Proyecto Puentes de Salud - "Project Health Bridges"

A student organization of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine serving Hispanic communities our state and in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico.

The founding goal of Proyecto Puentes de Salud (PPS) is to ameliorate health care inequalities by serving as a “health bridge” between underserved Latino communities—both in North Carolina and in Mexico—and needed health services. Our method for building this bridge is twofold: first, to provide quality medical attention to underserved and disadvantaged communities in Guanajuato, Mexico, and second, to conduct meaningful research that will inform effective intervention programs in the future. 

Since the summer of 2006, PPS has been serving Juventino Rosas, a community within the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, each summer with health screenings and educational presentations. In the summer of 2010, PPS expanded to a second site. The summer of 2011 will be the second year that PPS has served the nearby town of San Miguel de Allende, also in Guanajuato.

About PPS

Vision

To provide self-sustaining, long-lasting community health services to the people in rural areas of Juventino Rosas and San Miguel de Allende (State of Guanajuato, Mexico). These services are provided by a collaboration of graduate students in the health disciplines of medicine, nursing, dentistry and public health.

Mission

Our bi-national program to the medically underserved sustains health, human dignity, and the opportunity for individuals in rural communities to meet their full potential.

Who we are

PPS is student-driven health organization whose ultimate goal is to serve the Hispanic/Latino Population in North Carolina by understanding their roots, culture, and country of origin. In partnership with the catholic church of Juventino Rosas and the sister catholic church of St. Thomas Moore (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), the rural population of Juventino Rosas has received health screenings and health education during the summer program provided by the University of North Carolina medical students. These students are directly supervised by volunteer faculty from the University of North Carolina, Duke University in Durham, NC and physicians from a community health center in our area called Piedmont Health Services that treats many Mexican patients living in this region. In addition, we have extended these services to San Miguel through local affiliates such as the Lion’s Club of San Miguel de Allende and Dr. Salvador Quiroz.

Partner Organizations

University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Piedmont Health Services
La Parroquia de Juventino Rosas
Dr. Luis Antonio Narváez Contreras
Dr. Salvador Quiroz
Lions Club # 47711, San Miguel de Allende

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