Medical Clinics, children's evangelism programs, Bible distribution, prayer and the distribution of food, clothing and toys all happen concurrently in each community we visit.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE HANDS IN SERVICE MEDICAL CLINICS AND EVANGELISM EFFORTS IN LA ROMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hands in Service (HIS) has been taking medical evangelism teams to the Dominican Republic to partner with Casa De Restauración Iglesia Metodista Libre La Romana since 2017. The teams visit neighborhoods and sugar cane communities in La Romana. The locations we visit suffer from extreme poverty and the effects are seen in the clinics. Poor nutrition compromises the patients’ immune systems making many common illnesses difficult to overcome. The demographics and statistics regarding the people we serve were collected in 2021. .
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Demographics: By Gender
Demographics
Nutritional Status: Malnutrition causes our patients to be more susceptible to diseases, causes stunted growth in children, muscle wasting, and has a detrimental effect on learning ability and concentration. Definition of malnutrition in adults is based on a BMI of less than 18. Definition of malnutrition in children is based on the CDC children's height/weight percentile chart. Children under the 5th percentile are considered malnourished. 2021Nutritional Status
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Gathering nutritional status data during our clinics helps us to find the families with the highest health risks. Comparing our data from 2021 to our data from 2026 gives a pretty clear picture that the efforts of Hands in Service and Casa de Resturacion are making a positive impact on the communities where we are serving. Also knowing which families have the highest health risks helps our Pastors to focus on those families with prayer, visitation and food security support. 2026 Nutritional Status
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Vitamins/Deworming Medication:
Hands in Service gives out vitamins to help supplement important nutrients that patients were lacking in their daily meals.
Hands in Service gives out vitamins to help supplement important nutrients that patients were lacking in their daily meals.
Intestinal parasites and skin parasites further weaken immune systems already depleted by the effects of malnutrition. Intestinal parasites can consume many scarce calories that our patients need. This can result in stunted height, low weight and damage to the digestive tract.
Scabies is a skin parasite that causes intense itching, especially at night; this results in sleep deprivation. The itching caused by these mites that live under the skin is almost overwhelming and patients often scratch their skin open, leaving them susceptible to skin infections.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6082057/ |
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Top Diagnoses’ (most common to least common):
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Most commonly prescribed Medications (from most to least common):
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