Mission

Hope Clinic International (HCI) is dedicated to increasing access to medical care for poor women and children in developing countries.  Our mission is built on Judeo-Christian principles that value the dignity of the human person and gives preference to the poor and those without hope.  We accomplish this mission by:

  •  Establishing regionally placed centers of health care delivery for pediatrics and OB/GYN primary care,
  • Mentoring local physicians and surgeons,
  • Providing equipment, supplies and medicine needed to deliver a higher standard of care.
  • Providing volunteer personnel to travel on short-term mission trips to deliver on-site care and training.

Brief History of HCI

Dr. Dan Heffernan, a family physician, founded Hope Clinic International (HCI) in 1997.   Dr. Heffernan was moved to establish HCI after personally observing the poverty, lack of medical resources and overwhelming need in Nicaragua , Central America . Dr. Heffernan is also the founder of Hope Medical Clinic in Ypsilanti , Michigan that was established over 20years ago to serve the working poor in his local community.

Since its inception, HCI has sent volunteer medical and surgical teams to the towns of Estelí, Jinotega, Matagalpa , Leon , Masaya and Chinandega , Nicaragua . We also renovated and equipped a pediatric operating room that is used by our surgical team and the local surgeons. Each year our volunteer surgeons perform over 40 surgical procedures. More importantly than the numbers, is the fact that a number of the children would not have survived without these surgical interventions.  In addition local surgeons and physicians receive mentoring and trained during these trips.  Volunteer pediatricians, conducting walk-in pediatric clinics in partnership with the Saint Vincent DePaul Society in Nicaragua .  The medical teams care for between 600 and 1,000 children during each two-week trip, providing an examination, all needed prescription medications, and vitamins to each child.  Volunteers pay their own expenses, transportation and incidental costs.