Medical student Angel Pagan takes a patient’s medical history at a free dermatology clinic in Clausells, Puerto Rico, held by the Dermatology Residency Program at Ponce Health Sciences University. | Photo courtesy of Dr. Laura Domenech

Students and healthcare workers from Ponce Health Sciences University are teaming up to address Puerto Rico’s healthcare shortage through a program led by Ponce Medical School Foundation.  

Ponce Medical School Foundation created the mobile health clinic Clinica del Sur as a way to meet the health needs of Ponce’s 200,000 residents—nearly half of whom live below the poverty threshold—in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. 

A grant from BBF has helped the mobile health clinic provide free medical care to underserved communities while simultaneously strengthening Puerto Rico’s healthcare system. 

“What we have been able to do through BBF is to be able get to people who otherwise wouldn’t get those services,” says Dr. Laura Domenech, a senior medical officer at Ponce Medical School Foundation and an assistant professor in pediatrics at Ponce Health Sciences University.  

Puerto Rico’s healthcare system has struggled for years, and recent natural disasters have only exacerbated the challenges. The earthquakes in 2020 left thousands of residents sleeping in tents and cars, and in 2017, Hurricane Maria wiped out the island’s power grid. 

Between 2006 and 2016, the number of doctors in Puerto Rico dropped by 36%. Recent natural disasters have added to the exodus, creating an understaffed and overwhelmed healthcare system that has left 3.2 million people without access to adequate and timely medical care.  

Patients in Puerto Rico wait anywhere between 6 and 12 months before seeing a specialist. During that time, conditions progress, treatment options disappear, and health outcomes become bleaker. 

However, Clinica del Sur is changing that. The program has hosted 20 health clinics in and around the city of Ponce that have impacted more than 1,300 patients by providing cancer screenings, dental exams and education on chronic disease management. The clinic also provides psychological evaluations and referrals, which Domenech says have become increasingly important since recent natural disasters.  

“I think this time of the year brings a lot of people a lot of anxiety because they know that there could be another hurricane, another earthquake,” she says.  

Clinica del Sur aims to not only provide patients with more immediate access to healthcare in Ponce but create a generation of healthcare workers who feel connected to Puerto Rico’s communities and committed to providing care on the island.  

Under the supervision of university faculty, students gain hands-on clinical experience by discussing medical conditions with patients and taking vitals. By working alongside leaders in underserved communities, students also expand their cultural competency and gain more empathy. 

BBF started working with Ponce Medical School Foundation in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a category 5 hurricane that decimated the island in 2017 and left some people without power for five months.  

Donations of medical supplies and medical equipment from BBF provided wheelchairs, hospital beds and canes to people who couldn’t acquire them through their insurance. BBF also supported Ponce Medical School Foundation’s initiatives to power emergency rooms and vaccine clinics with solar energy.  

At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, hospitals in Puerto Rico had difficulty finding vendors who would sell them PPE. BBF sent Ponce Medical School Foundation a container of PPE that the organization distributed to four hospitals in Ponce and many others on the west side of the island.  

“That was something that I will never forget. It was so valuable and in a point that we were in such a crisis because we couldn’t get the supplies,” Domenech says. “BBF was there to help us, and they have always been there.”