• Application Fee: $95
• Program Fee 2012 for 4 weeks: $2565
• Program Fee 2012 for 8 weeks: $4872  * This price represents a 10% discount on the second month of the program. 
• 2013 dates open for applications. Program fees are subject to change.
  

Payment Schedule: The application fee is charged upon application to the program. Within 2-3 weeks, applicants will be accepted or rejected for participation in the program. Upon acceptance, a transferable, but non-refundable deposit of $350 is due within 30 days. The final balance of the program fees is due 6 weeks prior to your program date.


* For equivalent costs in other currencies please click here for currency converter.
Please note that all bank check or money order payments must be made in U.S dollars only. Credit card payments are converted to U.S dollars automatically.

• Pre-departure and on-site orientation materials and guidance
  
• Two meals and a private room with a homestay family for the program’s duration (Saturday – Saturday). The local coordinators will charge you for additional nights outside the program dates.
  
• International Emergency Medical and Medical Evacuation Insurance
  
• Airport pick up on arrival
  
• Twenty hours of Spanish classes. Additional language training beyond 20 hours: $6/hour
  
• All preceptor, hospital and coordinator fees
  
• Weekly meetings with coordinator and Medical Director
  
• A limited number of extra activities such as salsa classes, cooking classes organized at the language school etc.
  

 
What’s not included?

• Airfare to Quito, Ecuador
  
• Airport Drop-off
  
• Passport or visa fees
  
• Inter-city transportation between Quito and Puyo
  
• Local transportation to and from clinic sites
  
• Other expenses of a personal nature like weekend and after-hour activities. This includes but is not limited to local transportation, tourist trips in and around Quito or Puyo, and any personal expenses incurred.

• Photos
• Practical Information
• Recommended Vaccinations

• Wikipedia
• Official Quito Site
• Wikipedia Puyo
• Ecuador: A country study
• Recommended Books on Ecuador

This program is open to participants who are 20 or over at the time of participation. We accept students of all nationalities with interest in international health and relevant educational background. Participants may be any of the following:

• Medical Residents, MD & DO
• Medical Students, MD & DO 1-2
• Medical Students, MD & DO 3-4
• Pre-Medical Students
• Post-bacc pre-medical students
• Gap year pre-medical students
• Graduate nursing students
• Nursing Students
• MPH Students
• Physicians Assistants Students
• Naturopathic students
  
  If you do not fit into one of these categories, please contact us to see if you would be eligible to apply.

Language Ability

Please Note: Please use CFHI's language recommendations below as a guideline to assess your own language skills. Most important overall is your general ability to communicate with those around you, versus accuracy with grammatical tenses.

This program is open to those who speak:

• Conversant Spanish- You can interact with a degree of comfort with locals. You can easily describe experiences and events in the present/past tense and have some knowledge of other tenses.
  
• Fluent Spanish- You can understand with ease virtually everything heard. In addition, you can use language flexibly and effectively for social and professional purposes. You can easily use a variety of grammar tenses.
  

The following hospitals and clinics are a sample of possible rotations during this program. Restrictions may apply for pre-clinical, pre-med, and those students with minimal Spanish skills.

CFHI's rotations are designed to offer you clinical and observational experiences relevant to your level of medical education. CFHI programs can be predominately observational depending on your previous clinical training, your level of Spanish, local laws that prevent foreigners from directly providing healthcare services and whether the preceptors who will be supervising you trust your clinical skills. Rotation availability depends on local conditions.

In Quito:

Centro de Biomedicina (CBM)

Located at the campus of the Central University’s School of Medicine in Quito, the CBM is dedicated to both research and teaching.Students participating in this training will focus their time in the Molecular Parasitology and Tropical Medicine unit.  Current investigation in this lab focuses on Giardia, Chagas disease, leishmania, and oncocerciasis.  Volunteer researchers from all over the world, including the United States, Sweden and Germany, have all recently collaborated with the CBM on a range of projects.

• Lecture on the most common tropical infectious diseases and high altitude complications one can expect to encounter, e.g. malaria, dengue, leptospirosis, intestinal parasites, and high altitude sickness.
•  Lectures on Travel Medicine will be an important issue and will focus on preventing infections and exotic diseases in developing countries, particularly in tropical areas.
• Observations of intestinal and extraintestinal parasitic specimens macro & microscopically.
• Students will be involved in current research activities.
• Lecture on Ethics in developing countries

Health Center La Tola

Located in Quito and a fifteen-minute walk from CBM, the Health Center “La Tola” is part of the Ministry of Public Health.  It provides primary healthcare services with an emphasis on disease prevention. Therefore, home visits into the community are an integral part of its services.  The healthcare center provides services to treat STDs and Tuberculosis.  It also provides basic primary care services such asvaccinations and dental care.   In addition, the center conductsworkshops and educational campaigns regarding domestic violence, nutrition and other important public health topics.

Here, students will be able to rotate in different wards, such as pediatrics, Ob/Gyn and others.  Students may also have the chance to participate in home visits and workshops provided by the center about nutrition, Tuberculosis-DOTS, STD/HIV, vaccinations and general clinical presentation.

Centro Medico Lenin Mosquera

Located in the historical district of Quito, in front of the “Plaza del Teatro”, the Centro Medico Lenin Mosquera is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health, education and well being of low-income children and adults in the province of Pichincha. This is accomplished through workshops and educational campaigns, healthcare services at low cost and promotion of socio-economic programs to the most needy. The center offers clinical services in the following areas: General Medicine, Clinical Lab, Rehabilitation, Gynecology and Dentistry.  Physicians at this center see an average of over 20 patients daily.

In Puyo:

Hospital Voz Andes de Shell
Hospital Voz Andes de Shell is located in the village of Shell, about a 10 minute bus ride from Puyo. It serves the city of Puyo and its surrounding villages. The facility is a non-profit and non-governmental organization run by American missionaries and primarily serves a low-income population from Puyo and surrounding villages in the jungle. Most patients receive free or low cost healthcare at this facility. The hospital has 35 beds and offers the following services: medicine, surgery, internal medicine, OB/GYN, E.R, and hospitalization. They also preform surgeries and endoscopies. Students will rotate with local physicians at this facility.

Servicio Nacional de Erradicacion de Malaria (SNEM)

This is a small, under-funded center charged with combating malaria in two provinces, including Pastaza, covering a vast area of the Ecuadorian Amazon. At this site, students will help in compiling malaria statistics and research outbreaks in the Amazon. Particiapnts will also collaborate in community education campaigns and  entomological acitvities such as identification, capture and  eradication of vectors. Participants will become part of these community  outreach brigades  whose  main job is  to educate the local population about control and eradictaion methods  for the vectors that tansmit Dengue, Malaria, Leishamniasis and Chagas (depending on local conditions and geographical access) 

Dr. Wilfrido Torres, the Medical Director of the program, works as an epidemiologist at SNEM.

Subcedntro de Salud Pitirishca

A rural government-run primary healthcare clinic located about an hour and a half by bus from the city of Puyo.  Most of the patient population is of Shuar nationality (Indigenous group).  All Public Health Ministry services are offered at this clinic.  Services provided include primary healthcare services, as well as home and community outreach visits.  The clinic sees about 8 to 16 patients daily.  This facility has indigenous personnel that facilitate cultural access to Shuar patients.

We strongly suggest you read the "Rotations" section of the FAQ for more information about "Hands on vs. Observational" experiences during your rotations. Please take the time to download and read the "Rethinking your elective" document in that section, particularly the paragraph "Getting hands-on experience".

• CFHI Arrival and Departure Dates
• Clinical and Public Health Rotations
• Academic Credit Assistance
• Language Training Component
• Accommodations
• Communication
• Program Months

CFHI Arrival and Departure Dates
CFHI participants should schedule their flight to arrive at any timeon the designated "arrival day" (see right side bulleted menu for exact arrival dates). Program activities and arrival orientation generally start the following day, thus arriving on the arrival day ensures all participants are present to take part in these activities. The departure date of each program occurs on the Saturday four (4) weeks following the arrival date. Participants not planning on doing extra traveling outside of the program should be sure to schedule their flight to depart at any time on this day.

Clinical and Public Health Rotations
CFHI's rotations are designed to offer you clinical and observational experiences relevant to your level of medical education. The program includes the following educational aspects:

• Pre-trip orientation materials & web conference opportunities
• Orientation upon arrival, including cultural adjustment exercises
• Weekly meetings with Medical Director and Local Coordinator
• Clinical rotations Monday-Friday, excepting holidays or work stoppages, working with a local physician who has opted to participate in CFHI as a teaching preceptor
• Information sessions that highlight the health care system in that country, common cases you will encounter and other site-specific information
• Post-trip debrief materials & other on-going alumni activities/services

Academic Credit Assistance
If you expect that you will need academic credit for your CFHI program, you will be responsible for getting your university's approval. CFHI can help you and provide you with the appropriate material (printing out this website information generally is not sufficient), however we are not an accredited institution and cannot award credit ourselves. Please click here to read more about ways in which CFHI can help you obtain academic credit from your university.

Language Training Component
We recommend you study as much Spanish as possible before you go, as it will greatly decrease personal frustration you may experience during the CFHI experience. All of the activities listed above will be conducted in Spanish, except for the orientations and alumni services. Please note that the majority of our local partners in Puyo do NOT speak English and will not be able to translate for you in the clinical sites.

Click here for a general overview of Spanish-language course learning objectives.

CFHI students will take Spanish language classes at the Amazing Andes Language School, located in the same area as most of the host families in Quito. They are responsible for arranging all host families and offering 20 hours of language classes within the first two weeks of the program. Classes may be taught in small groups, depending on the makeup of the student population.

If you would like to continue with additional language classes beyond the 20 hours that are included in the CFHI program, you are welcome to schedule these by the week so they do not interfere with your scheduled clinical rotations. If you set up extra hours of Spanish class, please note that they are not included in the program fee, so you will have to pay the local coordinator of the program directly for the extra hours of Spanish class.

The language school also provides coordination for other activities such as salsa dancing classes, cooking classes, and tours of the city and important landmarks. They are available to arrange weekend trips for the students if there are enough interested, and are always available to give suggestions and guidance for things to do and see.

Guided Service-Learning
Local preceptors will lead informal discussions concerning community based medicine, tropical disease and the official system of health in Ecuador. This program focuses on learning about the prevention and treatment of vector-borne diseases in Ecuador.

Accommodations

• Quito:Quito homestay families are chosen and screened by Amazing Andes language school. Most host families live in close proximity to the school, allowing for participants to walk to and from their language classes and meetings with ease. In some cases, students may stay with one other student in the homestay, but in all cases, students will have their own room.
  
• Puyo: During your two weeks in Puyo, Viviana Lopez will be responsible for your homestay arrangements. Here you will stay with local families also. Often times, a small group will all stay together. Due to the size of Puyo, you will most likely be able to walk to any destination in town.

If you decide to arrive early or stay with the homestay family in Quito after your program has ended, you will need to pay around $14.00 USD per night for the time spent outside of the CFHI program. These fees should be paid directly to the local coordinator of the program.

Communication
You will be assigned a mobile phone for the duration of your stay. All-important phone numbers will have been pre-programmed along with a limited amount of airtime for emergencies. To make calls over and above the airtime included, you can purchase pre-paid phone cards at various locations locally.

You will be required to sign a $100 release form in order to receive the cell phone. You will not be charged the $100 fee if the phone is returned in good working order to your program coordinator. To learn more about how to make phone calls to and from your program country, click here. (*CFHI does not endorse any services provided by this site nor does it guarantee the accuracy of it's information).

Program Months

All CFHI groups of participant fluctuate in size through out the year. The summer months tend to be the busiest time of year, so please plan ahead and apply early if you want to secure a space in a specific program during the summer months. During the rest of the year, the group size in a program can be small, especially during the fall months. However, we will NEVER cancel a program due to the size of the group, even if there is only one participant.

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CFHI is a nonprofit organization committed to providing students a unique opportunity to experience another culture and healthcare system in a responsible way. Though we work closely with our global partners to provide you the best possible trip, the nature of international travel means that we cannot anticipate all challenges that may occur. It is important that participants realize they must remain flexible in the face of situations that may be difficult to understand. Participating in a CFHI program means that you are an informal ambassador to the community you visit and your professional behavior is of the utmost importance.

Child Family Health International (CFHI) offers service-learning programs around the world. CFHI would like to stress to prospective applicants and institutional partners, that service-learning is not an episodic volunteer experience, and our student programs are not designed to provide service to those who would otherwise not have healthcare. The main objectives are to broaden your public health knowledge, experience a different culture, and develop creativity in problem-solving. CFHI has assembled a global family of outstanding local healthcare professionals who are at the forefront of healthcare delivery in their countries. You will have the rare opportunity to shadow these unique women and men observing and learning to work in a clinical and public health environment with limited diagnostic and therapeutic resources.

1. What problem do we address?

2. How do we address the problem?

3. How does the community benefit?

4. How do participants help in the clinic?

5. What kind of educational experience is the CFHI global health elective?

6. What are the objectives of the program?

7. Where do CFHI students come from (past participants' universities/colleges)?

8. What role can domestic Institutional Partners (universities, collaboratives, et. al.) play?

9. What is Service-Learning?

1. What problem do we address?

In today’s world we often see the uneven distribution of healthcare that leaves many impoverished communities underserved. Economic, political, and social factors all contribute to people’s access to healthcare, both internationally and at home. Increasingly, we need culturally and linguistically competent healthcare providers around the world to address these inequities.

2. How do we address the problem?

Child Family Health International’s (CFHI) Global Health Service-Learning Programs combine instruction, experience, service, and reflection to create a model that supports physicians and clinical sites abroad, addresses the healthcare needs of the underserved, and adds an unforgettable experiential element to each program participant’s education.

CFHI programs bring service-learning to hospitals and clinics around the world, allowing participants to gain insight on the contextual constructs of illness and healing in foreign settings. Program Alumni return from the host country with new perspectives on healthcare systems and delivery in places where resources and supplies are extremely limited. To read further on the potential benefits of international experiences for health students, we recommend the paper “The Effect of a Global Multiculturalism Track on Cultural Competence of Preclinical Medical Students” by Godkin and Savageau (2001).

Since 1992, CFHI has arranged for nearly 4,000 pre-medical, medical and other students of the health professions, from over 400 top universities in the and the world, to work and study in Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, and South Africa

3. How does the community benefit?

While a student’s ability to practice medicine may be limited by clinical knowledge or language skills, the participant’s contribution to the community is not an illusion. For example, we provide each participant with a box of donated medical supplies to carry with them for distribution among partner facilities. In addition, our partner physicians at each program site are compensated for their willingness to mentor CFHI students. This supplementary income promotes job retention in countries where physicians are paid small salaries, often by financially strapped governments. Furthermore, the exchange of information between students and their preceptors provides an invaluable experience for participants, the patients, and the physicians.

4. How do participants help in the clinic?

Each of our program sites has many locally qualified and experienced healthcare providers, so the participant’s primary motivation for participation should not focus on a concept of humanitarian aid, in which one expects to provide medical care to people that would otherwise not receive it. The participant’s main objective should be to actively observe, according to current language abilities, level of training, and local laws, in order to develop a high level of community health awareness. While abroad, this happens in the social and cultural context of the program site.  Child Family Health International (CFHI) would like to stress to prospective applicants and institutional partners, that service-learning is not an episodic volunteer experience, and our student programs are not designed to provide service to those who would otherwise not have healthcare.

5. What kind of educational experience is the CFHI global health elective?

CFHI's rotations are designed to offer you hands-on  or observational clinical experience (depending on your clinical and language skills as well as local laws), much like what you would experience during a rotation in the . The program includes the following educational aspects:

• Pre-trip orientation materials & web conference opportunities
• Orientation upon arrival, including cultural adjustment exercises
• Weekly meetings with Medical Director and Local Coordinator
• Clinical rotations Monday-Friday, excepting holidays or work stoppages, working with a local physician who has opted to participate in CFHI as a teaching preceptor.
• Information sessions that highlight the health care system in that country, common cases you will encounter and other site-specific information.
• Post-trip debrief materials & other on-going alumni activities/services

If you are attending a program in a Spanish-speaking country, we recommend you study as much Spanish as possible before you go, as it will greatly decrease your personal frustration during the CFHI experience. Most activities listed above will be conducted in Spanish, except for the orientations and alumni services.

MD Consult and FIRST Consult bring the leading medical resources together into one integrated online service to help physicians efficiently find answers to clinical questions, make better treatment decisions, and stay abreast of recent developments. MD Consult has been adopted by over 90% of North American medical schools and by over 1,700 health care organizations in 46 countries worldwide. FIRST Consult offers an evidence-based resource for the Point of Care, peer-reviewed content and a differential diagnosis tool.

(Please view the FAQs on the right had panel for more information)

6. What are the objectives of the CFHI Service-Learning program?

CFHI’s International Health Service-Learning Programs help participants:

• Develop a larger sense of cultural competency
• Observe and develop existing clinical skills
• Broaden public health knowledge
• Develop creativity in problem-solving
• Deepen their commitment to service
• Promote medical supply conservation

Prospective participants may apply online. Our participants are 21 years of age and over, come from around the globe, and are dedicated to a diverse array of professions in health.

7. Where do your students come from (past participants' colleges/universities)?

CFHI has provided global health education programs to nearly 4,000 health science students since 1992.  Our participants come from over 35 countries and 400+ of the most prestigious universities in the world, and represent a huge variety of the medical profession’s student population.

8. What role do domestic institutional partners (i.e. universities, collaboratives) play?

In addition to providing quality programs for individual students, CFHI is dedicated to building relationships with institutions of higher learning for relevant international programs. Creating and sustaining international programs is a long-term and labor-intensive process. Our international partnerships with physicians and clinic sites are established and reliable, and CFHI can offer the expertise needed to administer an international program to match institutional needs. Some of our current partnerships include:

• Princeton University—Health Professions Advising Office and the Pace Center for Service-Learning: CFHI developed a domestic and international health service-learning program that combined 5 weeks of international work in Quito, Ecuador with 40 hours of service in Spanish-speaking health centers in urban New Jersey.

• Oregon University System—IE3 Global Internship program: CFHI designed 11-week clinical internships in and that focus on cultural competency and valuable clinical experience within the structure of an internship. The internship promotes planning and goal-setting for students in the clinic setting.

• College Corps—CFHI currently working with College Corps, a project started several years ago by Harvard University undergraduate students, to offer 8-week programs in Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Mexico or South Africa, for pre-med students.

• University of California Davis—has teamed up with CFHI to offer a quarter-long study abroad program in Oaxaca, that highlights Latino/a Health Internship Program for undergraduate students. This course is certified by the university as a 20-unit course entitled "Bi-National Health".

If you are an administrator and would like to discuss partnership possibilities we would be excited to hear from you! Please contact Program Staff at CFHI at students@cfhi.org or by phone at (415) 957-9000 x304 and ask for Rea (pronounced Ray).

9. What is service-learning?

Child Family Health International (CFHI) would like to stress to prospective applicants and institutional partners, that service-learning is not an episodic volunteer experience, and our student programs are not designed to provide service to those who would otherwise not have healthcare.

The following is an excerpt from the Campus Community Partnerships in Health (CCPH) website (http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/):

Service-learning is a structured learning experience that combines community service with preparation and reflection. Students engaged in service-learning provide community service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which service is provided, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens.

Service-learning differs from traditional clinical education in the health professions in that:

• Service-learning strives to achieve a balance between service and learning objectives - in service-learning, partners must negotiate the differences in their needs and expectations.

• Service-learning places an emphasis on addressing community concerns and broad determinants of health .

• In service-learning, there is the integral involvement of community partners - service-learning involves a principle-centered partnership between communities and health professions schools.

• Service-learning emphasizes reciprocal learning - In service-learning, traditional definitions of "faculty," "teacher" and "learner" are intentionally blurred. We all learn from each other.

• Service-learning emphasizes reflective practice - In service-learning, reflection facilitates the connection between practice and theory and fosters critical thinking.

• Service-learning places an emphasis on developing citizenship skills and achieving social change- many factors influence health and quality of life. The provision of health services is not often the most important factor. In service-learning, students place their roles as health professionals and citizens in a larger societal context.
  
  

Citation: Seifer SD. (1998). Service-learning: Community-campus partnerships for health professions education. Academic Medicine, 73(3):273-277.  

Medical Director
Dr. Wilfrido Torres has worked with CFHI for several years in various capacities in the Amazon region of Ecuador. He will be your Medical Director in the Vector-born Diseases in the Ecuadorian Amazon program. Currently he is the Program Coordinator of the Chagas Control Program of the SNEM in area II (Pastaza and Napo Provinces). He is also a Continuing Assitance and Medical Educacion Coordinator of the Diabetic Association of the Province of Pastaza.
Dr. Torres has extensive experience with the local population. In the past he has served as the primary care provider in the village of Pitirishca and ran a CFHI training program for health promoters in the surrounding villages. He has performed hundreds of village visits requiring hours of trekking through the treacherous Amazon jungle.

Local Coordinators
Amazing Andes Language School is where your Spanish classes and weekly meetings are held. Ms. Rosa Tamayo and Ms. Lorena Bermeo Rivera run the school together. The women were interested in creating a responsible small business that would support the local economy and generate employment. Rosa Tamayo has been hosting visiting students from the U.S. and Europe in her home for several years. She is the homestay coordinator for the Quito program. Lorena Bermeo Rivera recruits and trains Spanish teachers, and develops the Spanish language curriculum for CFHI students, and those students with special needs.

In Puyo, Viviana Torres, Dr. Torres's wife, will act as the local coordinator, providing homestays, guidance such as assistance with transportation and any other information students may need.