Providing Emergency Medical Services in the Highlands of Chiapas
Creating a comprehensive and autonomous health care system was the first, and remains one of the central, priorities of the Zapatista movement. Over the last 20 years, the Zapatista Health Care System has made great strides, becoming a viable and important force in improving health care for indigenous peoples, Zapatista and non-Zapatista alike, everywhere in Chiapas, Mexico.
In the large Zapatista center of Caracol II, Oventic health care includes hospital level services, a blood lab, a dental clinic, many smaller micro clinics, and local Casas de Salud (Houses of Health) throughout the highlands zone. In these sites, healthcare promoters are able to provide a very high level of service including the treatment of complicated medical and even surgical cases. The Zapatista Health Care system treats everyone… Zapatista and non-Zapatista alike.
There are, however, occasional health care needs that exceed the resources available within the Zapatista system for diagnosis and/or treatment. The Ramona Fund for was created in an attempt to fill that gap in the array of services and to provide emergency medical services in the highlands of Chiapas.
This new fund was begun in 2008 with a donation of $10,000 and has three purposes:
1. To provide emergency transportation throughout the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico.
2. To pay for diagnostic testing that cannot be carried out in the Oventic hospital and support patients’ and promoters’ food, housing, and transport needs.
3. To facilitate special treatments after the tests are completed.
This fund is conceived as a revolving fund which Schools for Chiapas donors regularly ‘top up’. Currently, these funds are being used exclusively in the highlands of Chiapas; over time, we hope our donor base will allow us to establish similar funds in the other four Zapatista zones.
This is an important project with truly life-saving potential ~ please consider becoming a Ramona Fund donor.
If you would like to make a contribution to this fund today, please click here.
If you would like to participate in helping to secure the necessary ongoing funding for the long term, please click here to contact us!