As Panama prepares to take on Ghana on the pitch this Wednesday, June 17, we are taking the opportunity to look back at the ways we have been honored to support health and wellness in Panama. Since 2007, HHI has delivered more than $4.2 million in essential medicines and supplies to health in communities across the country.
One of our long-standing partners is the Floating Doctors. True to its name, this nonprofit medical organization travels by boat to provide comprehensive healthcare to hard-to-reach indigenous Ngäbe communities in the Bocas del Toro region. In 2023, members of our Access to Medicine team traveled to Panama to see this life-saving collaboration in action.
Bridging the Healthcare Gap
During the visit, HHI staff accompanied a primary care provider on a home visit to an elderly patient in the community of Bajo Cedro. The patient lived with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This condition is frequently caused by prolonged exposure to smoke from unventilated indoor cooking fires, a common reality in under-resourced communities globally.
Though her family had sought care at a local hospital the previous day during a severe flare-up, the facility lacked the critical inhaler medication she needed. Furthermore, they hadn’t been given clear guidance on the antibiotics they did receive.
The Floating Doctors team immediately stepped in, providing the necessary chronic care medications, refilling her inhaler, and delivering thorough, careful instructions to the family. This scenario highlights a daily challenge: local providers are ready to care for their communities, but their impact depends heavily on a reliable supply chain of medications. HHI is proud to help provide that foundation.
Transforming Hydration Education
Our partnership also tackles widespread, chronic environmental health challenges like dehydration. Due to intense physical labor in the sun and limited water intake, dehydration is a persistent issue in these regions.
To support Floating Doctors’ work to treat dehydration, HHI has supplied DripDrop Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) packets. Not only do they treat acute dehydration efficiently, but they have also helped expand the organization’s hydration training programs.
“Drip Drop sachets were a critical addition to our remote medical clinics. Our patients suffer from chronic dehydration as a result of limited access to clean water, warm climate, and diarrheal disease. In children, this dehydration can quickly become an emergency,” said Jolie LaBrot with Floating Doctors. “They also are a great benefit to our hydration health education program, as well as our ability to treat acute dehydration. Being able to distribute DripDrop sachets along with our education sessions made the sessions more appealing, as a giveaway nearly always does.”
Looking Forward
Whether it is equipping doctors with inhalers for chronic respiratory diseases or providing oral rehydration for acute illnesses, HHI remains committed to backing local healthcare heroes. As we watch Panama compete this week, we celebrate the enduring resilience of its communities and the partners working every day to keep them healthy.
