Day 4--Thursday 3/26--Danli

Danli is one of the culturally and ecomonically important cities in the area we were serving this trip. We set up in the Lions Club facility. A cinder block building with poor ventilation.



The providers we split into groups of two. On this day, I was paired with a Cuba doctor, who spoke no english and my spanish is redimentary at best. However, she was awesome to work with and we found communication not nearly as difficult as we thought it might be--gestures go a long way.


My student companions:

(Susan, Ian, and Cassie)
Our bound continued to grow as the days passed.


(Cassie and Eric)
Cassie, Eric, and Ian were just delightful--as were all the students--however, these were among my greatest support system.

Unfortunately, because we were split into different rooms, I had little interaction with Peter, Norma, Greg, or Kathy, except when one of us sought out the others for consultation. Poor Peter and Norma were in the least ventilated room--a literal sweat box!

The Dental Team--hard at work:




Interacting with the locals:

This little boy stole the show--he sang, he smiled, and he played. He captivated us all.


Cassie and the local kids. I swear the kids were as drawn to Cassie as she was to them.

Day 3--Wednesday 3/25--Hoya Grande

Waiting for room assignments at the Hoya Grande School
Up into the mountains once more to the village of Hoya Grande. This was our biggest day, in terms of patients seen, nearly 500 people were seen by the medical staff alone.


(Triage is ready)


(The educational staff is ready)
The educational staff presented health information to the locals about the importance of hand washing, brushing your teeth, etc.


(Pharmacy is settling in)
One of the most useful innovations of the trip was the posting of one of the pharmacy staff, Eric, a pharmacy tech by trade and pre-med student, amongst the providers to keep us up-to-date on medications we had available for our patients.

Perhaps on of the most profound efffects we have is the distribution of parasite medications (as the water sources are used for everything-thus drinking water is contaminated) and vitamins to every patient.


Norma is set to go. As you can see we have erected our privacy chamber once again.


Peter and Melody chat with one of the students while awaiting the onslaught of patients


Greg and his interpreter are setting out their game plan.


Susan and her interpreter, Ian, have bounded and are ready to go. This was the day I encountered my first truly tropical disease; I saw a young man with a parasitic lesion in his eye which we believe was "River Blindness"--you'll have to look that one up, it's amazing and complex. Ian and I saw 70 patients this day.

Some of the locals:

Unlike in America, the patients dress up in their very best clothing to see the medical staff.








The community of Hoya Grande




Day is done:


(this little boy was so vivacious and he loved being in pictures--the students celebrate making it through a very tough day)


Norma and Kathy discuss their day as we prepare to head back to the compound. Kathy (another ER nurse) has seen 79 patients.

We arrived back home after 8 pm and still had to eat and prepare for the next day.

Day 2--Tuesday 3/24--Dining & Peter's Birthday

Dining on the brigades is always interesting. The staff at the retreat center fixed us wonderful meals, which were served buffet style.


Mealtime is a time to gather, socialize, and make new friends.


This is the second year that Peter celebrated his birthday in Honduras. The staff decorated the dining area and prepared several cakes. It was a grand celebration, I only wish I had pictures of the actual birthday party.

Day 2--Tuesday 3/24--El Tulle

Having sorted our meds, packed everything up, trained the triage team, and paired up with student interpreters, we were ready for our first day clinic. So, we loaded into the buses and drove 1 1/2 to 2 hours up into the hills for big day... to a on room schoolhouse. Triage, pharmacy, and the dentists worked in the schoolyard, while the medical providers took over the classroom. We hung two shower curtains using wire hangers from the rafters to create a privacy space for those patients requiring "maximum exposure" and rearranged the student desks to be used as exam tables.

This is the El Tulle School:


Here we are with our interpreters:

Medical Providers: Norma Young, Greg Higgins, Kathy Halloran, Susan & Peter Beoris
Our Interpreters: Yolanda, Ian, Melody, Lizzette, and Sara

Peter and Melody are ready for business:


Susan and Ian are working on building a relationship:


Open for Business--
Pharmacy on the left & Dentists on the right:



Norma & Yolanda didn't waste any time--


And we're off and running, while the line is getting longer. Typically, families are seen as a single unit, each provider takes a whole family at a time.



This is Cassie (our newest unofficially adopted daughter), she's hanging with the local boys:


After seeing nearly 300 people we packed up and headed for home. We still have to repack meds, meet with the interpreters, have a debriefing, and train the new gang that will be rotating into Triage/Intake on the next day. Oh, and be ready to hit the ground running for another day clinic early in the morning. Sleep is sometimes short.

Day 1--Traveling to Honduras

Talk about a long day. We flew from Medford to San Francisco then to LAX. Then at 2 am we boarded Taca Airlines and headed to El Salvadore. TACA was pretty cool... roomy, great service, no extra little charges, and efficient.

So, we hung out in El Salvadore for about an hour then boarded out plane and landed in Tegucigalpa shortly after 8 am. We were met by the GMB staff and driven to our home away from home. It was once a Honduran Presidential Retreat.




It was pretty cool there with the exception of this one really rude goose whom you didn't dare make eye contact with or he'd try to take you down. Anyway, after we arrived at the palace/retreat the five of us (older adult medical providers) were escorted to our room. Notice I said "room", complete with 3 sets of bunk beds. Talk about a kick, it was like being kids again. We laid in our bunks and giggled like little kids. However, it was great fun and everyone got along well.

We're getting ready to go

Tomorrow we set off on our great adventure. But I really wanted to share a couple more pictures from last year's trip with you. One of the coolest things was taking pictures of the villagers, I don't they have seen a digital camera before. So, once you took their pictures you might end up with the whole family or you would see them go pose with someone else just to have their pictures taken again. This one elderly lady went from volunteer to volunteer and posed for close to 20 pictures. Here she is with our daughter Jackie:




Oh, and the kids... I fell in love with the kids, especially with this little boy:



He's such a doll, how could you resist this face?


Oh and imagine your response when you get out of your transport to view this sea of people all waiting to see your group--500-800 people per day... YIKES

Oh my goodness, makes me appreciate the waiting room in the ER back home!

Stay tuned for more news!

Honduras Medical Mission—Spring 2008

As we get ready to leave for our 2^nd Medical Mission to Honduras. We thought it would be nice to fill our friends in about what we did last year. We went on a 7 day trip to Gracias, Honduras, as part of the group from the UCSD chapter of Global Medical Brigades (for more info see: http://www.globalbrigades.org/project/medical/); this was Susan's first medical mission.

It was a wonderful experience which leaves the volunteer feeling blessed for such an opportunity. We worked from morning to night but it was so worth it. In addition to being exposed to the plight of medical care in a poor country, we were enriched by the presence of student volunteers, whose warm spirits and dedication amazed us. Please don't think it was all work and no play, because we did have our play time and attended some very cool cultural events.

2008 Medical Staff, Student Volunteers, & Support Staff