ORNITHOLOGIST STUDIES
IN BIRD PARADISE: EL FUNDO
 Ornithologist Marlon Dale has completed a two-week-long inventory of the birds at El Fundo. APECA’s study center, and has declared it “an experience of a lifetime.” He says he averaged sighting four new species a morning for the time he was there, including humming birds, Pale-Legged Horneros, Yellow-rumped Caciques, Kiskadees, Tropical Kingbirds, Paradise Tanagers and a pair of mating Roadside Hawks.
Dale is a professional guide from Africa and has lived near Kruger National Park in South Africa most of his life. He was excited to come to an area so different to see the diversity of species represented there.
APECA is looking forward to continuing this inventory with other Ornithologists in order to catalog the diversity of this amazing environment.
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CAMPAIGN FOR HEALTHY SMILES
A team of dental health professionals under Greg Keiser, a maxial-facial surgeon, will be going out soon with APECA to help attend to the dental health of the people in the Peruvian Amazon. This team comes from Healing the Children and is the second group that Keiser, who is also a member of the APECA Board of Directors, has brought to the jungle. It will also include a Peruvian dentist sent by the Peruvian Ministry of Health. They will be focusing on teaching preventive measures as well as tending to current dental problems.
Accompanying them will be Trudy Weathersby, RN, and Eric Graff, ER Technician, who will be providing first aid care.
This combined dental health/first aid program is being delivered on behalf of the Peruvian Ministry of Health as part of APECA’s mission to coordinate, facilitate and deliver professional assistance to the people’s of the rainforest. APECA sets up these programs, at the request of the Ministry (or of the people and with approval of the Ministry), and provides transportation, lodging and administrative support.
“Our most important mission is to facilitate existing programs and the health system in Peru,” says Executive Director, Gina Low.
The dental campaign has been existence for the past eleven years. In the past APECA provided a model program for getting children to brush with fluoride gel in the schools, which impressed the Ministry who then took it over.
APECA has also provided tapes on dental health to the head of Oral Health in the Department of Loreto (which includes about one third of Peru) to be used for educational purposes.
APECA continues to search for teams of professionals to deliver education and services as requested by the Peruvian Ministries of Health. If you are a professional in health care or conservation and are interested in coming to Peru and donating some of your time, please get in touch with us at apecaperu@apecaperu.organd begin a conversation about your skills and availability and whether that matches the needs of our program.
“We are grateful to all these generous professionals,” says Low.
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YOUR DONATION TAKES VACCINES TO VILLAGES
In our busy lives here in the developed world, we sometimes lose touch with the harsh realities of life for our brothers and sisters of the rainforest. The only way to theirvillages is by boat. There are no phones or postal service. And most kinds of medical care is usually far away.
In these remote circumstances, APECA is an important link to getting people the services they need to be healthy and productive. By giving to APECA you can be assured that you too are present in programs that assist in the development of healthy rainforest communities.
How can you help? Send for a video to share with those you know, support our programs with your donations, join us on the Amazon next summer, or invite APECA to give a presentation to your group. Contact Bill Owen to reserve a date.
Email address for speaker schedule apecaperu@apecaperu.org.
The address for donations to APECA is:
APECA Inc.
21338 Dumetz Rd.
Woodland Hills, CA USA 91364
You can also donate on line at apecaperu.org through Network for Good.
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VISITS UNITED STATES
APECA Executive Director Gina Low spent the better part of September and October 2005 in the US publicizing APECA and raising funds.
She was in Santa Rosa for a busy week meeting donors and making presentations to service groups including Rotaries, Kiwanis and Soroptomists . (The Soroptomists of Santa Rosa just received the Soroptomists International of the Americas Celebrating Success Award for its support of the joint Rotary/APECA clean water drinking project). A successful fund-raising dinner was held at the Bistro V (a Peruvian-owned restaurant), and a very promising contact was made with Sonoma Academy for the development of future programs.
While in Southern California Low spoke to Methodist women, Woman’s Clubs, several Rotary Clubs and a number of churches, all of which have contributed to our support for 2006. Low also made contact with several people who will be able to help with specific areas of expertise for APECA.
The goal of the board is to create on-going sponsorship from groups, individuals and corporations for our various primary programs such as field training for health workers, midwives and youth and civic leaders; conservation; and delivery of health services. Because of Low’s visit, a number of people will be visiting El Fundo soon and we hope these kinds of sponsorships will continue to emerge.
“We are very encouraged by all of the progress that was made during Gina’s visit,” says Ruth Abel, chair of the APECA board.
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MEET ANTONIO MALDONADO
Antonio Maldanado is APECA’s Administrative Assistant (see photo above, on left). He coordinates programs in the field office at El Fundo and facilitates administration of all of APECA’s programs. He is a registered nurse.
”We had the opportunity to get to know Antonio when he was an intern at Tamshiyacu and was involved in the APECA program. Working with him gives us a chance to work more effectively the Ministry of Health,” says Executive Director, Gina Low. “In addition, he’s a very positive person!”
Antonio’s wife, Beatrice, is completing her internship in nursing at the Centro de Salud (Health Center) in the Belen district of Iquitos. Belen is known for the largest known outbreak of cholera at its time (1991-2) and is part of the area APECA services.
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NURSE TO TEACH COMMUNICATION WITH PATIENTS
Trudy Weathersby, a Registered Nurse from Dallas, will be doing a presentation at the nursing school at the National University in Iquitos on “How to Communicate with Patients.” She has published a paper and developed materials about this in the United States.
Weathersby says, “We can’t always express our needs and our thoughts and we don’t always interpret others as they intend.”
APECA hopes by sponsoring Weathersby’s appearance that they can help raise the level of professionalism of nurses in Peru.
Weathersby, who has also been a labor and delivery nurse, will also be going out on the joint dental and first aid campaign under Greg Keiser, and will be helping to collect supplies for it. (See related article above.)
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WISH LIST
APECA needs money to purchase a video camera, DVD player and monitor which can be used in the field to help provide education.*
*You will note money is requested rather than the items themselves. It is far easier to purchase an integrated system that will work under APECA’s particular circumstances in Peru rather than getting donated items to transport into Peru and try to integrate with each other.
If you would like your donation targeted for this particular need, please note that with your check to:
The address for donations to APECA is:
APECA Inc.
21338 Dumetz Rd.
Woodland Hills, CA USA 91364
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