Albergue St. Gabriel
There is one (1) placement available at Albergue St. Gabriel for a FrancisCorps Volunteer. The volunteer must have a high level of proficiency in the Spanish language to work in Costa Rica.
Albergue San Gabriel is an outpatient clinic that offers palliative care to children with a limited quality of life due to chronic, progressive, non curable illnesses. Rather than coming just for a doctor's appointment, patients come with their families to spend the entire day at the Albergue. Throughout the day, the medical staff (consisting of a doctor, nurse, psychologist, nutritionist, and physical therapist) is available to meet with the patient, parents, and/or siblings as needed. The volunteer team is responsible for organizing activities each day for the patients, for the siblings, and for the mothers. The goal is that while at the Albergue, the patients and their families might have just one day to relax, have fun, and forget about the worries associated with their medical condition.
Some interesting comments from Erin Duquette who ministered at the Albergue 2008-2009
"The Albergue (the closest literal translations I've found for that word are "lodge" or "hostel" or "shelter," but clinic would be the best actual description) is a paliative care center that serves approximately 300 Costa Rican children from throughout the country.
Our patients have been referred to our services for the following reasons- pain management for chronic or acute medical conditions, end of life treatment for things like cancer, and continued care for things such as hidrocephaly, cerebral palsy, and a number of other neurological conditions. Many of the children require a great deal of medical assistance, from trach tubes to feeding tubes, while others are considerably more responsive and interactive, suffering from infirmities such as Muscular Dystrophy or spina bifida which require routine management but do not significantly hinder the patients' abilities to communicate, reason, and interact as "normal" children of that age."
For more information, please contact Bro. Jim at: FranCorps@gmail.com
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"Preach the Gospel. If necessary use words." - St. Francis of Assisi