Hillside Health Care International Campus

Hillside clinic is situated about 5 miles north of Punta Gorda on the main highway. The site was donated and appears to be about an acre in size. It started out as one main building and now the area is pretty well filled with other facilities. The clinic building itself has an area where 3 patients can be seen at one time, a small storage area, a small pharmacy, and the beginnings of a small basic lab, all on the first floor. On the second floor is an administrative office, a small apartment for visiting doctors and volunteers, and another storage room. To the west of that is the “tree house” which presently houses our RN, Betty Conley on the second floor and a work area for Evert Mangar, our facilities manager, and Amelia Ramclam, our housekeeper, on the first floor. South of the tree house is the Ed Center where meetings are held, but where we hope to convert into a dental unit eventually. Our newest building is Abbey House dorm, named after Abbey Brinkman, who died in a tragic scuba diving accident a few years ago while on rotation at Hillside. The Abbey House can accommodate as many as 16 students and volunteers, with full facilities enclosed. We would like to eventually build a roof over the Abbey House to decrease the heat inside the dorm and also establish a larger meeting and gathering area.

Tree house to the right, Education Center straight ahead and Abbey House dorm to the left.
Hillside Clinic from the east with mural.
Abbey House straight ahead, Clinic to the right.

Overnight Mobile Clinic Trips

As an attempt to reach the male population of the villages that we service, we are doing overnight visits and mobile clinics to the more distant areas. One of the things that we have noticed this year is that we seldom see the men of the villages. When we arrive for mobile clinic at mid-morning they are already working in the fields and when we leave at mid-afternoon they are not back yet. So we pack everything we need to stay overnight in the Landrover, including mosquito nets, thin mattresses, food, etc, and usual clinic supplies. We set up camp at the school or community center, sometimes in the same place that we hold clinical. In the evening we hold health education classes for the men. Our first theme was “1st Aid for Farmers” and our next will be “How to Keep Your Family Healthy.” So far we have had good response and they all want us back for the next session.

Heading out for the overnight clinical.

Men's 1st Aid Class - Aguacate

Camping out in the Aguacate school.