Community Clinic La Saona
La Saona Clinic History
La Saona is a lively, yet impoverished town on the outskirts of Bani in the southwest Dominican Republic.La Saona is home to an estimated 6,000 people, a majority of whom live without potable water and reliable electricity. There are over 1,500 women of reproductive age in the town and an average of 150 babies born annually. Infante Sano began working in La Saona in late 2006 in response to community interest and a clear need to improve services for women and children. We started off meeting weekly with a group of local community leaders to determine the health needs of women and children. This group decided to form a health committee and elected a member to serve as the town's community health worker, paid for by Infante Sano. The health committee then quickly determined that they needed a doctor and regular health services provided in their community through a community clinic. Sister Catherine, a catholic nun who had been running the Elizabeth Seton Nutrition and Daycare Center in La Saona for over 20 years, offered to give us space for the clinic in her building. Infante Sano identified potential doctors from Bani who were interviewed by the health committee. The health committee hired the doctor they felt best met their community's needs and the La Saona clinic was born!
We started our clinic by offering prenatal screenings and vaccinations one afternoon, once per week. Over time, the demand for services grew to the point where our clinic offered services five days a week; providing a wide range of services including prenatal care, family planning, and well baby check-ups. Furthermore, our community health worker performed routine home visits and our health committee continues to be one of the only groups functioning in the region.
Clinic Successes
The biggest success of the La Saona clinic was and continues to be the immediate community ownershipof the clinic. Since, the day the clinic opened the health committee has managed it and the doctor and community health worker have not missed a day of work in over two years! Not only did the clinic immediately become part of the community, but also its staff ensured that all pregnant women received high quality health services. During 2008 and 2009, we had over 6,000 patient visits; primarily serving women of reproductive age and children under five. We conducted numerous trainings and workshops for community members. In 2009, we had the great fortune of receiving support for our community health interventions through the American Academy of Pediatrics I-CATCH grant program and were able to strengthen our system for home visits and the management of childhood illness. Over 85% of women from La Saona who had a baby during our intervention were visited by our community health worker in their homes within the most critical time for mom and baby of three days post-delivery.
In 2009, we also began a targeted program focused on HIV/AIDS diagnostics, treatment and prevention.This special initiative was made possible with generous support from the Aerosmith Endowment at Children’s Hospital Boston. Through this project, clinic staff and health committee members were trained in HIV prevention and community outreach and over 1,800 community members received information, education and communication about the topic. Every pregnant woman receiving prenatal screenings at the La Saona clinic was tested for HIV/AIDS. Tests were initially conducted at a nearby partner hospital, Nuestra Señora de Regla in Baní, until we launched rapid on-site testing within the community – a first for the public sector in the region!
Future Plans
We have now come full circle with our work in La Saona. The Elizabeth Seton Center who graciouslyhosted our clinic for the last two years has received its own non-profit status and has new plans for the clinic space. The Elizabeth Seton Center and local health committee now have full control over the clinic’s operations and will be relocating the clinic within a government building. Infante Sano intends to support the clinic in 2010 with a grant to continue its great work.
