Community Outreach
 Aerie's Medical Director, Greg Moore (left), interpreter Kathy McManus, and Aerie instructors Peter Anderson (middle) and Joan Scheffer (right), RN, talking with a resident of Mastatal, Costa Rica, after the health clinic. |
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Overview Aerie's Community Outreach programs serve two functions: First, we help organizations raise money by jointly offering our wilderness medicine classes with them. When students enroll in a specific Aerie Outreach course, a portion of the tuition (typically the amount of the organizations' yearly membership fees) is given to the organization. |
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Second, Aerie offers health education and, occasionally, health care to young people and residents of rural communities. Aerie instructors regularly provide free seminars and classes, such as wilderness survival and basic first aid, to students at their schools or in conjunction with ongoing outdoor classes. For example, we taught basic survival and wilderness first aid to elementary school students this February in Ovando. Other examples of community education include a free health clinic offered in February, 2005, by Aerie instructors for the residents of a small, rural community in central Costa Rica (see below or click on health clinic for more information). |
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Together, these two components of Aerie's Outreach program provide Aerie the opportunity to give back to the communities that support us. |
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In February, 2005, Aerie and Rancho Mastatal offered a free health clinic to the residents of Mastatal, Costa Rica, and the surrounding towns. Lead by Aerie's Medical Director, Dr. Greg Moore, the group provided care to over 60 people in the two-day effort. Our goal was to return the good will and hospitality that the residents of this rural area have provided to our staff over the years. |
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 Joan Scheffer looks over supplies donated by Community Medical Center in Missoula, MT |
Although Costa Rican health care is primarily free to its citizens, serious illness, family obligations and clinic schedules often preclude a visit to the nearest hospital. As a result, numerous families and individuals unable to make the longer trip to a hospital visited our local, full-day clinic. Patient ages ranged from newborn to 90 years old. Two highlights of the clinic included providing a hearing aide (donated by Roseanne Moffatt, from Associates for Hearing and Speech) to a 12-year-old girl previously unable to attend school due to her disability, and providing home-visits for elderly patients unable to make the walk to the center of town. |
Community Medical Center , John Spierling, DMD, Roseanne Moffatt of Associates for Hearing and Speech of Missoula, Missoula Emergency Services, Aerie Backcountry Medicine, and Missoula Bone and Joint Surgery Center donated supplies. |
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Aerie instructors Joan Scheffer, RN, Peter Anderson, Melissa Arnot, Fernando Giaccaglia and David McEvoy donated their time and expertise. Rancho Mastatal staff and volunteers Robin Nunes, Tim O'Hara, Roger Whalley, Kathy McManus and numerous others provided the advertising, most of the Spanish translation, housing and food. We hope to make this an ongoing service to the residents of this rural community. |
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