Founded by pediatric residents in 2003, we organize several 1-2 week outreach trips each year. Health worker volunteers from the northwest United States travel to rural El Salvador where we focus on public health education and sustainable medical assistance. We have also completed research on iron-deficiency anemia and its relationship to health interventions. We have also done informal lead testing and community health interventions around this issue. Previously, our work was focused in Los Abelines, but their successes have led us to work in new communities. Please see "Documents" for a great article on the success of Los Abelines in their collaboration with the ministry of health.
Our focus is currently in El Chaperno. While there, we work with a local NGO, A-BRAZO (click here for a news article on A-BRAZO's work) to help train village lay health committees. We use the principles of listening to draw on the life experiences and strengths of the local people in order to assist and empower communities to address their own health needs. We have found the publications of the Hesperian Foundation, especially the Hesperian Foundation's Helping Health Workers Learn and Where There is No Doctor, invaluable in guiding us in this approach.
Though somewhat outdated, click here for loads of great information about C.H.I.M.P.S., along with interesting public health documents and links from our original website.
We welcome health worker trainees and especially try to support opportunities for community health experiences for medical residents and medical students in working with low health literacy populations.
We have provided elective opportunities for residents and medical students. Electives have included opportunities to work in the ED at Bloom Children’s Hospital in San Salvador and to work on a community based health education project or screening (Hb, ZPPH, and Lead) in a semi urban low-income community in collaboration with the NGO A-BRAZO. This Elective has supported community-oriented research projects.
We subscribe to the following NGO code of conduct found here.
Our principles of short term ethical medical trips include:
Purpose: having common and specific goals for each visit.
Empowerment: working with communities to identify and advocate for their own needs.
Respect: maintaining awareness of the community, culture, and existing infrastructure.
Partnership: collaborating over time with local NGOs to do work that the community needs and wants.
Teamwork: identifying, valuing, and utilizing community and team member skills and experiences.
Sustainability: building capacity to meet challenges within communities and our organization.
Feedback: measuring and sharing progress toward team and community goals.
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Costs: The cost of air fare has incrased each year and can be up to $800 for a round trip plane ticket, depending on the time of year. Expenses for the cost of food lodging and travel in El Salvador come to another $200 to 250 depending on length of stay. CHIMPS pays for part of this if we have enough money. Total costs are typically in the $1000 to $1100 range. Practicing health care providers can deduct the cost of the travel from taxes as our partner NGO, A-brazo, has NGO status in the US. CHIMPS is also a 501 3C non-profit. CHIMPS reimburses residents and student trainees $250 each for travel costs, but does not provide reimbursements to other participants.