Grafton nurse Meg Boren sacrificed all the comforts of home in 2002 to build a health care clinic in a remote area of Nicaragua. With the help of donors and a steady stream of volunteers from Wisconsin, the clinic has offered health care to villagers who once had been too poor or too isolated to receive reliable, modern medical care.
Boren’s outreach program, called “Circle of Empowerment,” has also opened a preschool, supported an elementary school, created economic opportunities and trained health care aides. This is truly a people-to-people approach that is showing very good results. In just a few short years, these volunteers, sponsors and local organizers have helped to save lives.
Before the clinic opened, three to five children in the village died from pneumonia each year; since its launch, no children have died from pneumonia.
Boren says the clinic “heavily subsidizes” medication for villagers so that patients only have to pay about $1 for their treatment. If patients have no money, they can contribute in other ways. “No mom is going to have a child go without medication,” Boren said.
A benefit for Circle of Empowerment will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Whitefish Bay Library Community Room, located at 5420 N. Marlborough Drive. The JT Bandits will perform the music of James Taylor, a raffle will be held and Nicaraguan handicrafts will be sold. A $5 minimum donation is encouraged. For more information, contact Mary at mary@mbwacker.com, or call 875-9876.
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