Bringing Healthcare Services to Remote Communities: A Case Study from Latin American

Abstract

This paper describes how an oilfield services companies worked with remote communities in the Latin American region to improve access to healthcare through the use of mobile healthcare units. In remote regions, limited access to local healthcare services makes seeking healthcare in larger towns the only viable option. This is not always feasible due to the long distances needed to travel between the communities and the towns. This paper describes how the company supported a mobile healthcare unit in rural communities in Latin America to improve availability and accessibly to healthcare services such as pediatrics, general medicine, basic dentistry, optometry, and laboratory examinations. Partnering with the operator and the country's Ministry of Health, the mobile healthcare units promote health initiatives and provide medical services. This has increased the availability of both preventive and curative healthcare in remote areas. Data from each unit is used by representatives of the Ministry of Health to coordinate follow-up visits with patients with chronic diseases such as anemia and trypanosomiasis in children and hypertension in adults. The data is also used to develop health profiles for specific communities to adapt the healthcare services to better meet their particular needs. Health promotion and disease prevention contributes to improved community well-being as well as improved health performance for the company's local personnel as they also have access to the healthcare units. The paper demonstrates how a multi-stakeholder initiative can increase access for remote communities to healthcare services and raise awareness of health issues to benefit the indigenous population as well the company's local workforce.