Gloves Reach Remote Island Clinics

Health Goes Global is proud to continue to be the main provider of medical examination gloves to Floating Doctors in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. They serve the Ngobe-Bugle people, indigenous to Panama, who live in remote communities only accessible by boat. Health Goes Global works hard to keep their mobile clinics stocked with gloves. All of the medical volunteers with Floating Doctors work even harder to continue to be the the only access to healthcare these communities have.

The dedicated volunteers pack gloves for each single day and multi-day clinic, and use examination gloves for follow-up visits, dental workshops and veterinary clinics, too. Their primary glove use in clinic occurs at the intake station, where they provide urinalysis, pregnancy tests, blood glucose tests, hemoglobin checks, and HBA1C checks. People who get these tests include all pregnant women, adults over 40, and patients with symptoms of diabetes, UTI, pregnancy, and anemia. This patient population makes up about 30% of their total patients seen. In just the last month, Floating Doctors saw 827 patients, at 9 clinic sites, and used 550-600 gloves!

Changing gloves in between each patient interaction protects the patients from spreading their infections and protects the medical volunteers from contracting illnesses while in Panama. As you can see, your contributions to Health Goes Global are having a direct impact in Panama. We will continue our partnership with Floating Doctors and hope you continue to support our mission of preventative health action!