Partnerships
Partnerships are crucial in allowing OCHO to sustain and expand their reach, working with a wide range of like-minded collaborators so we can deliver in our vision of sustainable health care. Since its beginning, OCHO has partnered with public, academic, medical, as well as civic Honduras organizations to implement projects that have changed the health of Atima and surrounding communities.
In 2012, OCHO collaborated with Rotary Club of Baltimore, Rotary International, Agua Clara (Cornell University), Agua Para El Pueblo, and the municipality of Atima in the funding and construction of a water treatment plant that since then has served more than 4,000 people in Atima.
Proyecto Mirador, an organization that was founded by Dee and Richard Lawrence, early OCHO volunteers, has built more than 200,000 new, efficient stoves in the Santa Barbara region. Recipients of an efficient stove receive training in stove maintenance and health benefits, becoming advocates for a project that has tangibly improved the health of the people and reduced the emissions of carbon dioxide in the area. Proyecto Mirador has been a loyal supporter of OCHO.
OCHO engages in effective partnerships with local authorities, majors of Atima, San Vicente, and Nuevo Celilac, to build partnerships that have led to contributions like the construction and equipment of the current health center, which has been operational since 2014. This medical center was the result of the partnership between the government of Atima, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency [JICA] and OCHO.
In 2016 we partnered with the municipality of Atima to build a state of the art rehabilitation and educational center [CRIC-OCHO, Centro de Rehabilitación Integral Comunitaria] to serve the needs of more than 200 families and children with disabilities.
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Organized by family-owned coffee farms, the Quezapaya Cooperative and its President Jose Dario Enamorado Vallecillo, has partnered with OCHO to provide medical and public health outreach to their communities near Choloma. This Co-op is designed to negotiate a fair price in the sale of their precious crop with a commitment to equality among all farmers.
OCHO has had multiple local collaborators contributing to its ongoing success and has appreciated the help of a number of organizations including McKesson Medical Inc., Annapolis pediatrics, Welch Allyn Inc,.
Since 2018, OCHO has partnered with several of the major people and agencies involved in the ongoing healthcare of Atima and surrounding region including the Health Authority for the region of Santa Barbara, the mayors and health commissioners of Atima and San Vicente. A new alliance with Dr. Patrocinio Sarmiento to better coordinate these efforts and to further expand the role of OCHO in the development of the CRIC was formalized in 2020. The goal for 2021 is to expand these efforts into a collaboration between the healthcare system in Honduras and physicians in the Baltimore region via a formalized Telehealth platform.
In 2020, OCHO initiated steps to work in a closer relationship with several Baltimore community organizations serving the local Honduran immigrant community, and joined the Latino Network Providers. This is anticipated to be expanded in 2021.
Our endless gratitude goes out to these generous donors:
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Alcon
Allergan
Bausch and Lomb
Church of The Redeemer, Baltimore
Cooperativa de Café Quezapaya
Don Darío Enamorado
Don Tito Alcántara, Alcalde de Atima
Global Healthcare
Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Hannah Yang and the PULP translation project at Princeton
Hopkins Medical Products
Johns Hopkins University
McKeeson Medical Equipment
Medwish
Overlook Foundation
Padre Jose Luis and Doña Emilia Mendoza
Proyecto Mirador
Rivers School, Boston
Ruxton Services, L.L.C.
Sinai Hospital Medical Center
Steve Neffinger at MedExchange
Dr. Patrocinio Sarmiento
Welch Allyn
