Timmy Global Health
Founded in 1997 by Dr. Chuck Dietzen, Timmy Global Health is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based out of Indianapolis, Indiana that channels resources to sustainable health projects in developing countries. Partnering with established NGOs in Ecuador and Guatemala, Timmy Global Health sends a group of volunteers every two-three months to perform medical relief in underserved areas. Additionally, Timmy Global Health sends monetary support for our partner organizations to grow their outreach to the poor. Utilizing the charisma of college students, Timmy Global Health has developed its volunteer base at nine universities around the United States. Timmy Global Health also advocates and provides financial support for sister programs in Columbia, Nigeria and Jamaica.
Timmy Global Health focuses on depth over breadth. They understand that one time short-term efforts do not provide lasting changes, but sustained efforts that focus on aid AND empowerment can. By focusing on empowering those they serve, Timmy Global Health ensures those whom they help see their health as their responsibility and that the service provided by Timmy Global Health is the catalyst that promotes healthy living.
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Patient Tracking
With almost 100% turnover in personnel from one medical brigade to the next, continuity of information was essential to providing adequate and consistent care to our patients. That is why, in July 2008, Timmy Global Health, with the Public Team, launched a simple, low-tech, patient tracking system. Each patient will have a file created for them with their name and photo, a brief summation of their contact information, and patient intake forms from past visits dating back to October 2007. These files will be stored at the office of our International Partner Organization, La Fundación Tierra Nueva, and transported to the communities for each day of clinic.
This simple solution now allows for the doctor seeing a patient in March to know what the doctor in January noted and prescribed for that same patient. This also makes it possible for the Foundation to make sure that it is adequately following up with patients found to have serious or chronic conditions, from hypertension and diabetes to epilepsy and cancer.
Building Infrastructure
In July 2008, Timmy Global Health provided Tierra Nueva with the $46,000 it requested to complete the construction of the Neonatology and Pediatric Wings of their new Hospital, Un Canto a la Vida. Once open, this new Hospital will serve over 700,000 people in South Quito.
For the 2008-09 academic year, Timmy Global Health has pledged to raise $60,000 to complete the construction of Un Canto a la Vida's Intensive Care Unit, as well as an additional $22,000 for their Post-Partum Ward. A significant percentage of this money will be raised by our hardworking College and High School Chapters.
The Bussing Project
The Foundation has long been very proud of our referral system - a system by which patients found to have serious conditions need attention beyond the capacity our medical teams could be referred to Tierra Nueva for follow-up testing, care, or surgeries, all subsidized by Timmy Global Health. But when it was estimated in July 2007 that fewer than 20% of patients receiving these referrals actually followed up at the Hospital, the Foundation wanted to find out why.
As it turned out, the primary reason that patients, some with life-threatening illnesses, did not follow-up with Tierra Nueva for a free consult, was simply because they lacked the necessary transportation. Since January 2008, the Foundation's Bussing Project, with the help of our Medical Brigade Coordinator on the ground, allows for patients to be transported from their homes to the hospital on the week following each brigade. Now patients are far more likely to receive the care they need.