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On a normal day, Unidad de Salud Familiar Rojas Cañada in Capiatá Paraguay sees just a handful of patients. During AMISTAD 2026, that same clinic is seeing five times its usual caseload, delivering care to people who, until now, lived with hearing issues, failing eyesight and untreated disease because help was too far away or too expensive.
The surge is part of AMISTAD 2026, a health security cooperation led by U.S. Air Force and Paraguayan health professionals to expand access to services like family medicine, optometry, audiology and dental care in high-demand areas of Capiatá while strengthening long-term health partnerships.
For Dr. Cristina López, the family physician who runs the clinic, the change is visible in every chair filled and every chart pulled.
“On a normal day, we see about seven to 15 patients,” Lopez said, glancing at a waiting area now packed with families. “With this engagement, we’ve been able to see up to 80-100 patients a day. I called patients personally—one by one—to make sure they knew this care was available, especially the ones who had been waiting the longest. We serve around 5,000 people here, plus many from surrounding communities, so this has allowed us to reach people we simply couldn’t before.”
That expanded access isn’t just about volume—it is about reaching patients who have never had certain types of care. The team bought a two man optometry team, audiologists and a family medicine doctor, nurse and a medical technician.
“Many of our patients have never seen an eye doctor,” López said. “Normally they have to travel and pay out of pocket, and for many families that just isn’t possible. Conditions go untreated for years. Now, for the first time, they are being seen, diagnosed and helped—and you can see the relief on their faces when they finally get answers.”
For U.S. Air Force Maj. Raquelle Newman, a family medicine physician with the 316th Inpatient Squadron, working inside Dr. López’s clinic has put a human face on AMISTAD 2026’s broader health security goals.
“It has been an incredibly humbling experience,” Newman said. “Coming here, I knew we’d be working in a low‑resource environment, but what stands out most is how deeply this team cares for their community and how much trust people place in them. Patients are here rain or shine. They wait, they show up, and they’re hopeful—and that stays with you.”
Newman said her five-man team built their role around supporting that existing trust, not replacing it.
“We’re not here to compete with anyone—we’re here to augment and collaborate,” Newman said. “Dr. López knows every corner of this neighborhood. Our job is to bring additional hands and specialties so she can reach more people and keep caring for them long after we’re gone.”
That mindset shaped everything from clinic flow to what went on the pharmacy shelves.
“We were very intentional about what we brought,” Newman explained. “We matched our medications to the local formulary on purpose, because this isn’t about a quick fix. It’s about making sure patients can continue their treatment after we leave. If the care isn’t sustainable, then we’re not truly helping.”
Tackling “ticking time bombs” in chronic disease Inside the cramped exam room, Newman said she kept seeing the same silent threats over and over again.
“There are significant challenges with chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes,” Newman said. “Some of these blood pressure levels are, to be blunt, ticking time bombs. Being able to intervene—even briefly—and get people back on medication, adjust doses and teach them what those numbers mean can prevent something life‑threatening.”
Working without the usual technology and support staff, Newman said, forced her team to lean on the fundamentals.
“It really is going back to the basics of medicine,” Newman said. “You don’t have all the systems, the electronics, the extra staff you rely on in a big military treatment facility. You’re responsible for the whole patient in that moment—the diagnosis, the treatment, the education—and you have to make sure they walk out the door better than they came in.”
For López, who many residents describe as “the mom of the neighborhood,” AMISTAD 2026 has amplified the way she already practices medicine.
“I try to know everyone here—it’s like a family,” Lopez said. “The community trusts this clinic, and now they see more services, more support, more possibilities. People have been very happy and very welcoming. You can feel that the atmosphere has changed.”
That change is especially clear among patients who have waited years for basic services like hearing and vision care.
“The elderly are coming in so excited because they are finally receiving services they have needed for a long time, like hearing tests and hearing aids,” López said. “For them, this is not something small—it changes their daily life. They can hear conversations again, talk with their families and feel included.”
One story sticks out to Lopez and she says it captures the impact better than any statistic.
“There was a little boy who couldn’t see well and was struggling in school,” López said. “His family didn’t have money to take him to a specialist. We got him evaluated, and he received a prescription for glasses. He told us, ‘Now I can see—now I’m going to do better in school.’ That moment changes everything for a child like him. It changes his future.”
For Newman, those moments are the reason she raised her hand to be part of AMISTAD 2026.
“When you take the time to explain something, and you see it finally click for a patient—that’s powerful,” Newman said. “It means they aren’t just leaving with medication, they’re leaving with understanding. That stays with them long after we’re gone, and that’s what makes this mission worth it.”
The experience has reshaped how Newman thinks about her own profession and reminded her why she went into medicine.
“This experience has been transformative,” Newman said. “You see the impact immediately in a place like this, and you also see how much more there is to do. It makes you want to keep coming back and keep building on what we’ve started together.”
As AMISTAD 2026 continues across Capiatá, Rojas Cañada stands as a snapshot of what the mission is designed to do: pair U.S. and Paraguayan providers at the point of care, expand access for communities that need it most and leave behind stronger systems —and relationships—than they found.
| Date Taken: | 06.19.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.22.2026 21:08 |
| Story ID: | 568280 |
| Location: | CAPIATA, PY |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, AMISTAD 2026 Multiplies Care Capacity at Capiatá Clinic, by Andrea Jenkins, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
