CDCA Staff Bios - 2024

(alphabetical by section)

With the Center…

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Accountant / Administrative Assistant:

Teresa

Teresa joined us in 2024, becoming responsible for a variety of administrative tasks, easing the ever-growing task of completing the accounting needed for Nicaragua.

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Hospitality:

Carmen

Carmen is responsible for keeping the Center clean and presentable, and keeping up with needed supplies. She attends visitors and suppliers who show up unannounced as well. She has worked with the CDCA for many years as a trusted co-worker.

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Maintenance:

Luis

Luis is an electrician by trade, but is also a skilled mason, plumber and general handy person. He has the daunting task of maintaining and repairing the JHC-CDCA properties at the Office Center, the Nueva Vida Clinic and Casa Ben Linder. Joining the staff in 2022, he is learning the ropes and is a cheerful and industrious addition to the team.

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Volunteer Coordinator:

Harold (Shaggy)

Harold, also known as “Shaggy”, had years of experience working with volunteers before joining the CDCA as our Volunteer Coordinator. Bilingual in Spanish and English, Shaggy takes care of the scheduling and organizing of volunteer delegations and accompanies volunteers during their time in-country.

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With the Nueva Vida Clinic…

Administrator / Pharmacist:

Josefa

Josefa is the administrator and pharmacist at the Nueva Vida Clinic, keeping the whole clinic operation running smoothly. She holds degrees in industrial engineering, pharmacology, is a certified laboratory technician and is working on a Master’s in Public Health. Her passion for geriatric care inspires the clinic to pay more attention to the clinic's elderly patients. Josefa also serves as the JHC-CDCA's Legal Representative in Nicaragua.

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Doctors:

Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a general practitioner who works full time in the Ministry of Health Clinic located in Nueva Vida, and in the afternoons treats patients at the CDCA’s Nueva Vida Clinic. She concentrates her work on the clinic's pregnant women and diabetic and hypertensive patients, this includes going out into the community for home visits several days a week as well as seeing patients in the clinic.

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Jorge

Jorge helped to found the Nueva Vida Clinic in 1999 and worked with the clinic as a part time general practitioner for 10 years, leaving to study radiology. After getting his specialty certification, he returned full-time, treating patients and providing ultrasounds. Jorge is now treating the children of patients who first came to him as babies themselves! He has an easy manner that the community admires, taking the time with each patient to examine, explain and teach.

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Nurse:

Josue

Josue is the Nueva Vida Clinic nurse. He did his practicum in the clinic and was hired after graduation.

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Therapist:

Dominga

Dominga is the clinic's therapist who works enthusiastically with children and adults. She works both individually within the clinic and in providing educational classes. She joined the Nueva Vida Clinic staff after serving as a volunteer for more than a year, and patients are referred to her from the doctors, health promoters, and support groups. While only hired for part-time hours, she frequently donates many more to work with those in need.

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Community Health Coordinator:

Haydeé

Haydeé is now the full-time community health coordinator, organizing lay health promoters and support groups at the Nueva Vida Clinic, including classes for the at-risk youth groups, which she develops together with the psychologist. Haydeé accompanies the doctor on home visits to the elderly and new mothers in the Nueva Vida community. Our public health component is being re-invigorated after COVID with her enthusiastic fresh ideas.

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Dental Staff:

Inge

Inge is our dentist, joining the work just this year. She is already loved by the Nueva Vida community and is focusing attention on the children of Nueva Vida while also providing important care for chronic care patients and pregnant women.

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Ligia

Ligia is a full-time dental hygienist who has a special connection with children. Ligia also does oral hygiene education in community schools and child feeding centers. She is a passionate advocate of oral hygiene and dedicated to teaching parents and children. Ligia is motivated towards helping move the Nueva Vida Clinic into digital patient record-keeping.

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Clinic Cleaning:

Carina

Carina assists Francis cleaning at the Nueva Vida Clinic, joining our staff in 2024. The job is plenty big enough for both of them!

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Francis

Francis has been working at the Center for many years, during large delegation visits, and is now working on-site at the Nueva Vida Clinic, in charge of the huge job of cleaning and disinfecting the clinic, washing the endless laundry and keeping track of all the keys!

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Patient Receptionists:

Wendy

Wendy works cheerfully checking in patients, using the newly installed scanning system providing efficiency and avoiding patient duplications. She has finished her third year of law school and on the weekends is currently studying to be a primary school teacher.

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Xiomara

Xiomara serves as patient receptionist, checking in patients as they arrive, putting her computer skills and people skills to good use. Xiomara also keeps up with reports, patient records and helps with triage when the Clinic is especially busy.

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With Casa Benjamin Linder…

Oliver, Xiomara, and Omar

Oliver, Xiomara, and Omar work as an efficient team in caring for visitors and overnight guests at Casa Benjamin Linder. Oliver and Omar split the weekly 24-hour responsibilities surrounding the arrival & departure of guests, arranging local transportation, providing logistical information and insights into tourist attractions, as well as cleaning the bedrooms and gathering spaces, an especially important job during COVID. Xiomara takes reservations, communicates with clients, supervises events, and cooks delicious breakfasts for overnight guests.

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Jubilee House Community members - Active Staff - the Fab Five

Claudia, Daniel, Neil, Becca, Paul

Becca and her family joined the JHC in 2007, although she has worked with the CDCA since 2001. As a college student, Becca volunteered with the CDCA the summer after Hurricane Mitch hit, when Nueva Vida was littered with temporary houses. She was a natural leader and is still leading the CDCA into new projects. Becca is Director of the Clinic, Solidarity Facilitator, Community Organizer and Fundraiser.  She has worked with the CDCA for 25 years. She works with Casa Benjamin Linder and plans volunteer brigades. Becca’s fundraising efforts are focused on speaking trips with Paul and their daughters in western U.S., Ireland, and Northern Ireland.

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Claudia, joining the Community in 2018, works in the broader aspects of education through social media and creating useful videos, while putting her business administration training to good use as the CDCA's HR point person. She communicates with staff, helps find new talent, does payroll, and also helps all the rest of us understand Nicaraguan ways.  She interprets for doctors and is also involved in classes being offered to Las Lobas.

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Daniel, after growing up in Nicaragua, began working as an adult member of the Community first as our Volunteer Coordinator and then as the first-ever Volunteer Supervisor. With a good business mind, he has been working with Mike in sustainable agriculture; doing fundraising and purchasing. He is working on development of sustainable gardens with low water usage, with Farmer Shares Coffee, and does internal U.S. bookkeeping tasks. He and Claudia have two children.

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Neil joined the staff in 2023, after volunteering and being a friend for years. He is our tech support, does our social media outreach, and is one of our go-to interpreters.  He helps Daniel run the Farmer Share's website and orders as well as working on the sustainable gardens.  Much of his work is done from home

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Paul joined the JHCommunity along with Becca, and has worked as an informal volunteer while maintaining a furniture workshop at their house. Joining the staff in 2020, Paul is in charge of repairs and property maintenance at the CDCA center, the Nueva Vida Clinic, and Casa Benjamin Linder. Throughout COVID, he was instrumental in the improvements volunteers and guests are now admiring at Casa Benjamin Linder.

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Jubilee House Community members - Aging Staff

Kathleen

Kathleen is one of the founders of the JHC and has lived and worked in Community since 1979. In 2022, Kathleen stepped down as director of the Nueva Vida Clinic, where she was instrumental in helping guide the work in health, developing policy for the clinic. She keeps sight of the reason the clinic exists: to improve access to quality health care for the poor. Kathleen continues to write the CDCA's quarterly newsletter, thank you letters, brochures, slide scripts, blogs, and also does an incredible amount of fundraising. In her "spare time", she regularly cooks dinner for 11+ people.

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Kathy

Kathy and her sister Pat, who died in 2018, joined the JHC in 1987. Kathy spends much of her time helping to teach and pass on the unsung work of the CDCA, having worked for years as the bookkeeper, bill-payer, bank runner, as well as liaison with the Nicaraguan government. She wades through miles of bureaucratic paperwork to make sure the NGO still has dotted I’s and crossed T's.

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Mike

Mike is one of the founders of the JHC and spends most of his time still wheeling and dealing on behalf of the poor, working out fair deals for farmers, while convincing good-hearted businesses to work with the co-ops. He also works on issues of organics and fair trade both in Nicaragua and the U.S. The self-described "visionary" of the Community, Mike would much rather be pontificating from the comfort of his hammock, and is working hard or passing along sustainable agriculture responsibilities to Daniel.

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Sarah

Sarah is one of the founders of the JHC and still puts together the newsletters, contributes photos to the blog, and keeps up with the best-organized database ever. Sarah does an annual educational speaking trip in the U.S. each spring, and until Neil joined us filled in as the CDCA's IT person.

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