San Ignacio Polyclinic Gets Medical Supplies through Private Sector Ties
The San Ignacio Polyclinic has benefited handsomely from a donation of medical supplies through ties that Medical Electives Belize, a Belizean company owned by businesswoman Nancy Marin and Kirkwood Nursing University in the U.S. have forged over the years. This week, the polyclinic received a variety of medications, diabetic, intravenous and oxygen supplies, equipment, needles and syringes. Marin told News Five today that there will be ongoing exchanges and donations in the future that can only benefit the San Ignacio and Santa Elena communities.
Nancy Marin
Nancy Marin, Owner, Medical Electives Belize
“Medical Electives Belize is a company owned by myself and what we do is we host medical students, nursing students, community health personnel that come to Belize and they do their internships or their medical elective programs but although they’re paying for their time in Belize, we still think that they need to leave something. It’s not tourism where you just come and do tours and you leave. I know that there were a lot of items that the polyclinic has not had in a while and our philosophy is we can’t just depend on government; we have to fill that gap as a community. And we found that one of the things that are lacking is some education programs or some refresher programs for our nurses, so we are now requesting from our community partners, these universities abroad – we’ve partnered with thirty-eight different universities around the world and Kirkwood is just one of them.”
Marin said she met this afternoon with officials from the Ministry of Health and Wellness to find out what other needs the ministry has to see how her company can help. She said that there was a discussion to have nurses come to Belize in 2024 to conduct education programs. She mentioned particularly a “Stop the Bleed” program that would cater to nurses and high school students. It teaches individuals how to stop victims from hemorrhaging to death before they get to a health facility.
