Community Outreach & Rural Screening Program
The David Ortiz Children’s Fund has a local coordinator who works with community leaders in schools, churches, and other community areas to screen pediatric patients for possible heart care needs. The coordinator then works with our CEDIMAT Hospital teams to arrange transport to the local communities for initial care, and/or support patient transport to the capitol for treatment at CEDIMAT.
Twice each year, the DOCF team supports CEDIMAT Hospital to conduct rural outreach, going to areas not typically serviced with cardiac screening and care, and identifying additional patients who may need and be eligible for DOCF support at CEDIMAT Hospital.
For example, DOCF supports outreach and screening in Montecristi, a province is located on the most northwestern point of the Dominican Republic, about a 4-hour drive by bus from Santo Domingo.
61% of that population lives in poverty condition, and 23% in extreme poverty. 47.8 % does not have basic necessities met, according to the poverty map of the Economy, Planning and Development. There is only one pediatrician in the area.