Letter from Project director, Andrea Yancon

Dear Friends and Supporters of The Quito Project, 
  
First of all, thank you for your interest in the work that we are doing.  After returning this January from the first annual Winter Medical Clinic, I am even more excited to be involved in the project. This experience and other past experiences that I have in Ecuador have only strengthened my desire to continue serving the amazing people of
this beautiful country! 

After four formative years, the project continues on its way to expanding the quality and quantity of services that we can provide to the community in Quito.  This year is even more exciting as we move to model our endeavors on evidence-based practices, continue the process of obtaining non-profit 501(c)(3) status, and opening up our medical clinic for 4th year rotations for other medical schools around the country so that we can keep the clinic open year-round!

It is such an honor for me to be a part of this organization because the work that the Quito Project does is so crucial to promoting peace and cooperation around the globe.  We are living in a time of international turmoil, which means that this kind of work is even more important.  We must know that people from all over the world can learn from each other, help each other, and get along despite cultural differences.  I will give my all to continue helping to make this project a success because its philosophies match my own as a medical student.  First of all, I believe strongly in the saying: “One World, One Medicine”, which means that we are all part of the same world and we all deserve the same access to medical care.  Secondly, in order to make real progress, a project must be sustainable.  The long term goals and the shift towards a year-long presence in the community give our project the power to make an even bigger difference. Next, to really be successful, we must work with the community, learn from them, and help them to help themselves.  The Quito Project provides the community members the tools they need to learn skills that will last forever because the community members have an active role in our project.  They teach themselves and they help themselves, we just facilitate with the resources that are necessary.  In order to help the community fight poverty, a holistic approach must be taken.  People cannot fight for their rights if they are sick, but even if they are healthy, they cannot fight for their rights if they are illiterate or uneducated, so we must strive to tackle the problem just the way that The Quito Project is doing it, with a multidisciplinary approach. 

This approach involves students from many of the schools within the University of Michigan, and now other Universities as well, who work together to make the project successful.  Our team is comprised of students of Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Public Health, Social Work, Spanish, Education, Psychology, and more.  Imagine the difference that it makes to have so many people with such different perspectives working towards the same goals!  It is so amazing to witness the amount of hard work and dedication that all of these students give to the project.

This year, we will be continuing our efforts in Quito with the first ever Spring Medical Clinic run by Wayne State Medical School.  We will also be holding the longest ever Summer Medical Clinic which will last for five weeks.  The Dental Clinic continues to expand.  Our Social Work and Public Health students will be working on a community wide needs assessment so that we can better shape our programs in the future. They will also be continuing weekly workshops and nutrition classes with the community members to address issues such as self empowerment, sexuality, and mental health among many other things.  The tutors will be continuing their efforts with the school age children, helping them not only to excel at school, but also providing them with life-long skills about teamwork and learning. 

It is easy to see that we have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we are not intimidated, instead we will rise to the challenge and continue to make a difference!  Thanks again to our many supporters, donors, members, and to the University of Michigan for providing us with such a wonderful, encouraging work environment and with such talented students!!
   
!!Sí Se Puede!! 

Andrea Yancon
2008 Project Director
The Quito Project