ABOUT US
Our work scales the efforts of international public health organizations by connecting volunteers with organizations and opportunities, providing administrative expertise, and basic expenses with medical supplies.
While our work is global in scope, our Collaborators have a primary emphasis on projects in Guatemala and Ecuador. HealthWorks Collaborative focuses on providing public health care including surgery, clean water and improved sanitation, safe cooking methods, health education, and disease prevention to underserved populations.
OUR HISTORY
HealthWorks Collaborative began as the SMG Foundation in 1997 with a focus on child care/treatment agencies that operated residential facilities for at-risk children.
In 2011, a new generation of trustees gradually shifted the focus of the Foundation’s work to pediatric surgical trips to Central America. In 2016, the SMG Foundation relaunched as HealthWorks Collaborative as the team behind the team - when we collaborate, more good is accomplished.
With the decision to focus on health-related issues in Central America, beginning in 2022, HealthWorks Collaborative intensified its attention on one remote area of Guatemala. It was at this point that HealthWorks Collaborative began concentrating its efforts to assist AVIS-Living to Serve (an NGO based in San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala) in the construction of a surgical clinic in the neighboring town of Santa Cruz (Alta Verapaz). Ground was broken in June 2022 and the construction of the surgical clinic began. We expect construction of the clinic to finish at the end of 2024 and, once it is up and running, will provide life-saving surgeries to Guatemalans in need of specialized care.
OUR TEAM
Bruce Kelling, Executive Director
Lauren Forman, Trustee
Kristin Kelling, Trustee
Monford D. Custer, III, Trustee
Mon Russell, Trustee