Mulukuku is a small town in rural Nicaragua that was ravaged by the civil war in the 1990's and 3 major natural disasters in the last 10 years. At that time, a nurse from California named Dorothy Granada was there witnessing the disaster. She fortuitously took part in founding the Maria Luis Ortiz Woman's Health cooperative Clinic. It has now been in existence over 10 years and she is it's heart and soul. It is a fully functioning "Clinica con camas", slightly less than a level 4 hospital in the U.S. They see about 80 patients/day in all areas of medical needs including OB, preventative, peds, medicine, minor surgery, infectious disease (malaria and TB being very common), trauma, burns, psych etc.

Two years ago, Dorothy met Saul Contreras, the Nicaragua representative for Doctors for Global Health, and together they have begun a regional Promotor de Salud program to train public health/nursing outreach workers to be the delegates for their respective communities. 

Dorothy has extended an open welcome for Swedish/Cherry Hill and 1st Hill residents to rotate in 4-week blocks in the hopes of a continual, sustainable exchange between our countries and clinics. We are sending our first residents this coming year (2006) with the expectation that 2-3 residents/year will be in the community. 

We are also working with the newly borne University of Washington Department of Global Health toward an intensive preparatory month of global health curriculum prior to our departure in order to prepare us to hit the ground running.

We are very excited at the prospect of working with the community of Mulukuku for many years to come and hope to expand this opportunity to all the family medicine residencies affiliated with the University of Washington.