We’re pleased to introduce you to our newest Board Member, Dr. Kim Lam!

Kim is serving as an OB/GYN at St. Helena Hospital and the St. Helena Women’s Center in St. Helena, California. A graduate of Texas Tech University Health Sciences School of Medicine, she received her medical degree in 2007. During her residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas, Kim was named Outstanding Medical Student Educator and earned the Ben Taub “Service First” award 2009-2010. She received her undergraduate degree in microbiology from University of Texas at Austin, where she was awarded the Lawrence C. Baker Scholarship. In addition, Dr. Lam, who is fluent in Vietnamese, English, and medical and conversational Spanish, has performed volunteer clinical service on two continents, including in Juarez, Mexico; Nairobi, Kenya; and most recently in the Dominican Republic.

Apart from all that, she’s simply awesome – already a valuable contributor and creative thinker among our group. (And, we’re pleased to add, she has a great sense of humor.) We are so fortunate to have her among us!

On Friday, Dec. 16, Clinica Verde held a training day for all of its new employees. I delivered a welcome and congratulation to the team in Nicaragua via Skype at 6:30 a.m. Pacific and our leaders on the ground took over from there – doing a superb job orienting the group to the work ahead.

Our employee manual and job descriptions were distributed and reviewed, and Dr. Incer led a presentation that reviewed our mission and goals, standards of care and service, protocols, and the spirit and culture of excellence we expect to impart from Day 1.

Local staff from the Ministry of Health joined the group for lunch and got to know the team and our goals, while discussing ministry requirements and expectations. We look forward to partnering with local government agencies so that we can support each other’s goals.

Our new Director, Jennifer Owen, helped to organize and oversee the day, doing the fabulous work we’ve grown to realize is second nature to her. We are thrilled to announce that Jennifer has agreed to serve in Boaco for a full year to help lead our services and develop our organization on the ground at this critical stage of our growth. She is a blessing beyond anything we imagined.

Thank you so much for your continued commitment to our work in the world. Clinica Verde belongs to the community and each of you who have supported it, and we feel a great responsibility to serve all of our constituents with excellence, determination and respect.

As I reminded our team on Friday morning, we are servants to the poor. I shared these words from Peter Drucker: “Rank doesn’t confer privilege or power. It imposes responsibility.” Ours is to care for impoverished women and children with professionalism and love.

We wish all of you a holiday season filled with health and hope.

Gratefully,

Susan

This is what it looked like pre-Jennifer.

We love people who get things done!

CV Legal Rep Rafael Morales, Dr. Armando Incer and the MINSA inspection team in Boaco.

As we work to raise awareness and support in the U.S., a lot of activity is taking place in Nicaragua. Our dedicated team in Managua and Boaco are working hard to keep our project moving forward. Here are some highlights of our progress:

• The American Nicaraguan Foundation inspected the clinic on Oct. 4 to approve us for receiving medications and support through their incredible foundation. Thanks, ANF!

• The Ministry of Health visited Clinica Verde on Oct. 20 to inspect the clinic for approval. Thanks to this great MINSA team for their time and attention. We hope to satisfy their requirements quickly so we can begin the work of serving impoverished Nicaraguans!

• Recommended personnel are being reviewed by our legal rep in Nicaragua, Rafael Morales, and Clinica Verde Board Vice-Chair, Dr. Elquis Castillo.

• Former Minister of Health of Nicaragua and CV Board Member Margarita Gurdian spend time in Nicaragua following an assignment with USAID in Angola, and met with officials and CV team members to review goals and action items prior to clinic opening.

• CV volunteer Jennifer Owen is in Boaco helping with clinic setup. She has been an enormous blessing to our project.

We are moving forward!

This month Clinica Verde in Boaco welcomes volunteer Jennifer Owen, who will spend October helping out on the ground in Nicaragua. Jennifer is an attorney practicing in clean energy technologies and energy policy. She served at the Department of Energy as Director of the Office of Technology Advancement and Outreach in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and was a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) and a staff member on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Says Jennifer: “As an advocate for clean energy technologies in the U.S., I am excited to see Clinica Verde demonstrate sustainable building in a real world scenario. I hope to help the clinic move forward to opening, and provide whatever help I can. The mission of the clinic is so important – I feel very blessed to have an opportunity to meet the people of Boaco and support Clinica Verde!”

We are honored to have Jennifer’s commitment and support!

By Bill Bylund

To test the natural lighting effect from the clerestory windows at Clinica Verde, I recently visited  The Pacific Energy Center (PEC) in San Francisco. The PEC is a resource available to people interested in energy efficiency in every aspect of design and construction.  They have a program for testing shading and light distribution in buildings.  To record the data one has to bring a scale model of the proposed building to their laboratory where it is attached to the base of their Heleiodon, a mechanical apparatus that rotates the model to simulate various sun angles.  They take pictures of what occurs inside the model using a special camera.

The model is a scale model of the west wing of Clinica Verde, which was oriented north and south to capture the natural light most efficiently.  We maximized the ability to capture the greatest amount of natural light by employing clerestories facing south and north.  To enhance the effectiveness of the light capturing process we added light shelves.  This device shades the lower windows while directing bounced light through the clerestory windows onto the ceiling inside.  This ensures the light is reflected deep into the interior.  We added a clerestory at the halfway point in the length of the west wing to achieve an even distribution of the reflected light.  We weren’t  certain the north facing clerestories would be effective, which is one reason for the necessity of the Heliodon study.  The clinic site is located 13 degrees north of the equator.  Since the Tropic of Cancer lies 23 degrees north of the equator, there is a potential for capturing some direct natural lighting in the winter time, unlike here in the States, where we are above the most northern path of the sun around the earth (Tropic of Cancer).  Artists like north-facing windows in their studios because they receive a diffused light that does not produce shadows or hot spots.  When you are trying to maximize the lumens (light intensity) in an interior space, to replace dependency on electric lighting, you want to capture direct light from the sun.  To reduce heat gain, bouncing the light into the space using light shelves is a preferred technique.

Our intent has been to have systems that dovetail to provide an even dispersion of natural light throughout the building while selectively protecting certain areas from the intense seasonal sun.  We accomplish this with clerestory windows, strategically positioned skylights, large areas of windows, glass blocks, large overhangs and light shelves, all working in concert with each other to greatly reduce the requirement for electric lighting and heat gain.

You can contact Bill Bylund directly at bill@valleyarchitects.com

After a long delay in Nicaragua customs, we are happy to report that our shipment of medical supplies and equipment has arrived at Clinica Verde and is being inventoried by Dr. Armando Incer. Things look good, and we’re eager to unpack it all and get things in their place so that we can continue moving forward!

We’d like to recognize and thank IMEC for organizing and arranging the entire shipment for Clinica Verde. IMEC is a volunteer-based organization whose mission is to provide doctors in developing countries with quality medical equipment to improve health care for the poor. IMEC has worked with over 60 humanitarian organizations to revitalize hundreds of existing, impoverished hospitals with donated surplus medical equipment and supplies that are organized into complete medical departments, delivering them to over 70 countries around the world. They made the job of equipping our clinic efficient and highly organized in ways that helped us to conserve both time and resources. A special thanks also to Clinica Verde board members/volunteers Dr. Mary Huber and Don Farrar for identifying and coordinating with this world-class charitable organization.

More pictures below!

Dr. Armando Incer, Clinica Verde

Vos has trabajado los pasados tres anos con la junta directiva de Clinica Verde. Como fue esta experiencia? Que ha sido los retos mayores – y que ha sido lo mas gratificante?

Ha sido una experiencia muy importante en mi vida, pues he visto como un grupo de personas dan lo mejor de si, y lo mejor de esto es que se entregan por una causa que es noble y que lo hacen buscando como cambiar las vidas de personas que no conocen.

He aprendido que es mejor dar que recibir, que es muy importante en la vida de las personas luchar por una meta y hacer todo por alcanzarla.

Todo ha sido un reto, he estado en el proyecto desde sus inicios, en la formulación, en ayudar a definir la localización, y en ayudar a conseguir el terreno, he estado en cada uno de los pasos y ahora lo siento mio.

Una vez dije que hay una frase que ha marcado mi vida y es:  “SI LAS COSAS QUE VALEN LA PENA FUERAN FACILES, CUALQUIERA LAS HARIA.” Y definitivamente el trabajo que ha hecho la directiva ha VALIDO LA PENA y con su trabajo y dedicación nos han mostrado que la tarea ha sido difícil pero hemos llegado a cumplir nuestro sueno.

Habla un poco sobre tu visión para la Clínica Verde.

Pensar en Clínica Verde se traduce en AMOR a nuestros semejantes, amor a los niños, amor a las mujeres campesinas, amor a los pobres. Este AMOR lo demostraremos con nuestro trabajo, y será gratificante decir que la CLINICA VERDE no solo tiene el color de la esperanza, sino que también trae la esperanza de una vida mejor para nuestros pacientes.

Cierro mis ojos y sueno con una “clínica bonita,” pero no bonita solo por la infraestructura, bonita por que será un lugar en que los niños y las mamas estarán a gusto, sentirán que les pertenece y tendrán la confianza de asistir sabiendo que serán atendidos como nunca lo han sido en ninguna otra unidad de salud. Imagino a los niños en sus citas de control, viéndolos sanos, nutridos, con buen desarrollo físico-intelectual y a las mamas sabiendo que su embarazo esta seguro gracias al esfuerzo de todos los involucrados en la Clínica Verde.

Que quieres decir a la gente en lugares lejanos que han apoyado este proyecto para la comunidad de Boaco?

Quiero contarles que Susan ha sido un ángel para Boaco, y decirles que ella me dio una gran lección en la ultima reunión en Granada. Ese dia le preguntamos: Por que?? Por que?? Por que Susan ha impulsado esta tarea???? Y ella nos dijo: Tengo todo, no me falta nada y para dar gracias a Dios tenia que hacer algo.  Y este algo resulto en la Clínica Verde.

Pienso que igual que Susan todas y cada una de las personas que han ayudado lo han hecho “dándose” por completo a este proyecto y lo han hecho por que sienten que “para vivir es necesario navegar” y ellos al apoyar el proyecto deben sentir que han navegado por la vida.

Mi padre nos decía que en la vida “Es prohibido NO soñar.” Y yo he soñado gracias a ustedes y he visto como gracias a personas como ustedes los sueños se hacen realidad.

Muchas Gracias.

Dr. Armando Incer

You have worked for the past 3 years with the Board of Directors of Clinica Verde. What has that experience been like? What have been the biggest challenges – and what has given you the most gratification?

It’s been a really important experience in my life because I’ve seen a group of people give the best of themselves, and the best part of this is that they’ve done it for a cause that’s noble, trying to change the lives of people they don’t even know. I’ve learned that it’s better to give than to receive, and that it’s very important in people’s lives to fight for a goal and do whatever it takes to achieve it.

It has all been a challenge. I’ve been with this project since the beginning – in the formulation, to help define the location, to obtain the land. I’ve been there for every one of these steps and now I feel like it’s mine.

There’s a phrase that I’ve used that marks my life: “If things that are worthwhile were easy, anyone could do it.” The work the Board has done has definitely been worth it, and through their commitment and dedication they’ve showed us that although the work has been hard we were able to achieve our dream.

Talk a little about your vision for Clinica Verde.

Clinica Verde means to me love for our fellow men, love for children, love for the rural women we’ll serve, love for the poor. Through our work we’ll show this love, and it will great to be able to say that Clinica Verde not only has the color of hope but will bring the hope of a better life to our patients.

I close my eyes and dream of a beautiful clinic, but not only beautiful in structure, but beautiful  because it will be a place where children and their mothers will be at ease, a place that feels like it belongs to them, and where they have the confidence to come knowing that they will be cared for in a way they’ve never been cared for in any other health facility. I imagine the children coming for their check-ups, seeing them healthy, nourished, well-developed physically and intellectually, and the mothers knowing that their pregnancy will be safe, thanks to the effort of all those involved with Clinica Verde.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the people in far-off places who have supported this project for the community of Boaco?

I want to tell them that Susan gave me a great lesson during the last meeting in Granada, Nicaragua. That day we asked her: “Why?? Why?? Why has Susan taken on this project???” And Susan said to us: “I have everything. I lack nothing. To thank God for this, I had to do something.”

This something was Clinica Verde. I think, like Susan, each and every one of the people who have helped have given themselves completely to this project and that they have done this because they feel that “to live it’s necessary to sail,” and those that have supported the project should feel that they have sailed well through life.

My father said to us that in life “You are not allowed NOT to dream.” I have dreamed thanks to all of you, and thanks to all of you I have seen dreams become reality.