Our Mission: To cultivate sustainable public health interventions in partnership with underserved communities in developing countries through collaborative education
Read About Our Latest Work →
Our Beginning
Founded and organized by Seattle Childrens Hospital pediatric residents in 2002, Community Health International Medical Projects for Sustainability (CHIMPS) collaborates with local non-governmental organizations and community members, to provide medical care and sustainable public health interventions in resource limited communities.
“We’ve shown that meaningful and sustainable international health interventions can be coordinated by residents during their training. Such programs benefit host communities and enrich the global perspective of pediatricians.”
— Parmi Suchdev and Ellie Click, FOUNDERs
Initially focused in El Salvador where we trained community health workers in remote rural villages, our projects have moved to Guatemala and Liberia, but retain the same commitment to ethical, participatory, and sustainable interventions.
Our Approach
Our annual 1-2 week service trips are the culmination of year-round planning and fundraising. While each site and trip varies, our general approach is to
Identify a community.
Our partner communities are often rural, poorly resourced, and with a high burden of preventable health problems.Collaborate with a local non-governmental organization.
Our projects can only happen with the cooperation and assent of the communities we serve and local institutions that work with them.Provide medical and public health interventions during a service trip.
Our volunteer health workers and trainees focus on training local people and health workers. We partner with community based health committees and community health workers to develop and deliver public health focused talks and interventions addressing issues of local importance. These may include:nutritional advice; prevention of anemia; screening for diabetes and anemia.
identification and prevention of parasitic diseases
prevention of dental caries
basic first aid
occupational health hazards
support for children and adults with chronic illness or disabilities
Monitor outcomes and commit to ongoing alliance.
We attempt to measure the impact of our interventions and use data to prioritize our programming. We maintain contact with local health partners and commit to returning annually, if needed, to support their work.
Get Involved
We are always planning our next service trip. Health trainees, in particular, are encouraged to contact us for opportunities to volunteer. Donations are also vital to our success as we use these to support our local partners with supplies, medications and educational resources.