Matagalpa, Nicaragua: In July 2017 the Vein Specialists of Monterey will travel again to the Fara Clinic joining an elite team of certified vein doctors to help as many as 850 patients in a single week. The eight-doctor medical team is comprised of some of the world’s experts in vein disease, including physicians from Italy and the current president of the International Union of Phlebologists (vein doctors). The team is hosted by the Fara Foundation, farafoundation.org, which provides medical care, education, and food assistance to the indigent poor in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, after Haiti, and the vein disease is often severe.

Early in the morning before the vein doctors arrive, patients begin appearing at the Fara Clinic in Matagalpa Nicaragua in pairs and small groups, then in droves. Men, women, old and young, all share two things: They are extremely poor, and they’re in dire need of treatment for severe varicose vein disease, a common problem among laborers who stand on their feet all day. This type of venous disease also occurs frequently among women who’ve had multiple births. Over years, the untreated veins in their lower legs bulge from unrelieved pressure — sometimes creating hard dark skin and leg ulcers, which are wounds that do not heal.

Dr. Mowatt-Larssen says ‘last time, we had a patient who had traveled two days by bus and on foot to reach the clinic, although she could barely walk because the ulcer had eaten through the muscling in her calf’. The team will bring the laser equipment, portable ultrasound machines, compression stockings, injectable medicine, and everything that is needed to close failing veins and to help heal the leg ulcers. The team donates their vacation time, travel and lodging, and all medical supplies expenses necessary to provide free treatment to patients who desperately need it.

The Vein Specialists are grateful to receive any donations of compression stockings or new kids toothbrushes and stickers to hand out to children who arrive at the medical clinic in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. We thank our generous supporters for compression stockings and the medicine to close the veins, which cost tens of thousands of dollars. Donations can be dropped off at our office at 977 Pacific Street, Suite B, Monterey, CA 93940 anytime Monday through Thursday 9-12 or 1:30-4:30.

About Dr. Larssen and the Vein Specialists of Monterey: Dr. Larssen is credentialed by the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine. He is also the editor and author of the specialty’s textbook Phlebology, Vein Surgery and Ultrasonography, published by Springer Publishers in a number of languages. Prior to his medical career, Dr. Larssen was a Navy SEAL officer.