Work in a Medical/Healthcare Project In Costa Rica

Project At A Glance Location: San Jose Start Point: San Jose End Point: San Jose Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local meals (3 times a day) Room: Host family Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

Healthcare professionals in Costa Rica are attempting to keep pace with the advances of modern medicine, but basic healthcare is still not accessible to massive amounts of Costa Ricans. Many diseases linger in Costa Rica, many thought obsolete or remedied in western countries. There is a shortage of supplies and resources. There are limited flu shots and things as simple as antibiotics are in short supply.

Costa Rica has the outdated healthcare industry of a still-developing country. IFRE's volunteer projects in Costa Rica place interested medical/healthcare professionals to support the often-intimidating front line of medicine and healthcare in a developing country. Medical/healthcare volunteers are greatly welcomed in these projects to share their time, knowledge, skills and support with the immensely challenged Costa Rica healthcare industry. Healthcare project volunteers in Costa Rica can expect to reach beyond the basic knowledge of their medical training and share their proactive attitudes and innate abilities.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

Beginner to intermediate knowledge of Spanish is preferred (but not mandatory). . If you cannot speak Spanish, we suggest you enroll in our Spanish language course to make your stay more rewarding – both for you and for the children you are helping. Applicants interested in joining our volunteer health program must possess healthcare certification, such as an ID as a medical student, EMT, paramedic certification, nursing or physician's credentials. We do not permit volunteers without medical credentials to work in this program due to the potential risk. The projects require a copy of volunteers’ resumes, clearly documenting credentials and education, before arrival at the project. Projects will also require an official copy of credentials.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Job responsibilities for medical project volunteers/interns in Costa Rica vary dependent on education, skills, experience and qualifications and on the community’s current needs. Volunteers could be delivering babies, suturing wounds or giving vaccinations. Some volunteers may also be asked to support public health campaigns. As a medical volunteer in Costa Rica, volunteers could be placed in a large hospital or small clinic. Most of the hospitals (regardless of size) have many departments, like western hospitals, so a volunteer may be placed in any department dependent on skills, qualifications and training.

Room/Food/Supervision

In Costa Arica, all volunteers stay with well-screened host families. Our host families are socially respected and are well versed in the art of hosting international volunteers. Host families offer a safe home, private rooms (occasionally rooms will be shared with other same-gender volunteers) and shared bathroom facilities with running hot water and a “western” style toilet. Volunteers have the ability to do laundry at the house or the host family may offer to do it for you for a nominal extra fee. You receive three prepared meals per day. If you will be out of the house during lunch hour, you can request a lunch "to go" that you can take with you or eat out on your own. Host families provide typical meals that are traditional to Costa Rica.

Throughout the volunteer project, our local staff stays in contact with volunteers either with face-to-face visits or via email/telephone. With longer placements, we visit our volunteers every two weeks (when possible) and volunteers are always welcome at the local office. If project placement is local, we request that volunteers stop by the office once a week to keep us posted on how they are doing with their home stay and project. If project placement is very far, then our local staff members maintain communication by either email and/or phone.