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CLINICA YANAMONO
On the third day, our group was able to visit Clinica Yanamono which was started by Dr. Linnea Smith. After a short visit down to Peru Dr. Linnea fell in love with the country and community. She noticed the locals had little access to health care so she took it upon herself to make a change. Leaving her practice in Wisconsin, Dr. Linnea moved to Peru and began offering dental, vaccination, and family planning services along with treatments for a variety of different illnesses. Since her start in 1990, Dr. Linnea Smith’s practice has expanded. Her first location had grew from an open room only covered by a thatched roof to a more developed campus complete with living quarters for staff, a hammock house for patients’ families, solar panels for electrical energy, and a well for water. Unfortunately, as a result of large amounts of erosion, this riverside clinic was shut down. In 2009 a new clinic was built off a smaller stream. This was the clinic we visited. As we walked through the waiting room, dental office, pharmacy, and lab it was inspiring to see all the great opportunities Dr. Linnea was able to create for the local communities.
DIANNA KUCY