tiafoundation

Tia Foundation summer intern

husband Jeremy, myself, daughter Rhiannon, and son William (front)

Hi! My name is Wynona Heim, the new intern at the Tia Foundation for the summer! I’ve attached a picture of myself with my family, taken earlier this year, so that you know who I really am. I have a great husband, Jeremy, who works as the Curriculum Specialist at the daycare center our children attend. My daughter Rhiannon is 4 years old, loves animals, and is enjoying swimming lessons this summer. My son William will turn two on September 4th, and is a precocious little toddler who loves being outside, and is especially excited to be learning to ride horses and swim this summer.

I am absolutely LOVING working with Laura at the Tia Foundation. I am a Master of Arts student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and I will be graduating this December with a Masters degree in Global Affairs and Management, emphasizing in International Development and Public Policy. I have a passion for sustainable development initiatives such as the programs that the Tia Foundation is instituting in rural Mexico. I truly believe that the future of developing economies lies in improving the quality of life for the people that live in those nations. Once basic needs (such as health care!) are met, those people will be free to develop further opportunity, and live their own dreams.

I am so excited to be a part of the wonderful work that Laura and the Tia Foundation are doing! I will be going to Mexico later this month to do some field work – I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Less than $5/person

The cost per person for Tia’s full menu of services is less than $5 per person, including general and administrative costs! That five dollars provides training and full medical kits for the promotoras, community and school education, follow up studies and true sustainability. In fact, over 80¢ of every dollar Tia receives, goes to directly to project costs.

One Year Anniversary of First Project

In the last year, Tia has trained 75 new community health workers, serving over 25,000 people! The most recent graduates of our program are the 22 community health workers from the Municipality of Teocuitatlan de Corona, Jalisco, Mexico . With the help of Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara’s Community Medicine Program (PMC), nearly a thousand people have received direct medical care from the PMC during our first year. The picture above is our first graduating class.

Sayula Follow Up Visit

Rosy, our lead Promotora in El Reparo, Jalisco, is interviewed by Monica Garibay (right) during our follow-up visit in this Sayula Municipality village. Rosy tells Monica that the Promotoras there have been assisting the municipal government with health campaigns in the villages. This is a big self-development step for two reasons: the Promotoras are reaching out to the municipality and asking for help, and the municipality is extended their programs to places that had not enjoyed these services prior to the Tia program implementation.

Rosy also told Monica that as a result of her training, she was able to assist her terminally ill mother and make her comfortable during her last days. She accompanied her mother to doctor’s appointments and received instructions on how to care for her. Though Rosy was very sad to lose her mother, she is grateful that she had the expertise to make her as comfortable as possible, allowing her mother to end her days comfortably surrounded by family and friends at home.

PMC Assists Grateful Residents

Here, Doctora Hayme (sitting in the blue vest) consults with a patient in Citala, Jalisco. A brigade of 25 medicos from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara’s (UAG), Community Medicine Program (PMC) provided direct patient care, trained Tia’s Promotoras (Community Health Workers), and conducted a baseline data study of the area.

This is the second time Dra. Hayme has joined a Tia brigade. She also accompanied us to the villages near Ojuelos, Jalisco and enjoyed the experience so much, that she signed up for the Teocuitatlan brigade. Thank you Dra. Hayme!

Wednesday evening, residents of Citala (in the municipality of Teocuitatlan) threw a party for the brigade, working most of the day to cook the posole, cut the vegetables and make the tortillas for the fiesta. Above, you can see Dr. Rico (left) and Dr. Juan Pablo (middle at the head of the table) enjoying the meal with members of the brigade.