SDNAHN members are proud to volunteer within our local community, as well as internationally, and provide nursing care, community education, advocacy, interpreting services, and more, to those in need.
Thousand Smiles Foundation – Pediatric and Adolescent Cleft Palate / Cleft Lip Surgeries in Ensenada, Mexico
Four weekends a year, a dedicated group of volunteers from Thousand Smiles Foundation (TSF) travel to Ensenada, Mexico in order to provide free maxillofacial surgeries, ear tubes, and dental care to indigenous individuals in that region and from hundreds of miles away.
Due to COVID restrictions and several other changes, there is only a minimum number of volunteers allowed at this time. There is no longer the availability to volunteer as a group of students. Bus transportation from Chula Vista to Ensenada is no longer in effect. If you are accepted as a volunteer, you are to volunteer on both Friday and all of Saturday day and into the night, to secure your own transportation to and from Ensenada and secure a hotel room with your own reservations.
Volunteers can assist in many different ways, with direct patient care or in providing support in other ways. Non-Spanish speakers are always welcome and there are many ways to serve however Spanish speakers are in need. You must have a passport, passport card, or SENTRI card, and Mexican auto insurance if you are driving. Expectations of volunteers are to volunteer both Friday and Saturday. Know that surgeries on Saturday can go into the very late hours so you must plan on staying until all surgeries are completed, patients are recovered, and everything is cleaned and packed up on the truck. Plan on spending the night on Saturday and traveling back to the US on Sunday.
Visit Thousand Smiles Foundation’s website to learn more information, and sign up to volunteer in a role. The application is available on the web link below. Please, if you wish to volunteer be sure to finalize your registration early in the process, as there is a maximum limit to the number of volunteers allowed in certain roles.
Volunteers in Medicine, San Diego
VIM is a non-profit medical clinic serving low income, uninsured families in San Diego County. They do this by engaging volunteer physicians, nurses, therapists and others who have a passion for the clinic’s mission and who demonstrate the “Culture of Caring” and kindness on which the Volunteers In Medicine Clinic was founded.
For more information, or to apply as a volunteer, click on the link below.
Champions For Health
SDNAHN partners throughout the year to assist Champions For H with flu vaccination clinics, blood pressure clinics, and more.
Champions for Health was founded in 2004 as the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation by the leadership of the San Diego County Medical Society, as a separate not-for-profit, 501c3 organization.
The purpose and vision: address the unanswered healthcare needs of low-income and uninsured San Diego County residents. Champions for Health has garnered much support since 2004, and has provided a coordinated vehicle for physician engagement and volunteerism. Physicians help us change lives doing what they love to do: caring for their patients.
Today, we work with many community partners and supporters towards achieving this renewed vision. With defined programs, we improve access to care, support physicians and the medical community and improve community and physician wellness.