Proyecto Puentes de Salud – “Project Health Bridges”
A student organization of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine serving Hispanic communities in our state and in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico.
The founding goal of Proyecto Puentes de Salud (PPS) is to address 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 health education, health screenings and referrals in 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 and it’s surrounding area, 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 based in San Miguel de Allende also in Guanajuato.
About PPS
Vision
In partnership with local communities to provide health education and chronic disease screening services to the people in rural areas of Juventino Rosas and San Miguel de Allende (State of Guanajuato, Mexico). To connect people who screen positive for chronic illness with continuity primary care services.
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 that strives to serve the Hispanic/Latino Population in rural Guanajuato state, MX and 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 and physicians from a community health center in our area called Piedmont Health Services that treats many Latino 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