Thank you for helping AMOS to celebrate 10 years as an organization, and 50 years since the beginnings of the ministry on which we were founded!
The AMOS Health & Hope staff in 2017 – we have grown so much in ten years!
At the end of November and beginning of December, AMOS Health & Hope has had the opportunity to celebrate the legacy of the Dr. Rev. Gustavo Adolfo Parajón Domínguez, in recognition of 50 years since the start of his work in preventative healthcare and his missionary work alongside rural communities in Nicaragua. We are also celebrating 10 years since the start of AMOS as an organization!
A public ceremony was held in Managua at the end of November, including the presence of authorities from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health (MINSA) and the community health workers which with we serve. This event was a chance for us to celebrate the achievements of the collaboration between MINSA, AMOS, and the communities we serve – such as the reduction of maternal deaths and deaths of children under 5 years old in 22 rural communities, and the improvements in access to healthcare for more than 62,000 people in six regions of Nicaragua (Managua, Chinandega, Boaco, Matagalpa, Chontales, and the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region).
During the event, the “Order of Merit in Service in Health – Dr. Gustavo Adolfo Parajón Domínguez” was awarded posthumously to Dr. Rosa Margín Bravo Matamoros, who passed away on October 6 in the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Nate while exercising her duties as the Director of the Santo Domingo Health Center in Chontales. She worked alongside AMOS in the improvement of the health of newborns and reducing the rate of newborn death. In the same way the award was given posthumously to Dr. Bravo’s colleagues Damaris del Socorro Sequeira, administrator of the health center, and Paul Rosales Urbina, a health center driver, both of whom tragically passed away in the tragic accident. The award was also given to Neysi Isaura Flores, a lab analyst who survived the accident.
In recognition of this event, Dr. David and Dr. Laura Parajón, who cofounded AMOS alongside Dr. Gustavo Parajón, commented: “All that has been achieved are the seeds of hope which inspire us, but our work is not done. In the next ten years, we believe that we can have an even larger impact by empowering people to adopt health behaviors, and we have a plan to share and replicate our model throughout Nicaragua and throughout the world in order to be able to help more people.”
The celebration recognized each of the programs of AMOS, which concentrate on Primary Healthcare; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; Youth Empowerment; Essential Care for Every Baby; and Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya Prevention. This work is developed within the framework of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health’s Family and Community Health Model (MOSAFC).
An event was also held on the AMOS campus to celebrate this work together with the AMOS staff and community health workers in an internal celebration with song, prayer, words of reflection – and cake and a piñata!
Thank you so much to everyone who has made these last 10 years of AMOS and 50 years of community health ministry possible!
To see more photos, please visit our Facebook page.
And to learn more about this 10 years of AMOS, watch the video below!