Scholarship Opportunity -

In advance of our 2021 medical mission to Juanjui, Peru, The Luz Fund is offering a Scholarship Opportunity for all junior/senior high school students.  The winners will receive an expense paid ten(10) day visit to Hogar San Francisco de Asis, in Chaclacayo, Peru.  In return, the students will be asked to volunteer their time at the Hogar to assist the resident children in their daily activities.

The following is information regarding this opportunity, however, there is much more. 
You can also read the posting at the right, lower section, Hogar San Francisco de Asis
 Please contact us for full information.  TheLuzFund@gmail.com

Scholarship Opportunity

Expenses paid for 10 day trip to volunteer at: 

Hogar San Francisco de Asis,

Chaclacayo, Peru, SA

TRAVEL DATES:  To be determined, Summer, 2021(Close of school year)

ESSAY CONTEST

FOR:  Qualified H. S. students, Grade 11, or 12;   

 College age Students and Young Adults;  

INCLUSIVE

*All Air and Ground transportation.
Round Trip Air Fare; (*POD - Tampa, Florida)
One week residence:  At Hogar or nearby safe environment residence.
Meals with children & staff of the Hogar.
In-Country Ground Transportation.

CONTEST DATES:

January 1, 2020 thru December 15, 2020

Deadline: 12:00 Midnite, Tuesday, December 15, 2020

ESSAY SUBJECT

“Love Thy Neighbor', in the Modern World”

Essay must be original, no less than 600, nor more than 1000 words and written or typed in English or Spanish on Standard 8.5” x 11” letter paper. 

Separate Cover Sheet listing name, address and qualification.

Completed entries to be mailed to:

The Luz Fund, Inc.

512 White Oak Ave

Brandon, FL  33510

Winners will be announced Friday, January 8, 2021

Sponsored by The Luz Foundation, Inc.

·         Essays will remain the Literary property of the writer but with permission granted to The Luz Fund, Inc. for use and publication, with credit given to and notification of the writer.

·         Number of winners determined by number of sponsors recruited by The Luz Fund, Inc.

·         Written and Notarized Parental/Guardian permission required for travel.    
·     Male & Female Chaperones included.

·         All chaperones will be required to undergo a background and criminal investigation and receive certified Safe Environment Training.

·         Travel Insurance provided for each traveler.

·         Release of Liability waiver required prior to travel.

·         Sponsorship opportunities available.  Contact Information below.

If you wish to sponsor one or more winners, please contact us.

Additional Information available thru:  TheLuzFund@gmail.com   

or by calling, 813-689-3289.

NEXT MEDICAL MISSION - Juanjui, Peru - Sept/Oct 2020

NEXT MEDICAL MISSION - Juanjui, Peru - Sept/Oct 2020

*2020 Mission dates are currently tentative, depending on the progression of the COVID -19 virus.  For latest information please contact us at the email listed or feel free to call the numbers listed below.

Contact us via email: TheLuzFund@gmail.com

 Our typical medical missions are setup as follows:

• Field Clinics in river villages with Family Care Physician, ARNP's and Nurses.

• Education Program with EMT's & Paramedics for CPR, First Aid, Poison Control, Treatment of Animal bites.  Community Education for Diabetes recognition.
• This year we have been asked to address an unusually heavy Diabetes issue among many villagers, both adult and children.  If you have any expertise or working experience with testing, treatment, recognition etc. of Diabetes, we need your assistance.

If you are a Medical Doctor, Dentist, or Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, or another specialty and are interested in helping in Juanjui or at The Luz Fund Children's Clinic in Lima, Please contact us for more information.


Positions needed for all missions include:
Family Care NP;
Midwife or Women's Health
RN/LPN;  (preceding specialties)
Paramedics
EMT's
CNA's
Non-Medical Assistants
*ALL VOLUNTEERS ARE SELF-FUNDED

Email:  TheLuzFund@gmail.com

Tel:      813-689-3289
Cel:      813-215-0071
Fax:      813-902-6914

Hogar San Francisco de Asis

          The following video shows daily life at Hogar San Francisco de Asis, located in Chaclacayo, Peru

        The Hogar is a center for sick and destitute children living in Peru who have been blessed enough to have found Dr Tony Lazzara, MD, OFS.  All a child needs to be accepted at the Hogar is a need.  At any particular time there is anywhere from 40 to 60 children in residence.  All with some physical ailment that, without the help od Dr Tony, would likely go untreated.  There are kids with birth defects, amputations, Cancer, including Leukemia, MS, and many other afflictions we have never heard of previously.  The Hogar relys 100% on donations to continue its work.

         This is where Domminic Vincent Brown spent two(2) weeks in August 2019, a result of his winning the first ever Essay Contest, mentioned in another post.  If you are interested, and you qualify, enter this years contest, for travel in 2021.  See information elsewhere on this blog.

      

  

SUMMARY - November Mission

Again, close to 1000 grade school children in the Mariscal Caceras Province, located in the San Martin Region of Peru, have been tested for Congenital Heart Defects.  This is part of our ongoing program to help make 'late discovery' of the disease, past history in the area.  After receiving Echo Cardiography Diagnosis, several children were found in need of followup at the Cardiology Department at Los Ninos Hospital, Lima.
We were so lucky to have had two great doctors with us during the mission.  Dr Adam Ware, a Pedi Cardiologist from the University of Utah Children's Hospital, and Dr Isaac Alva, a Public Health Specialist, from Lima.  Dr Isaac spent some of his 'growing up' years and attended school in Juanjui.
Dr Michael Castillo helped us with some diagnoses and patient attention during some very busy days at the Juanjui Hospital.  Critical Care RN Charla Moye, Photo-Journalist Dana Blunk(Dr Adam's wife), Maria Tacunan and Eliana Morla, along with our local Juanjui crew worked many long 12 hour days to make this mission another success.  Villages visited included, Dos de Mayo, Campanilla, Parajillo, Santa Rosa and Huicungo.
Our next mission will likely be May/June 2016.  There seems to be a need for an Endocrinologist and of course a General Practitioner.

 Some of our best memories are our visit to schools for children with special needs

  

Sandra with her Papa, Ernesto in Tingo Maria, Peru, near Juanjui.  Her story, written by a friend is located on the right column of this blog, titled, Sandrita.  She is a few years older now, but still in need.  Please read it.  We want to try to help Sandra by having Shriners approve her as an international patient, just as Luz, Veronica, Franco and Tatiana were.  At present we are waiting on approval from Shriners.  I hope to visit Sandra and Ernesto in June when I am in Juanjui.  Hopefully I will have some good news for them, and possibly we will see Sandrita in Florida next year.

"Stethoscopes for Peru"

The Stethoscope Project is only a small part of our overall project to help people in the San Martin Region, Mariscal Caceres Province of Peru become aware of the need to check newborns, children, and adults, for signs of congenital heart defects, and to provide for them the means to do it, using their own resources.  I have a dear friend in Juanjui, Peru, her name is Dr Ingrid.  For 98% of the women and many of the children in the town of Juanjui and the river villages, she is their doctor.

Ingrid asked me last year to help her find a Cardiologist that could come to Juanjui.  She suspects there are a lot of undiagnosed cardiac issues among the population there. Women give birth, usually at home, and the child is likely never seen by a doctor. Thus many illnesses go undetected, as well as recognition of cardiac issues, treatable at a young age if discovered.  Many adults also show signs of cardiac disease but there is no doctor nor any close clinics or healthcare facilities where they can go, even if the financial resources were available.

A Cardiologist friend, now volunteering fulltime in China, Dr Robert Detrano, from UCLA Med School, wrote an article regarding the easiest way to make this happen in developing countries.  The article is available on request.  Thus starts the Juanjui Cardiac Project. The Stethoscopes for Peru is the first step in the project.

There is a small Nursing School in Juanjui and The Luz Fund enjoys a close working relationship with the administrator, Dr Vasquez.  But Stethoscope training is likely not understood well enough to allow the students to recognize cardiac issues when they hear them.  Our plan is to give the nursing students thorough instruction on Stethoscope heart sounds.  Then to use those students in a screening program, described by Dr Detrano, in the schools in the province of San Martin(Juanjui and the river villages).  Those students registering positive indicators will be further reviewed locally by a Luz Fund volunteer ECHO Tech and Cardiologist. Those still positive have already been pre-approved for referral to the Los Ninos Children’s Hospital, Lima, for followup, or to the heart team of Heart Care International(HCI).  HCI is a heart team from New York that visits Los Ninos Hospital twice each year to perform free heart surgeries on children who would otherwise never receive treatment, through no fault of their own.

I have been extremely fortunate, since we started this planning, to have a Portable Diagnostic Ultrasound Machine, a Seimens Acuson Cypress, donated to our organization, The Luz Fund, by Mina Tohid, a Sonographer from Los Angeles.  I feel that once started, this project can be carried on by local healthcare workers in a self sustaining manner.  A local person will receive professional training  to obtain good results with the portable ECHO. The results will help innumerable people, who at present, have no awareness of the potential problems they may have.
Tentative dates for implementing the program in Juanjui are September/October/November 2014.

I would be extremely grateful for any assistance you may be able to provide or to suggest.
If you would like to be included on a future trip to Peru with us, just ask.

Chuck Mulhern,  The Luz Fund

Tel:  813-689-3289 (Home)                                     
Cel:  813-215-0071                                     TheLuzFund@verizon.net

Medical Mission to Peru - Sept/Oct 2014

Date:  TBA,  2014.  
If interested, let us know  TheLuzFund@verizon.net   We are especially looking for an ECHO Tech,  Cardiologist, GP, and Family Care.  Physicians and Nurse Practitioners, as well as RNs, and Paramedics. 
If you are particularly adept at heart sounds with a Stethoscope, we need you.  We will be starting an intensive educational program at the local nursing school.  Then we will be using those students to screen local school children for cardiac issues.
Call or Email
Tel:  813 215-0071
Email:  TheLuzFund@verizon.net