OF MAINE

ABOUT US
OUR VISION
Providing opportunities for visiting health care providers and students to work with Nicaraguan colleagues and provide training and materials support.
WHAT WE DO
Partners in Health of Maine has undertaken and completed a variety of projects Since 1976.
OUR VOLUNTEERS
From the outset, the work of PIHOM has depended on a relatively small number of volunteers, mostly clinicians, who spend two weeks. They are responsible for their own transportation, room and board.
OUR FOUNDER

Partners in Health of Maine was originally formed as a division of Eastern Maine Charities (a local 501c foundation), it formally incorporated in 1992 as a separate 501c3 non-profit volunteer organization with the mission of providing health services, training, education and volunteer opportunities for health care providers in third world countries.
The organization grew around the volunteer work of Dr. Robert Bach, a general surgeon from Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and other health care workers who had been volunteering in Central America since 1975. Dr. Bach was active in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, particularly on the Nicaraguan Atlantic coast region, prior to the Sandinitsta-Contra war. Indigenous Misquito Indians and people of Afro-Caribe and Spanish descent populate the area, which was in the midst of the conflict. The largest town, Puerto Cabezas, became a refugee center for Atlantic coastal Nicaragua and it’s population swelled from 15,000 to over 35,000.
Dr. Bach returned to Nicaragua after the war ended in 1989 and found the medical infrastructure devastated. Partners in Health of Maine pushed for the rebuilding of the hospital in Puerto Cabezas and were able to obtain pledges from the US State Department through USAID and from the United Nations. PIHOM fully replaced the hospital equipment and provided supplies and training. In 1991 PIHOM collected over 66,000 lbs. of donated medical equipment and supplies that were flown to Puerto Cabezas by the US Air Force and Air National Guard. The new 60-bed hospital was dedicated in 1992. PIH funded the addition of two operating rooms several years later.
Past Projects

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General Surgery, Ophthalmology and Dental clinics.
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Transportation to Maine, for children in need of cardiac surgery
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Training including Operating Room Nurses, Laboratory, Anesthesia and X-ray.
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Shipping of roughly 30,000 lbs. of supplies and materials annually to the region.
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Establishment breast milk bank
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Mercury contamination study in Siuna
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H.Pylori project
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Creation of a Burn Unit.
Current Projects

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Palliative Care Program in the community of Puerto Cabezas
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Bilwas Medical Outreach in the ten villages in Rio Cocco region
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Well and sanitation projects in the Rio Cocco region
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Establishment of EMS in Puerto Cabesas
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Volunteer Quarters / Warehouse / Learning center for community lectures
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Hospital Amanacer de Enfemera Nancy Bach
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Transportation of Patients for medical attention in Managua
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Scholarship program for male students at URACAN ( University Regional Costa Atlantica North Autonomous
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Provide Medical Supplies to the following hospitals
Hospital Nuevo Amanecer, Puerto Cabezas
Polyclinica Bilwaskarma in Bilwaskarma, Rio Coco
Moravian Clinic in Ahuas, Honduras