to seek out new communities for future Mobile Clinics. Apart from her new position and work with MEDLIFE, Janet continues to be dedicated to her health promotion services for 72 individual patients around Lima.

Despite the incredible service that Janet has done for the people in her community and many others in Lima, Janet has also had many difficulties in her own life.

At the age of 21, Janet suffered an accident that changed her life forever. Her eyes came in contact with contaminated water — an incident that caused a corneal ulcer due to infection. Because of her limited financial resources, she did not receive medical attention for many years, and to this day, Janet lives with the terrible reality of having almost completely lost her sight in her left eye.

Currently, specialized medical providers are reviewing the case of Janet and searching for possible treatments so that she doesn’t completely lose sight in her left eye. She may even have to receive a corneal transplant, an operation that would be very difficult for Janet to afford herself financially. And despite everything, her biggest worry would not be herself, but her patients, whom she would no longer be able to help if her eye condition worsens.

JanetR1

MEDLIFE does not want to leave Janet to seek medical attention alone, as she has dedicated much of her life to social services and has been a great help in improving the experiences of our student volunteers on our Mobile Clinics. Janet is now part of MEDLIFE’s patient follow-up program so that our organization will be right at her side as she seeks the best treatment for her eyes. That way, Janet will be able to improve the quality of her health and her life, and can continue her passion of helping others in need.

To learn more about our patient follow-up program, please visit here

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Reya Seby
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This trip motivated me more to pursue a career in the healthcare field so that I can use my resources to help those who need it the most, similar to MEDLIFE’s mission.

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It was most enjoyable to finish the hard work and see how big a difference a group of individuals can make. It was such an amazing experience.

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The most enjoyable part of my trip was hanging out with the amazing group of kids I was with. I would highly recommend a MEDLIFE volunteer trip to others.

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This trip made everything that I was learning in my public health courses come to life and immersed me in a new culture while also learning about medicine.

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Abygail Youmans
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Being involved with MEDLIFE is not like joining another club - its bigger than that. It is about joining a movement that seeks to help change people’s quality of life for forever.

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Emi Hofmann
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Not only was I able to participate in a week long Mobile Clinic, shadowing doctors of all types of specialties including pharmacy, dentistry, gynecology, and more, but I was also able to learn about the culture and visit incredible places.

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One thing that I really loved about this trip was that MEDLIFE made sure that the volunteers got an understanding of the complexity of issues that lead to underprivileged people in communities outside of the main city

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Hannah Van Hofwegen
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Whether it was basketball with the local kids, assisting the doctors, talking with families, building washrooms, holding babies, or spending time with the people who were on the SLT with me, this was an amazing opportunity that I would do over and over again.

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Isabelle Holt
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I loved learning about the patients MEDLIFE has followed and how they offer real help to people with chronic/urgent conditions. It is amazing how the organization formed real connections with the communities.

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Valerie Lindeborg
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Our family had the privilege of participating in multiple trips with Nick [founder] and his amazing staff. Their expertise made the trips unforgettable while instilling in my boys the fundamentals of good character: selflessness, compassion, and empathy.

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Harry Vildibill
University of Georgia

As an aspiring physician, MEDLIFE motivated me to further continue my goal of becoming a doctor. In fact, I enjoyed the Tanzania Service Learning Trip so much that I decided to go on another trip to Cusco, Peru.