Our Promotoras will be getting baumanometers (blood pressure cuffs) in different colors in their medical kits.  A baumanometer is an essential tool in the villages, because sometimes the Promotora is able to catch hypertension (high blood pressure) and begin dialogue with the patient , possibly saving their life.

Hypertension is known as the silent killer.  We give them the traditional cuffs, which are much more accurate than the electronic kind.  Since our villagers don’t often see a doctor until they are already quite sick, this skill is vital for our health workers to master.

Tia’s brigade from Universidad Valle de Mexico spent the day doing training and consultations at Corazon de Angel, an orphanage for abandoned and abused children.  This darling little girl is showing one of the doctors the condition of her teeth, while drawing a picture.  Their director was invited to take our Promotoras (Community Health Worker) course and she eagerly accepted so she can provide better and more immediate medical attention to the children in her care.

The UVM Brigade (Universidad Valle de Mexico) and Tia staff were loaded up and ready to go early this morning.  From left to right, Nate Harris (Tia’s Program and Marketing Director), Dr. Roberto Martinez (UVM Brigade Chief) and Laura Libman (Tia’s Founder and President).  We arrived in Ciudad Guzman in time for a lovely breakfast.  More to come…

As you do your normal holiday shopping, or any shopping for that matter, you can help Tia just by selecting us as your charity of choice when you buy from Amazon or Goodshop.  It is very simple and doesn’t cost you a penny!

Just go to http://smile.amazon.com/ and on your first visit to AmazonSmile, you are prompted to select a charitable organization from our list of eligible organizations. You can change your selection at any time.  AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice.

Or go to Goodshop and select Tia Foundation as your charity of choice.   Goodshop is an online shopping mall that donates a percent of your purchase price to your cause when you shop at one of 3,000+ partner stores including top retailers like Amazon (1.5% donation), Expedia (up to 5% donation), and Staples (2.5% donation). You can also find 25,000+ active discounts and money-saving coupons so you can save money and give back at the same time!

You can also go to eBay and choose Tia Foundation when buying or selling items.

Our charity concert was a great success!  After crunching the numbers, we found that we were able to raise enough money to provide 400 people with lifetime access to health care!  This will certainly come in handy next week, when our founder will be in Guadalajara purchasing the items that go into our medical kits for Ciudad Guzman.

A special thanks to everyone that got involved: The Rhythm Room, Disneyland, ASU, Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix Photo Booths, Harkins, Gameworks, Phoenix Phreeze, AMC Theaters, AZ on the Rocks, Hillstone Restaurant, Sandra Dee’s Catering, the Phoenix Rock Gym, Fayuca, Jared Dieckhoff, Robert and Ryan from R&R Law Group and the friends, family and Phoenix community that made all of this possible!

Check back soon for updates from the field for our November project!