Clinica Verde Will Provide
Medical Care to Poor Women, Children in
Nicaragua
Poor women and girls living in rural
Nicaragua will soon have access to a new
model of healthcare, thanks to the dream of
a former journalist and to more than
$700,000 in donations, mostly from private
donors and various foundations.
The medical services – focusing on maternal
and infant health care – will be provided at
a facility called Clínica Verde, which
should be operational by the end of this
year. It is expected to serve 4,000 children
and 1,500 high-risk pregnant women annually.
Sustainable clinic for impoverished families
in Nicaragua takes holistic approach to
health.
Clínica Verde is located about 50 miles
northeast of Managua, Nicaragua’s capital.
Nicaragua is the second poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere and has the highest
rate of adolescent fertility in Latin
America.
The clinic will approach health issues
holistically, starting with sustainable
design and clinical excellence and extending
to the nutritional, educational and economic
health of women and their families. It will
include a community classroom with
demonstration kitchen as well as an organic
garden, which will be used to teach
nutrition and self-reliance.
Clinica Verde was founded in 2007 by former
journalist Susan Dix Lyons, a California
mother of three and former journalist whose
grandparents were friends with former
Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro and
her husband, Pedro. Pedro Chamorro was
assassinated in 1978.
That family friendship, which began in the
1970s, began a chain of relationships that
led to the Clinica Verde concept. Today, the
Chamorro’s daughter, Cristiana, is a partner
in the project as well as a member of its
board of directors.
“It’s as though each stage of my life has
been leading me forward and preparing me for
this work,” said Dix Lyons, who put together
the group of professionals and supporters
that has made Clinica Verde possible.
So far, she and her group have raised more
than $700,000 from private donors and
foundations, including a $150,000 matching
grant challenge from world-renowned Napa
Valley vintner Joseph Phelps and 100,000
Euro from the COFRA Foundation of
Switzerland.
Dix Lyons said she believes Clínica Verde
will provide a global prototype of an
environmentally sustainable health clinic
that can be replicated in areas of poverty
around the world.
Learn more about Clinica Verde at
www.clinicaverde.org. Donations can be made
through the website or by check mailed to:
Clínica Verde, c/o Susan Dix Lyons, 109
Camino Vista. St. Helena, CA 94574. Clinica
Verde is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit.
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