By Abbe Sudvarg, M.D.
This year, our trip began with three days of clinic in the village of Aguacate. The rains were unseasonably heavy, the roads treacherous, but Fernando Ugarte and his excellent Honduran teammates, who serve as our drivers, got us safely in and out of the village. Upon our arrival in Aguacate, the community of men and women, once again, helped us unload and set up. Miguel Manueles, our In-Country Director, and the village representative in Aguacate helped make our work run smoothly. The wonderful men who drive us down the mountain also do our registration of patients. They find the patients’ charts, they fill their bags with rice and beans, and they make sure each eligible patient is treated with anti-parasite medicine.
Our first day of clinic, in each community, we confine our care to the members of those communities. We have been providing continuity to our patients, for so many years, and we are prepared with a year’s supply of their hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy and arthritis medicines. Each family, this year, received gifts of muscle rub and eye drops—sore muscles and dry eyes are ubiquitous among these villages of people who work hard in the sun.
On subsequent days of our clinics, we see all comers—and they certainly do come. They come down the mountain, from near and far, for the vitamins we provide to all, for the anti-parasite medicine that we provide, for the fluoride treatments that we give to their children, for the rice and beans and eggs and milk. Many of the people, who come from distant villages, have also been coming for years. They, too, have charts and a year’s supply of medications waiting.
The two children, Josue and Reynaldo, who we helped get their cleft lip and palate repair, are thriving.
Seily, with her congenital hypothyroidism, never goes a day without her medicine. The children identified last year with heart murmurs, received their echocardiograms (ultrasounds of the heart) and are doing fine.
Through the year, I am able to do virtual visits with the villagers, through the phone and service that we provide to Miguel. This allowed us to know that Maria Gabriela was having worsening of her Parkinson’s and we were able to provide her with a stronger dose of her Parkinson’s medicines. This also allowed us, in January, to help Marinano who broke his arm while working in the fields.
Claudia Berrios, our Honduran friend and dentist extraordinaire, was with us again this year. Once again, this amazing woman performed over 200 extractions of diseased and painful teeth.
The Team decided that, this year, we wanted to do more formal education in the villages. In both Aguacate and Guanacaste we had bilingual health experts, who were members of our Team, do group classes. Dr. Bobbi Lakin did a women’s health class; Mimi Rosales, who holds a Masters in Social Work, gave a talk on managing stress; and Abbie Zeron, a diet specialist, gave a class on good nutrition. The classes were excellent and attended to overflow capacity.
Each year, our despedida (going away party) in Guanacaste, is planned by the community and is loving and fun. The little children sang while wearing costumes sewn by the mothers—created on the sewing machines provided by Friends of Honduras.
The older children danced. We said our goodbyes in the pouring rain, with our promise to return in July of 2024.
