Mobilizing health professionals, educators, and students to serve women and children in vulnerable populations.
Global Health and Education Teams Check Out TripsFund Your Trip Now!
Global Health Teams
WCI’s global health teams actively participate in health clinic service in partnership with local health care agencies, to provide acute care, home health assessments, and public health education to vulnerable populations. Volunteers get hands on experience in healthcare professions such as nursing, medicine, social work, counseling, education, and allied health professions.
Our Mission
Mobilizing health professionals, faculty, and students for medical mission trips to serve women and children in vulnerable populations with health-related and socio-economic support systems.
What is Well Child International?
Michael Birnbaum, the founder and “semi-retired” president of International Service Learning (ISL), originally designed Well Child International (WCI) as a sub-program or division of ISL in 1998. (ISL was founded in 1990.) The purpose of WCI is to focus on the “most underserved of the underserved” in vulnerable populations.
WCI teams collaborate directly and thoroughly with the health ministry’s (government departments) in the countries we serve. For now, we will be focusing on the Baja, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica areas. We already received an award from the Mexican state of Sonora for doubling the immunization rate of children in that area.
SPRING BREAK
2022
Our Teams are currently visiting communities in Baja, Mexico for the season. Spring Break trips typically run from early March to late March. Click on the Schedule button to view the dates.
EARLY SUMMER
2022
Our Teams are currently visiting communities in Baja, Mexico, and Costa Rica as well. Early Summer trips typically run from early May to late June. Click on the Schedule button to view the dates.
LATE SUMMER
2022
Our Teams are currently visiting communities in Baja, Mexico and Costa Rica. Late Summer trips typically run from early August to late August. Click on the Schedule button to view the dates.
WINTER BREAK
2022-2023
Our Teams are currently visiting communities in Baja, Mexico and Costa Rica. Winter Break trips typically run from December to January. Click on the Schedule button to view the dates.
Opportunities In Global Health For Nurses
Are you interested in a career in global health for nurses? Medical mission trips and other volunteer opportunities in nursing are great ways to hone your clinical skills through real-world experience. Volunteering with Well Child International in Baja, Costa Rica,...
WCI Medical Mission Trips Sample Itinerary
This is a sample 7-Day Baja itinerary. Longer variations/versions of this itinerary (8-12 days) simply includes more “hands on health care” time—community triage/clinical time/rotations. This itinerary is for the WCI Baja Program, but the Costa Rican version is the...
Well Child International Medical Mission Trips Provide Excellent Medical Service Learning Opportunities
Well Child International (WCI) was a wonderful team to work with through the International Service Learning organization. I would like to express gratitude towards the WCI team, Saul, Yvonne, Yvette, and Brenda, for leading our team on such a successful and...
What are Benefits for You and Those You’ll Serve?
What appropriate hands-on patient care for at risk women & children will I be doing?
- Neighborhood clinics
- In home-screenings/surveying
- Governmental clinic and hospital experience
- Providing health education
- Training neighborhood health care workers
- Serving in women’s shelters and orphanages
- Immunization campaigns
- Eye and dental care for children/mothers.
- All-inclusive trip arrangements, planning, and program.
- Benefit from an organization with over 20 years experience.
- Enjoy awesome local recreational/adventuring /cultural opportunities.
- Financial assistance available.
- Bring two friends and plan your own team experience!
What are Benefits of Becoming a WCI Ambassador?
WCI Ambassador Benefits
1. Fund your WCI trip with travel scholarship funding of $100 per volunteer recruited.
2. Qualify for the annual WCI Ambassadors Retreat in Mexico (expenses paid from Phoenix)—no cost to you! You can qualify with 10 or more volunteers recruit.
3. Receive a special recommendation from WCI for your grad school, or other, resume.
4. Get sent to conferences to represent WCI and get paid $100 per day plus all your expenses.
5. See social media contacts (campus clubs, etc.,) and ALL resulting volunteers are credited to you!
6. Cash out your travel scholarship funds at 50% (e.g.if you have earned $1000 in travel scholarship and can’t go on the team, get $500.00 thank you gift from WCI.
Combine financial benefits of being a WCI Ambassador with your own funding (see Funding Your Trip) to pay for your trips(s)…!
Contact Michael@WellChildInternational.org for more information.
About Well Child International (WCI) – Global Health Teams
THE PROVEN STRATEGY
Team members are working under the legal “umbrella” of licensure via the local government and its relationship with WCI. WCI is organized as a non-profit NGO in the state of Arizona. We will utilize a community-based health care strategy, which is: house-to-house medical assessments and screenings, followed by a general clinic in the same geographical area, utilizing local health workers working in tandem with U.S. professionals and students. We call it “Village Triage”.
Geographical zones are assigned to us by the local Ministry of Health. An essential element of this plan is the “planting” of a local health care worker, equipped and trained by WCI and recognized by the local Ministry of Health. This enables women and their smaller children to get to a health care “station” 24/7 instead of A) not being able to access health care due to lack of transportation, (a VERY common problem), B) overcoming the logistics of finally getting to a local governmental clinic only to be told “here’s your appointment of tomorrow (or the next day)” and, C) no access to the meds prescribed, if any.
Education is also a primary building block of this proven strategy by working with children in schools and in the community at events sponsored by WCI. All women receive a general OB-GYN screening and prenatal screening (if the patient is sure (or unsure) of a pregnancy).
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS WORK!! We don’t have 100 local doctors at every field station/neighborhood clinic, but we CAN have 100 volunteer professionals and STUDENTS (appropriately trained for the purpose), to MAKE THIS HAPPEN!! THIS is how we are able to serve thousands of women and their children in vulnerable communities (personal and medical crisis/abusive situations).
HISTORY OF WELL CHILD INTERNATIONAL
WCI President, Michael Birnbaum, founded International Service Learning (ISL) in the early 1990’s, pioneering the concept of collaborating with local health officials in various countries to utilize both medical professionals and students to provide health care for at risk populations. Shortly thereafter he created a sub-program within ISL to deal with the needs of women and children specifically—Well Child International (WCI). Due to growth in this area of need, WCI was split off as a separate non-profit NGO in 2018.
President:
Michael Birnbaum.
Well Child International
12402 North Division Street, Number 365, Spokane, Washington 99218
Telephone:
(509) 640-6767
Email:
info@wellchildinternational.org
WCI Medical Mission Trips
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