Honduras Health Mission 2010
The 2010 Honduras Health Mission participants returned to U.S. soil late Sunday night, January 17. The Mission experience was glorious and sobering, as usual. In two days of training and five days of clinics in the two locations of Madrigales and Los Terreros, we served roughly 1700 people with clinical consultations, triage (pre-clinics), eyeglass fittings, and dental services.
The needs of the people of Honduras are greater this year than ever before. Because of their unstable political situation, their governmental infrastructure for providing food and other sustenance to the poorest of the poor was disrupted. Much-needed aid and supplies are not being received. To make the situation worse, the last two months of what should have been their rainy season were dry – they’ve now been without rain for four months, and our friend and driver Pedro Pablo told us that March, April, and May are going to be terrible. So many of the people who came to the clinics expressed deep gratitude for the Mission, but at the same time many Missioners noted that this year the women especially seemed very sad and depressed, and the children were far more noticeably in need. The Mission’s organizers had already begun planning emergency responses from our stateside churches and dioceses when we heard the news of the Haitian earthquake, which occurred on the Tuesday mid-way through our stay. We hope the desperate needs in Honduras over the next few months will not get completely eclipsed in the global response to the overwhelming catastrophe in Haiti.
But of course, there were also moments of light. The first phase of the Los Terreros playground in honor and memory of Cliff Shimmel was completed with the installation of swings in the school yard. The people of Los Terreros have dedicated a plot of land across from the school to be a park where the rest of the playground equipment will be installed after adding a layer of topsoil to the rocky surface. They’ve received the hardware for teeter-totters, and Andrea, a bright 14-year-old girl (many of us have watched her grow up), has designed the park layout. When the whole project is completed, they’ll install a plaque in Cliff’s memory. Cliff was someone who could always experience joy in the midst of suffering, so it’s appropriate that his inspiration is providing children the chance to experience some childhood joy in the midst of their hard lives.
Want to know how to prepare?
Check out the Mission Resources page following the link at the top or bottom of this page. There are a number of resources to help you prepare for this trip. We recently added a link to the Unite for Sight website. They offer a "Cultural Competency" course online, free of charge, and they have allowed us to link to it.
Can't go, but want to help?
There are so many ways that you can help – see the “How you can help” page and learn more about how you can support and get involved in this effort.
Join us in 2011
Guarantees for this trip:
o You will meet an assortment of characters from Church of the Nativity in Raleigh, and another assortment of
characters from the Diocese of Atlanta, GA, as well as possible long time participants from Ohio and
Massachusetts.
o You will stay with welcoming families in the town of El Corpus and the village of Los Terreros.
o You will have 2 Eucharists while gone - one on the roof of the hotel in Tegucigalpa the night before we return.
o You will be amazed at the good that can be done by a small group of people who are committed to helping others.
20+ years of the Honduras Health Mission
The relationship between the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and the United Communities of Honduras (Las Communidades Unidas) began in 1988. We began keeping statistics in 2001, but we know that, from 1988 to 2001, in addition to the Health Missions, we assisted in the purchases of two manzanas of land (one “manzana” equals roughly two acres) and the building of a dormitory, classrooms, kitchen and storage areas.
One of the Mission’s purposes is to provide continuing education for Local Health Promoters. Since 2001, approximately 167 Promoters have received training in the following subjects:
- Taking blood pressures
- Infections
- Confidentiality
- Fluoride application to children’s teeth
- Life cycle of parasites
- Ears - their structure and problems
- Taking a health history
- Causes of Fever
- HIV/AIDS - prevention and transmission
- Caring for adult respiratory problems
- Infection ABC’s - bacterial, viral, protozoal; antibiotics: when to use
- Dental and oral health
- Maternal and newborn care
- Prenatal and postpartum care
- Temperature/fever
- Common infections in children: URI (upper respiratory infections), others
- Local herbal remedies used in Honduras
The Mission presents clinics for five days after the training sessions, in which Promoters get hands-on experience in consultation with our medical and dental personnel. In January 2009, we saw 1,371 patients in medical clinics (840 in Madrigales, 531 in Los Terreros) and 150 dental patients (90 in Madrigales, 60 in Los Terreros) for a total of 1,521 patients.
From 2001 to 2009, we have seen 11,722 medical patients and 706 dental patients, for a total of 12,426 patients. 218 people have participated in the Mission as physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, dentists, dental assistants, pharmacy workers, interpreters, and go-fers.
Poor diet, lack of access to toothbrushes and toothpaste, and the habit of chewing on sugar cane (an important crop) result in early tooth loss. To address this problem, in addition to providing dental care in the yearly clinics, in 2004 the Mission began providing fluoride treatments to children in 1st to 5th grades in two school districts, with applications twice a year. In January 2009, we took in 10,000 fluoride treatments to treat 5,000 children. The Mission also contributed 5,000 toothbrushes. Since 2004, a total of 15,000 fluoride treatments have been taken to Honduras for this program.
The Mission also contributes donated eyeglasses. Las Communidades Unidas supervises their distribution. Although we don’t have exact numbers, we do know that the “eyeglass room” is one of the most eagerly anticipated components of the yearly clinics, and the people who get new glasses find that their quality of life is immediately improved – suddenly they can see much more clearly!
Want more information about the mission?
You can read more about how the Mission got started here : Episcopal Diocese of NC Involvement in Southern Honduras. (diocese_history.pdf)
Interested?
Priscilla Shows coordinates the Mission at St. Stephens. Feel free to contact her if you are interested in participating or just want to learn more. Priscilla's email address is priscillashows@nc.rr.com.
