Medical volunteering abroad

Are you a doctor, physical therapist, dentist, nurse or other healthcare provider that wants to travel and serve a community ? Are you a pre med student or aspiring medical professional looking to enhance your skill set and/or gain first hand experience in Central America through a medical volunteer abroad trip?

If this applies to you, medical volunteering may be the perfect way for you to volunteer abroad putting your specialized skills to use!

Medical volunteer abroad trips can be extremely rewarding and an unforgettable experience!

Here at INLEXCA to participate in a medical volunteer abroad program, you don’t necessarily have to have a medical degree, but you do need to be at least enrolled in medical school.

In Central America low income communities have very limited access to good health services and medical volunteers play an important role in health projects. Access to good medical services and treatments is one of the main reasons why people get stuck in poverty. Not being offered free medical help can stop you working, saving, paying for education and attending school. INLEXCA partners with rural clinics that provide free or very accessible services where volunteers can work with local doctors and nurses.

Depending on your experience in the medical and health field , the level of responsibility and involvement during your volunteer placement will vary. Typical activities you could perform are:

• Conducting health and hygiene workshops in rural schools.
• Helping doctors by measuring patients vital signs.
• Helping doctors and nurses with daily tasks at clinics.
• Helping in state pharmacies to provide services.
• Participating in medical outreach campaigns if one coincides with you service time.
• Teaching indigenous families in rural areas about basic health measures and nutrition.

Did we wake your curiosity ?!But still are not convinced yet? Get inspired by this VIDEO of two medical volunteers in Guatemala and their testimonial!

Why to pay for your volunteer abroad experience

‘Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.’

You are planning to volunteer and wonder why most of the programs are charging program fees? Are you thinking that you are working for free, why to pay?

Well let us tell you that paying to volunteer abroad enables the project to make the most out of your volunteer experience as the program fees will cover all costs that will arise with your arrival.

Whether you’ll stay two days or twenty weeks at the project site – you do cost money. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you are a first time volunteer or an experienced one already. You’ll definitely need special training and advising, which here at INLEXCA we gear to the prevailing tasks and project  you will be a part of. To guarantee a successful  and positive experience we do a whole day of induction and assist you in any matters that arise during your stay.

Many of the costs are incurred even before you leave your home country, like administrative tasks, volunteer recruitment, arranging and designing all of our programs, infrastructure, maintaining our website, making promotional material, establishing new partnerships with other organizations, etc…

Once you have chosen a volunteer placement your fees go into paying our kind staff, Spanish Classes (if you are taking) and:

• Welcome at the airport and private transport to your host family
• • Transport to language school and volunteer project site
  • 24 hour on call support from in country staff and emergency assistance.
  • Program and project orientation.
  • Walking tour of local community
  • Private room accommodation (shared bathroom) with a host family
  • Breakfast and dinner, 7 days/week
  • Volunteering placement
  • Letter of recommendation

Of course there are additional costs that you would never notice like legal fees, taxes, internet, phone bills, other utilities, maintenance, rental space, insurance, office supplies, ect…

But most importantly, these fees go into making sure you have fulfilling and rewarding experience volunteering and that everything runs smoothly.