"The Role of Health Professionals Should Be to Share Knowledge, Teach"

Dr. Gustavo Parajón emphasized a bottom-up community approach to the prevention of disease and promotion of health rather than the more traditional top-down hospital-based approach. He believed that in every community there were capable leaders, regardless of their level of education, who had the skills, passion and commitment to make a difference to improve the health of their communities. He also believed that in a setting like Nicaragua, where health services did not reach the poorest people, that the role of health professionals should be to share knowledge, teach and encourage lay health workers.

-from "A Tribute to Dr. Gustavo Parajon," on the Amos Health & Hope Website.

Could that model work in the US?  It might, if it were allowed.  But with our dense regulation of medical services, this probably only works in a country like Nicaragua.   Or maybe I'm ignorant and this sort of thing is already working in the inner cities of America and rural America.  Or maybe the "community" in the phrase "community leaders" is something different in Nicaragua than it is here.

On the other hand, we do have the development of health services at places like WalMart.