Medical & Environmental Initiatives

Mountain Medicine Initiative

Construction of Medical Clinics

At each project site, we help residents fill gaps in their health care systems. If needed, we help villagers build medical clinics and stock them with medications, simple laboratory equipment, supplies and health education materials.

Visiting Medical Teams

Medical teams consisting of doctors, mid-level providers, nurses and medical students travel to project sites on a regular basis. Visiting teams join with local interpreters and staff to provide health care and reassess medical needs of the community. Teams restock dispensaries and medical supplies, and ensure on-going care for patients with chronic disease.

Local Medical Staff Training

Training local medical staff is at the heart of the medical initiative. Villagers who show an interest in health care are identified during medical missions and are offered scholarships to pursue training as nurses and doctors. They agree to provide service at their villages’ medical clinic after graduation so that clinics will be staffed year-round.

Village Health Care Workers (VHCW)

VHCW are local residents who are trained by medical staff to provide basic education and preventive health care to villagers. The VHCW program is being piloted at the Payingdem Medical Clinic and over time will be adapted to other Vision Builders project sites.

Preventive Medicine

Many of the diseases suffered in this part of the world can be prevented through simple measures such as clean water, latrines, hygiene and improved nutrition. Village Health Care Workers help implement these changes by providing education to their communities on disease prevention, common illnesses, first aid, and reproductive health. Preventive medicine needs are also addressed through Environmental Initiatives.

Environmental Wellness

By improving environmental conditions we eliminate barriers to children’s education, health and wellbeing. The success of medical programs is closely intertwined with environmental wellness. For example, preventive health education on water-borne illness will have limited impact in a village that doesn’t have accessible clean water.

Clean Water

Access to adequate water supply is not only a fundamental human need, it also adds considerable health and economic benefits to households and individuals. Worldwide, the lack of clean water for drinking, cooking and washing, and the lack of sanitary waste disposal are to blame for more than twelve million deaths a year. About 1.2 billion people are at risk because they lack access to safe water for cooking, bathing and cleaning.

Children at risk for parasites and life-threatening, water-borne diseases like typhoid, dysentery, polio and hepatitis, cannot thrive. Vision Builders packs in and installs solar powered water purification systems. Villagers assist in transportation and installation, and are trained in system maintenance.

"We set up the water purification system in 4 days, and as a result were providing pure, disease-free water for the students to use for both drinking and hygiene. It was clear that this was desperately necessary as almost all the students were sick and had parasites from the lack of basic hygiene and clean water." Traven Pelletier, volunteer

Sustainable Power

Power is necessary to operate water purification systems and medical equipment, and to refrigerate medicines. In the most remote areas of the Himalayas, there is no electricity. The only source of power, if there is any at all, is the diesel-run generator. We currently use solar power to run water purification units. We continue to research additional environmentally friendly and sustainable power sources, such as wind (of which there is no shortage).

Latrines and Animal Waste Education

In many mountain villages, animals roam freely. The villagers and children then walk barefoot through waste covered areas. As a result, many children and adults are infected with parasites; and most live with constant diarrhea and dehydration. We partner with local leaders to develop educational programs that guide villagers toward healthy waste and hygiene practices.

Garden Project

Improved dietary practices are essential to better health in poor, isolated areas. Teaching basic gardening technique provides a means for communities to produce better nutritional options. Community garden projects are viable and sustainable solutions. We provide the seed and necessary knowledge about growing a garden, and the community and children provide the ongoing labor. In this simple way, vitamin deficiencies are corrected and the general health and immunity of children and caregivers improves.