The relationship between Adventist Health International (AHI) and Hospital Adventista de Nicaragua developed quickly and through a somewhat unpredictable path. Beginning simply with one doctor and her vision and the ambition to raise the standard of health care in Nicaragua.
Dr. Socorro Maria Ubeda has been striving to rebuild Adventist health care work for some time following the churches work virtually disappearing in the context of Nicaragua’s leftist leaning national politics across the past few decades. With national policies a bit more open and flexible in recent years, Dr. Ubeda’s unrelenting leadership and vision is slowly but surely re-establishing the Seventh-day Adventist church’s presence in the country.
Dr. Ubeda became acquainted with AHI and hospital capacity building work when she attended the regional conference AHI held for hospitals in the Church’s InterAmerican Division in October of 2013 in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. Despite her limited understanding of English, she made connections with Dr. Richard Hart, AHI president, with whom she shared her dream of firmly establishing the Church’s outreach and influence in that country by planting a small but growing clinic. Over the past 18 months, through dedicated work and perseverance, Dr. Ubeda’s work, and Nicaragua, became members of AHI.
Today Dr. Ubeda runs a small clinic and hospital in a rented house located in Esteli, about four hours from Managua, the country’s capital. Her leadership and drive for the Church and health care as influencing conduits are unrelenting. The small hospital offers comprehensive primary and diagnostic services to about 5,000 plus patients from surrounding annually.
Dr. Ubeda’s visions are still much larger though. She’s already created plans for a larger hospital in a new facility that the Church would own. The plans are quickly coming together, with local and US based donors providing support for building a new facility with a cost of approximately one million U.S. dollars. Preliminary architectural renderings and floor plans have been traced, and financial support from the Church and individual donors is currently being raised.
HANIC—Hospital Adventista de Nicaragua—just acquired a digital x-ray system through funding provided by Versacare, a philanthropic foundation located in Southern California. This acquisition evidences just a small step in Dr. Ubeda’s plan to build the Church’s influence on a solid health care foundation. If you want to be a part of this vision, make a donation today through AHI and let’s create a better way of health care, together.