The Tia Foundation doesn’t develop one-size-fits-all relief plans for the communities we serve. We teach and empower people to develop sustainable healthcare solutions for themselves.

The result is confident communities in control of their own well-being and new, hard-earned skills and knowledge.

Oh, and free medical care for life?

Our communities build that too.

Sustainable Health Care Solutions

The Tia Foundation offers some of Mexico’s poorest, more remote communities the ability to become self-developing.

We focus on medical care because health is essential for prosperity, but the communities we work with achieve far more than healthcare. They’re stronger emotionally, mentally, socially, and financially, too.

And even better? Once we teach them to develop themselves, they no longer need us.
For them, that means self-sustaining, life-long success.

For us, that means the ability to help even more communities.

What Does Tia Do?

The Tia Foundation travels to remote, poor, and underserved communities in areas like Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacan during week-long, off-the-beaten path trips.

The communities we visit rarely have electricity, internet, or other basic services. Many don’t have great plumbing or clean water.

What they do have is the desire to make life better for their families, and that’s exactly what we help them with.

Every community is different, and it’s our goal to help each in the most meaningful way possible. We tailor the services we include for each project but they often include:

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
In areas where resources are scarce, transportation is limited, and the only way to communicate with neighbors up the mountain is to start hiking, organizing a community around common interests is really challenging.

Because our team is experienced in international development and management, we’re equipped to help these communities set up systems that promote health and break down barriers to better care.

For some, that means setting up a permanent supply line for resources like clean water and medication. For others, that means planning community gardens and sourcing medical equipment.

Almost universally, it means relying on doctors and medical students from nearby universities such as the Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG) to provide care, teach classes, and generate awareness in large cities about the unmet needs of their rural countrymen.

Other organizational services we help communities develop are:

• Bringing in volunteer expedition doctors to perform specialty surgery and treatment.
• Establishing and promoting health and sanitation education among the villagers.
• Filling gaps in necessary pharmaceuticals and supplies.
• Teaching water collection, purification, and distribution.
• Setting up a self-maintaining pool of resources for training and supplies that is locally driven.
• Creating school and community gardens to alleviate malnutrition.
• Providing age-appropriate lesson plans for local schools on subjects related to health, nutrition and sanitation.

IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION
Some communities are particularly underserved. If they haven’t had a doctor come through in a month or more, we’ll set up a mobile clinic in their casa de salud, town plaza, school, or church. All community members have to do is show up. We provide everything we can, often including:

• Consultations with doctors, nutritionists, physical therapists, psychologists, and more.
• Prescription and over-the-counter medication.
• Prenatal and children’s vitamins and supplements.
• Some surgical procedures
• Vaccinations and other injections
• Laboratory testing

HEALTH EDUCATION
While there are many non-governmental organizations (NGO) providing medical relief to underserved communities in the developing world, we know that just patching up the locals isn’t enough. If they’re going to have any hope of a better quality of life, we need to empower them to create their own sustainable healthcare solutions.

That’s why setting up classes in a central area to teach locals to become health workers in their communities is always part of a visit from Tia.

Our Promotores come from all around to study for several hours a day before taking tests to show they’ve learned skills like:

• Taking vitals
• Setting broken bones
• Nutrition
• Giving injections
• Setting up an IV
• CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver
• Treating heat exhaustion and dehydration
• Identifying and treating a concussion
• Treating burns, lacerations, and abrasions
• Delivering babies
• …And more

MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
Upon graduation, each community with at least one successful Promotor(a) receives one or more basic medical kits, or botiquin. These kits are packed with the tools and supplies necessary to maintain health and respond to emergency situations for the entire community. The health workers we train are responsible for caring for these kits, but they belong to the community and the local government funds their restocking as needed.

Kits typically include:

• Bandages
• Gloves
• Diabetic testing supplies
• A CPR mask
• Surgical tools
• I.V. setups and solutions
• Injectables
• Common medications
• Topical antiseptics
• …And more.

DATA COLLECTION
While we make data collection a priority on every trip to ensure we’re serving communities in the best possible, some municipalities, health organizations, or other government departments will request our data or statistics on particular health aspects. This is because we’re an unbiased, third party organization developing close ties to remote, difficult-to-access communities.

And we’re happy to help.

How Does Tia Do It?

We work with municipality leaders to tailor our services to address the most pressing concerns in each community, so locals can solve life-changing issues right away and build momentum toward prosperity in the future.

To do that, we prepare our medical brigade and volunteers to handle specific health concerns, such as:

• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Undernutrition and malnutrition
• Clean water collection
• Personal hygiene
• Poisonous bite and plant response
• Farming accidents
• Childbirth
• Domestic abuse
• Depression
• And more

Who Is Tia?

Who helps Tia accomplish all this? Learn more about the doctors, students, medical workers, technicians, board members, donors, organizations, and volunteers that make Tia’s mission possible.