Fall River nurse practitioner part of group that brought health, faith, housing, to Brazilian Amazon

A Fall River family nurse practitioner just returned from a two-week volunteer medical trip to the Brazilian Amazon. 

Jim Hodson works at Health First Family Care Center in Fall River as a primary care provider for the past decade.

Hodson told Fall River Reporter that his medical director Dr. Jaladi and CEO Dr. Jones sent him and his friend Nivea Gonçalves to volunteer on a boat delivering free medical care on the Rio Negro, near Manaus, in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.

“We volunteered with a group called Instituto de Missões Noroeste (Institute of Northwest Missions) part of the Seventh-day Adventist church, https://missoesnoroeste.org/en/. We all lived on a river boat for two weeks, did free medical exams, triage, interpretation, and medical care for about 250 people, myself as the chief medical officer, Nivea as the deputy chief. We had 5 other Brazilian medical students, and a nurse, and more than 25 other volunteers during our time. During this time, we also had a construction project, built a bathroom, made bricks, painted local homes, had preaching, music, vacation Bible school, face painting etc. while our 7-person medical team treated patients in multiple villages.”

Hodson states that they treated tropical ulcers, infections, lice, worms, rashes, and other lifestyle related diseases during their stay.

“Our clinic Health First has many Brazilian patients, and we hope word travels that our clinic cares for patients both in the United Sates and outside it’s borders.”

Last year, Hodson made a similar trip to Ethiopia.