Healthcare Access
At Health Outreach for Latin America, we believe all individuals deserve equal access to high quality, fully resourced, and well coordinated care. Through sustainable, integrated, and collaborative healthcare solutions our vision is to cultivate a Latin America free of healthcare disparities.
To advance this mission, HOLA employs two local OB-GYNs to work in the rural communities of La Leona and Chacraseca in northwest Nicaragua. Over the past five years, more than 3,000 women have visited these clinics, gaining access to specialized obstetric and gynecological care that would otherwise be largely unavailable.
Building on the success of this program, HOLA is working to expand its efforts to Peru, specifically to the indigenous community of Huacahuasi. Located over 12,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains, many residents must walk more than two hours to reach the nearest health post. The Peruvian Ministry of Health has identified Huacahuasi as an area of severe need and plans to establish a local health post within the next two to three years.
To address the urgent gap in care in the interim, HOLA plans to deploy both a general physician and an OB-GYN to serve the community until the government facility is operational.
Veterinary Work
Work animals in rural Nicaragua can form the cornerstone of the community. When these animals are in poor health, so too are the community members depending on them for their livelihood. According to Central America Data, there are fewer than 1,000 veterinarians throughout the entire country of Nicaragua.
Our volunteers partner with local veterinarians to provide vitamin supplements, de-worming and surgical care for animals in rural communities. These procedures help to lower the burden of zoonotic diseases on the community while simultaneously improving the health of the community’s animals, which serve as a source of both food and capital. Since 2022 HOLA has provided these treatments to over 1,000 working animals.
In 2022, HOLA partnered with the NGO, Nico Love, to run a spay/neuter and wellness clinic in the community of Villa Guadalupe. At this clinic, HOLA volunteers funded and assisted on the treatment of 398 animals. Since then, the HOLA / Nica Love partnership has expanded to include similar clinics in the community of Villa Del Carmen and spay / neuter clinics in the city of Granada.
Additionally, The Jamie Byers fund, established in memory of one of HOLA’s original founders, helps fund tuition scholarships for financially disadvantage veterinary students in Nicaragua who have demonstrated a commitment to community service.
Volunteer Trips
To support these efforts, HOLA operates a range of volunteer and educational programs throughout Nicaragua and Peru. These initiatives include immersive learning experiences for aspiring medical and veterinary students, residency rotations, and customized research projects that help expand the organization’s impact while supporting local healthcare systems.
HOLA’s immersive educational programs in Nicaragua were developed by physicians on the organization’s board to provide students interested in healthcare, veterinary medicine, and nonprofit leadership with meaningful clinical, leadership, and research experience. Participants have the opportunity to shadow local physicians, observe surgeries in regional operating theaters, assist with veterinary outreach, and contribute to field research that helps guide the future development of HOLA’s programs. Over the past three years, HOLA has partnered with students from the University of Denver, the University of Georgia, and the University of Maryland. Proceeds from these programs directly support the staffing and operation of HOLA-sponsored clinics and physicians.
In January 2026, HOLA expanded these educational offerings by launching its first residency rotation program. Over the course of one month, an OB-GYN resident from the University of Washington trained across clinics and hospitals throughout Peru’s Andean Highlands and Sacred Valley. The rotation was highly successful, and HOLA is now actively collaborating with the University of Washington and other academic institutions to develop additional rotations in women’s health and other medical specialties in the years ahead.