Our Mission
Providing health education and essential medical care that alleviates suffering, saves lives, and gives hope to those most in need
in the Peruvian Amazon
About Amazon Promise
Amazon Promise is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides medical relief to remote communities in the Upper Amazon Basin of northeastern Peru. We are headquartered in the United States, with an in-country base in the city of Iquitos.
In 1993, our fledgling organization made a promise to help the forgotten, poverty-stricken families who live in this region. We have honored this pledge ever since, providing much-needed medical and dental care, health education and training from Belén, Iquitos and via outreach to 32 remote river villages located throughout Loreto, Peru’s largest state.
Additionally in 2009, we constructed a centralized medical facility – the Belén Clinic – that also serves as an education and community center.
Our goal is to ease suffering and facilitate drastic, measurable and sustainable health improvement among the people we serve.
Board of Directors
Patty Webster
President
Amazon Promise Founder and President Patty Webster has been devoted to the health of the Peruvian people since 1991, when she was moved to respond to the desperate need of the underserved communities she was visiting as a jungle guide.
She formed Amazon Promise in 1993 and is the energetic force behind the organization to this day. Patty is the managing field coordinator for Amazon Promise Medical Outreach teams and runs our Iquitos office.
Patty is a graduate of the Peruvian Air Force Jungle Survival School.
Read more about Patty’s inspiring story in this CNN article, “She’s ‘Indiana Jones, Mother Teresa, Susan Sarandon’ to Peru’s Poor.”
Abigail Scherrer
Vice President
Abigail Scherrer is a physician assistant (PA) in the Division of Transplant Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
She completed her PA training at Yale University in 1996 and her Masters in Public Health with a concentration in international health at Boston University in 2009.
Abigail has been actively involved with Amazon Promise since 2002. To date, she is the only alumnus to be stung by a scorpion in the jungle.
Jacqueline Carroll
Treasurer
Jacqueline Carroll is a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, and holds a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a small business owner in Newburyport, Mass and a founding Board Member of Amazon Promise.
Jackie has been involved with Amazon Promise since her first trip to the jungle in 1998; she is the Volunteers Coordinator & Treasurer for AP.
Dr. Robert Hyzy
Medical Director
Robert Hyzy, MD, is a professor of internal medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
He is the medical director of the Critical Care Medicine Unit and is an active clinician, teacher and clinical researcher.
Bob works with the University of Michigan Medical School Global Reach program to organize medical student trips with Amazon Promise.
Melonie Rockwell
Director of Clinical Operations
Melonie Rockwell is an adult and pediatric nurse practitioner.
She is an Amazon Promise founding member and has been involved with the organization since her first medical expedition to Peru in 1995. Melonie is a graduate of the Peruvian Air Force Jungle Survival School.
With more than 40 years’ experience as a nurse practitioner, Melonie is finally semi-retired.
Global Teams
Amazon Promise is exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under state law, which will vary from state to state, and federal law, which may change annually, a large portion, if not all of expedition fees, is tax deductible in the United States. Likewise, monetary donations made in the U.S. are tax deductible.
In the News
CNN Hero Award Recipient Patty Webster, Amazon Promise founder and president:
Caring Institute Award Recipient:
