MEDICO Blog

 

Documents
Click here to go back to the Application form.

If you are selected for a team, you will need to submit the following documentation

• A copy of the photo page of your passport
• For healthcare professionals
  • a copy of your current professional license
  • a copy of your medical/professional diploma
• Signed waiver. To display a printer-friendly copy of the waiver with Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader, click here to download

To ensure that documents are clean and readable, we cannot accept faxed copies. Please send documents by mail or scan and send them by email to the following address

MEDICO, Inc.
2955 Dawn Drive, Suite D
Georgetown, TX 78628
information@medico.org
512-930-1893 voice

MEDICO is required to provide copies of medical/professional licenses and diplomas for all healthcare professionals participating on a team to the Ministry of Health of the host country in Central America.

Payment
Click here to go back to the Application form.

Trip participation fee is $700.00 as of January 2009.

If you are selected to a team, you will be asked to provide a non-refundable $100 deposit within two weeks to hold your spot. Your airfare and trip fee payments are due approximately 60 days before the trip. MEDICO will notify you of the exact due dates. If your payment is not received by the specified dates, MEDICO will apply a $25 late fee and may cancel your participation on the trip.

For your trip payments - you can pay by either:

• Check: Please send payment to the above address. Be sure to note:
  • Name of the individual(s) this payment is for
  • Address
  • The trip this payment covers
• Credit card or electronic check: There is a 2.6% processing fee for electronic trip payments, so your cost will be slightly higher than if paying by check

Registration
Click here to go back to the Application form.

For safety reasons, the U.S. Department of State recommends registration of all individuals and organizations traveling to Central America from the United States. MEDICO provides this information for all team members, regardless of citizenship.

Code of Conduct
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All Volunteers

• The humanitarian imperative comes first.
• Aid is given regardless of the race, creed, or nationality of the recipients and without adverse distinction of any kind. Aid priorities are calculated on the basis of need alone.
• We shall endeavor not to act as instruments of partisan politics.
• We shall respect culture and custom.
• We shall attempt to build our work on local capacities.
• Ways shall be found to involve program beneficiaries in the management of aid.
• Aid must strive to reduce future vulnerabilities as well as meeting basic needs.
• We hold ourselves accountable to both those we seek to assist and those from whom we accept resources.
• In our information, publicity and advertising activities, we shall recognize recipients as dignified human beings.

Medical Professionals

Volunteer health professionals will practice within their scope of practice and within the licensing guidelines of their home jurisdictions. Professionals mentoring students or residents in training will do so in the same manner as in their home settings.

General treatment goals are the following, while specifics may vary from team to team:

• To provide treatment for acute medical problems, such as infectious diseases, injuries, and chronic problems such as headache, stomach ache, and back pain.
• To provide treatment for chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes when that care can be done safely and, if possible, in the context of ongoing care in the Central American system.
• To utilize the limited formulary based on evidence-based medicine. We will use medications that are part of the Central American formulary whenever possible.
• To provide education as an integral part of each team's mission.