Honduras Medical Mission Adventure Take Two
I am grateful to have the opportunity to travel yet again to endearing Honduras to serve on another medical mission team. This time, I am joining the St Norbert Medical Mission brigade, a team of volunteer primary care doctors and nurses, many of whom I worked with in Haiti. Seems that all of us were bitten by the medical mission bug back then in Haiti and have it in our blood to continue.
Our team consists of two internal medicine doctors, an OB/GYN, four nurses and six general volunteers including Hank Fila, who is a deacon at our local parish. And I have been deemed as someone of “key value” to have along on these trips, as I really know my way around airports, and I know how to organize groups of people very well.
A few weeks before we traveled, I spoke with Hank Fila before church and asked him if he was excited about the trip. He seemed a bit apprehensive, (his first mission trip) unsure of what his role would be and how he could contribute. I said to him that often people come on medical mission trips with the perspective that we are somehow saving the people we are going there to help, but I believe that it’s the other way around. The people we are helping are actually saving us. It’s a chance for us to come out of our comfortable lifestyles and privileged way of life and become grounded with the life that the poor of this world experience.
In preparation for this trip and based on first my journey in November to Honduras, I too have some apprehensions. It is related to my painful commute experience due to the unpaved and tumultuous condition of the roads. But we are headed to another area of Honduras, Talanga, which is in the mountain region just one hour north of Tegucigalpa, the capital. And to my happy surprise, the roads this area of Honduras are in good shape.
We are not alone on this trip. There are three other medical brigades- surgery teams- and two of the three have volunteered at One World Surgery before. Upon arrival at the One World Surgery site, which is located on a 2000-acre ranch owned by the highly successful and well-endowed NPH orphanage, we are pleasantly surprised to find resort like accommodations. The facility is almost brand new, and the sleeping quarters are lovely. We still cannot drink the water from the tap, but at least there are no bugs or tarantulas to worry about. And we do have hot water in the shower, at least for a little while.
As we settle in, we are divvyed up into rooms of 4. My roommates are my brigade teammates- Anne Ward, Lisa Richardson and Melissa McGlinn. Such pleasant women to room with! They are as endearing as sisters. It feels like we were at summer camp!
The place is enormous! And we take a tour including the surgery clinic. It is well equipped and even set up to handle overnight patients. All types of specialists visit this place each year, unlike Manos Amigos Clinic. And the surgical facilities are even better than what is available locally at my hometown hospital. Plus, there are plenty of well-trained staff on hand and systems in place. Lab results were turned around quickly.
Once again, I am asking myself what talents I will be able to use during this trip, as it is unclear what I can contribute, if at all. And on the first day, as I wondered around the grounds in tears not knowing what volunteer role, if any, would fit well for me, somehow, God comes to my aid. Dr Ralph Lanza asks me if I would spend the week scribing for him in the clinic since he could hardly type and to help him see patients faster. He appreciates that I have a background in medical research and am familiar with medications. And just like that, I find my purpose.
Working in the clinic proves to be arduous and yet so very rewarding. Unlike the previous Honduran surgical brigade on which I served, this time, I am interacting directly with patients. Now, I can learn more about where they were from, their health history and some of the pains they’ve endured and come to know how valuable our volunteer medical effort are to them.
This week’s brigade includes three highly skilled OB/GYN specialists. Apparently, the women of Honduras rarely visit with OB/GYNs in their lifetime. One of the OB/GYNs has removed a fibroid cyst, which is the size of a bowling ball, from a woman’s uterus. Apparently, the woman had been suffering from this painful cyst for nearly nine years!
And witnessing Dr Lanza save a 90-year-old woman’s life brought me to tears. She came to the clinic for pre-OP surgery clearance and all her vital signs appeared normal, yet, upon further examination, Dr Lanza realizes that the woman may be experiencing atrial fibrillation, a serious condition that could lead to stroke if untreated, and immediately sends her to the closest hospital for treatment.
Dr Ralph Lanza treating patients
As we make our way to and from the clinic each day on a little path through the woods, twice in the week, rainbows appeared over our heads. I feel as if God is sending us a sign in gratitude for the work we were doing there.
We have the wonderful opportunity to hang out with the children at the orphanage next door and play games with them. This precious time with the kids shows us how happy and secure the environment is for all of them and how productive their lives can become. NPH is surely doing something right.
In contrast to Haiti, this mission endeavor is painless. The well-equipped, and well-run clinic at One World Surgery makes it easy for our caregivers to provide top quality service to the Honduran patients. So, I now learn a lot about how a well-funded, well-run clinic can make all the difference to having a highly successful mission trip. And Hank Fila gives a sermon on the following Sunday on how the Honduran people actually saved us.
