Molecular Biomimetics

Organization Objectives

APRILP is a public health institution that strives to improve the quality of life for children, adolescents, and adults that are living with handicaps and/or disabling medical conditions. It provides vital treatment and therapy to handicapped individuals to help them gain independence and enjoy more active lifestyles. Its goals are to:

• Provide professional rehabilitation services that enable individuals with disabilities/handicaps to maintain active lifestyles
• Offer capacity-building workshops for individuals with disabilities/handicaps to promote their economic self-sufficiency and independence
• Develop educational activities, campaign work, and promotional materials focused at the community within the Province of Buenos Aires, which aim to:

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  • Create community awareness about the difficulties faced by individuals with disabilities/handicaps
  • Promote the equal treatment of individuals with disabilities/handicaps within society

 

Program Information

 

1.Patient Care

APRILP provides daily rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities from La Plata and its surrounding communities who cannot afford private health care. Between 100 and 150 patients visit APRILP per month; there are anywhere from two to eight patients on any given day. APRILP provides transportation for patients in La Plata who do not have family members available to take them to and from the organization. The rehabilitation services focus on restoring motor function, resolving pain issues, and increasing mobility. The goal is to help patients reach their maximum potential and have as active a lifestyle as possible. In the future, APRILP would like to increase its financial resources to improve the infrastructure of its building and to purchase more modern rehabilitation equipment so that it can provide a more pleasing atmosphere and improved services for its patients.

 

Opportunities

• Observe and support daily patient care
• Assist with rehabilitation services
• Research funding opportunities to provide financial support for services
• Conduct outreach in community to advertise APRILP’s services
• Provide administrative support for office staff

 

Requirements

• Intermediate to Advanced Spanish (spoken)
• Interest in social work
• Must be a medical professional or student in psychology, psychiatry, kinesiology, and/or other medical-related fields
• An understanding and sensitivity for the issues that affect handicapped individuals and those from marginalized zones
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• High level of personal initiative
• Ability to work independently and in a group

 

2.Education

APRILP’s daily workshops aim to empower individuals living with disabilities to develop their economic self-sufficiency and independence. As with the Patient Care Program, these workshops are open to any individuals with disabilities who cannot afford programs offered at private institutions. Workshop themes include ceramics, painting, carpentry, tailoring, tapestry, and computers. To fund the workshops, APRILP holds a daily book drive in which community members are encouraged to donate used books. Along with these books, clients sell the products they make in the workshops. These workshops not only strengthen clients’ confidence and skill level, but they also improve the clients’ ability to integrate into the working world. In the future, APRILP would like to gain more human and financial resources to develop workshops on creativity and imagination for children and purchase new computers to replace the old and failing ones it currently uses for its computer workshops.

 

Opportunities

• Assist in facilitating workshops for adolescents, teens, and adult patients. Topics include, but are not limited:
  • Ceramics
  • Painting
  • Carpentry
  • Tailoring
  • Tapestry
  • Computers
  • Life management skills
• Develop new workshops based on clients’ areas of need and interest
• Design and implement children’s workshops that focus on developing creativity and imagination
• Market workshops within community to expand program’s reach
• Create a fundraising system to ensure the sustainability of the children’s workshops

 

Requirements

• Intermediate to Advanced Spanish (spoken)
• Background in teaching, social work, and/or medical-related fields
• An understanding and sensitivity for the issues that affect handicapped individuals and those from marginalized zones
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• High level of personal initiative
• Ability to work independently and in a group

 

3.Business Development and Fundraising

APRILP needs assistance in maintaining the organization as well as strengthening and expanding existing programs. It wants to create materials for public campaigns, develop a website, and create a database. Additionally, APRILP would like to gain the resources necessary—primarily in personnel—to organize fundraising activities and carry out research initiatives to gather information on grants that APRILP is qualified for. With more sustainable funds, APRILP can realize much-needed projects, such as improvements to infrastructure and the purchasing of new computers and exercise equipment.

 

Opportunities

• Create and maintain a website for APRILP that is both informative and attractive
• Provide consulting services about how to best manage organizational funds
• Develop a sophisticated database that can be easily updated for APRILP, which will include information on:
  • Past and current patients
  • Financial donors
  • Applicable grants
  • Any relevant research that could be used by APRILP
• Develop educational and marketing materials about APRILP’s services, including but not limited to:
  • Pamphlets
  • Brochures
  • Posters
  • Flyers
• Organize a public campaign that aims to:
  • Increase funds
  • Attract regular and potential donors
  • Create community awareness about the difficulties faced by individuals with disabilities/handicaps
  • Promote the equal treatment of individuals with disabilities/handicaps within society
  • Promote APRILP’s services
• Conduct research and gather information on international grants that APRILP is qualified for
• Write grants to potential contributors and donors
• Implement a fundraising system for regular and sustainable financial support
• Organize fundraising events to involve families of patients and community members

 

Requirements

• Intermediate to Advanced Spanish (spoken)
• Must have a background in business, fundraising, and/or related fields
• An understanding and sensitivity for the issues that affect handicapped individuals and those from marginalized zones
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• High level of personal initiative
• Ability to work independently and in a group
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills

 

Program Supervisor (All Programs)

The Program Supervisor position will rotate among APRILP’s staff members. Each supervisor provided to manage participants will be a licensed professional and have at least two years of experience working with APRILP. If an intern or volunteer requires that his/her supervisor have any specific qualifications, please note this in the FSD application so that APRILP can take measures to ensure an appropriate supervisor match.

 

Note: Responsibilities offered to each participant will be proportionate to their level of experience. Participants who are new to development work may predominantly support and assist current project agendas, while those with much applicable experience may be able to assume greater responsibility. Research projects are strongly encouraged by this organization to support each program’s objective because minimal resources are currently allocated for research.

 

Working Conditions

APRILP is located in an urban setting with easy access to public transportation. The commute time from the host family to work can vary from 10 to 30 minutes. Interns and volunteers will be spending the majority of their time at APRILP, which is a very large building with three administration offices, an exercise area, three workshop rooms, three bathrooms, and an indoor swimming pool. The office hours are Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm. The work environment is friendly and professional, and the staff members are ambitious and extremely dedicated to their work. APRILP has 42 staff members, comprised of a 20-person Rehabilitation Team (including medical doctors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists), 3 accountants, 1 lawyer, 6 teachers, 4 administrators, 1 cook, 3 drivers, 3 office cleaners, and 1 maintenance worker. Due to space limitations, APRILP can only accommodate one intern or volunteer at any given time.

 

Organizational Background

During the polio epidemic of the 1950s, people living in La Plata who were affected by polio had to travel over an hour to the capital to seek treatment. This was not only costly and time-consuming, but traveling by train was usually painful and stressful for polio patients. In 1959, a group of parents with children afflicted with polio decided to form an institution that would provide medical attention to polio patients in La Plata. With the help of Dr. Elena Albino, these parents gathered a team of doctors and social workers, and, along with the support of thousands of La Plata citizens, petitioned the Argentine government for support in the initial financing of a new medical institution. After months of organizing and petitioning, the Argentine government agreed to collaborate to establish the new medical center by financing the construction of the building in which APRILP still works today. At this time, APRILP was well funded from support by thousands of La Plata citizens who signed up to become regular donors. After the polio vaccine was discovered, the majority of APRILP donors stopped contributing funds to the organization. Nevertheless, APRILP has continued to provide vital rehabilitation services over the years to people living in the La Plata area with handicaps and has expanded its services to care for people with a wide range of disabilities.

 

APRILP receives regular financing for its programs from about 800 donors as well as from the Argentine Ministry of Health. The organization also receives subsidies from the World Bank, which covers the cost of the daily meals that APRILP prepares for its patients. APRILP’s last source of funds is various loans it has taken out from financial institutions. The organization is now in the process of repaying those loans, and still remains extremely under-funded. Improvements to infrastructure are desperately needed and the organization would like to expand upon current programs, but it has insufficient funds to meet these objectives.

 

About APRILP’s Clients

The majority of APRILP’s clients come from the sectors of society in which people are unable to afford specialized medical care. Clients include babies, children, adolescents, adults, and elderly who have various disabilities, some of which include muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, rheumatisms, amputations, myelomeningocele, paralysis, degenerative osteoarthritis, congenital malformations, oncological complications, hemiplegia, and vascular disorders. It works with on average 100 to 150 clients per month.