Meet the Missionary
Caitlin Dahmer is covenant member of Church of the Beloved and a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) who serves at Hospital Misión Tarahumara in the northern Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico since 2021.
She first sensed God’s call while in nursing school at Calvin College. She went on to complete her graduate studies at the University of Michigan to become a nurse midwife. After graduation, the Lord led her to work at Lawndale Christian Health Center, where she faithfully served the impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago’s west side for six years.
In 2021, God called her to Hospital Misión Tarahumara, located in the mountainous region of Chihuahua, Mexico. She currently works with pregnant women in the hospital and also travels to many remote villages. She provides prenatal care, labor and delivery services, and has conducted research in several villages to learn more about the Tarahumara’s cultural practices and beliefs surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. With this information, she is developing a community-based maternal health education program. She finds joy in caring for women, educating communities, and doing her part to bring about God’s Kingdom to an indigenous people that do not know the Lord. These medical services are provided along with chaplaincy services in the hospital and church services in the communities. She hopes that through her partnership with this hospital and Christian Health Service Corps, the Tarahumara people will come to know the saving grace and steadfast love of our Lord Jesus Christ both individually and eventually as a nation praising God!
The Need
Tarahumara women have some of the world’s highest rates of maternal and infant mortality, rivaling those of Sub-Saharan Africa. This is an alarming statistic in comparison with the rest of Mexico and in light of their proximity to the US. Interestingly, they are one of the only cultures in the world that does not have an innate system of midwives. Their historical tradition is to go out into the mountainside alone to give birth, though many have shifted indoors in recent years. Husbands or mothers are often present now but no home births have skilled birth attendants. Many women have lost children. They endanger their own lives with pregnancy complications which are unusually common, such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, postpartum hemorrhage, and breech deliveries.
The Tarahumara in general live in remote areas dispersed across the Copper Canyon region of Chihuahua. Their lives are shaped by tremendous need and lack of resources. Clean water is a commodity. Malnutrition, water-borne illness, and other diseases of poverty run rampant. Medical services are few and far between, consisting of governmental health posts which are unreliably staffed and a few NGO and medical mission organizations.
The Opportunity
In June of 2024, Beloved sent out a medical missions team to support Caitlin and Hospital Misión Tarahumara through daily mobile clinics in the surrounding remote villages. In the future we hope to send out more medical teams as they continue to faithfully care for the Tarahumara.
General practitioners would be beneficial to the established mobile clinic ministry, which often operates without a doctor. Dentists could be of service in both the hospital and communities. Specialists are always welcomed eagerly, as there are no specialties permanently at the hospital. The hospital conducts monthly surgical weekends by flying in surgeons and anesthesiologists from the capital. At times, surgeons from the US have come and offered a huge benefit to the Tarahumara people who would have otherwise not had that option. Desired specialties include but are not limited to Ophthalmology, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Anesthesiology, OB/GYN, and Pediatrics.
Other occupations would be considered as well. The hospital has received construction teams, well teams, etc. in the past. Spanish is strongly recommended but exceptions are made in accordance with hospital needs and teams of multiple people. If you would like to learn more, please let us know by filling out the short form below.
Also, if you’d like to receive Caitlin’s e-newsletters please reach out to her at cdahmer@healthservicecorps.org.
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