At the public hospital and prep work

Dr. Debra with a not so happy patient :-)


Dr. Jim in his exam room
All teams were in full gear today! Our two doctors, Debra and Jim were working in the out-patient clinic area at the public hospital. Debbie was seeing pediatric patients and Jim saw mostly adults.

Just some information about Honduras according to the World Health Organization:

probability of dying under 5 years of age:
U.S.: 8 per 1000
Honduras: 41 per 1000

probability of dying between 15 - 60:
U.S. : 137 per 1000
Honduras: 248 per 1000

Life expectancy at birth:
U.S.: male - 75 female - 80
Honduras: male - 65 female - 69

HEALTHY Life expectancy:
U.S.: male - 67 female - 71
Honduras: male - 56 female - 60

Also, Dr. Debra was able to talk to the primary physician with the out-patient area in the public hospital about death rates in the hospital. She noticed that there was not a ventilator in the pediatric area. Come to find out there isn't a ventilator in the entire hospital. All surgery is done with a spinal block, NOT under general anesthesia as there is no ventilator. Therefore, if a person or a child goes into respiratory failure, the best they can do is put a tube down their throat and try to get them to the hospital in San Pedro Sula (2 1/2 - 3 hours away), using manual means of ventilation, and not with a ventilator. Needless to say, most do not survive. Dr. Debra then made a comment, that probably 2 - 3 patients a month probably die because of this, don't they? The response that came back was staggering. Not 2 - 3 children die a month, 2 - 3 children die a WEEK because of respiratory complications, and there just aren't the means to care for them or increase their chances of survival because of a ventilator.

This information goes to further convince us of the importance of preventative medicine in the community. My goal has always been to set up a clinic in the outlying village to try and prevent these health issues to getting as bad as they clearly have gotten. It has been a true blessing to have this team here to help establish the way.

Carl, our surgeon, along with Aileen, have been hard at work as well. They had 3 surgical cases. They continue to be amazed at how different things are done, and how creative the surgeons here have become in using what is available to them. Imagine hand screwing screws into a bone. They only have the use of a drill for 1 surgery as it has to go to another hospital for sterilization. They have been truely thankful to have Carl and Aileen with drills for all their procedures - along with their expertise! What a blessing to the hospital. A neat thing was that Dr. Carl's wife, Francie was able to be in the OR with her husband. She is trying to "learn the ropes" so she can be a future assistant in the OR in the future.

Dr. Carl and Aileen in the OR

Finally, crew three of Devin, John, Madison, and myself busied ourselves with setting up and prepping for the medical clinic tomorrow. We are excited to see how it goes. More details about that tomorrow.

Devin and John also continued to cut, measure, and prep the wood for the construction of bunk beds for future teams! Woohoo!

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was a busy day for our team. We were separated into many different groups. We had two docs in the hospital in an outpatient area. We had one doc and a surgery nurse in the OR. One group (myself, and Madison and one from the team) walking the area we will be hosting the clinic in handing out flyers and evangelizing. Finally, we had another group on the town looking for wood to purchase to make bunkbeds. We came back in the evening from a dinner out, tired, but happy with our day. All ready to take showers, and we come to find out we have no water. Not an unusual occurrence, but with a house full of people, it's been a challenge! So pray for us. It's just "one more thing", but the comforts of taking a refreshing shower can't be over looked. We will pray that God takes care of those little things to make the team feel better. Today is the same schedule as yesterday. All those individuals spread doing each of their own things.

Dinner with everyone

Dinner for 10. We are enjoying a time of fellowship everynight with our group of folks here for the week. It has become a a fun time of everyone pitching in where they can. I've prepared the menu for the week, and everyone slices, dices, peels, bleaches fruits and veggies, sets the table, etc. Tonight on the menu was spaghetti, corn bread, and salad. I've put a few "tipico" dishes on the menu, and a few items to remind them of home. I've also shared a few not-so-common fruits such as Lechees (think red and fuzzy). A "fun" find has been the branch of bananas that now hang in our kitchen to grab as you wish.

One Month Anniversary

As of today we have been in La Ceiba, Honduras for one month. It has gone so fast. Tomorrow we receive our first ever short term mission team. Much of what we have been doing is to prepare for their arrival.

We want to thank Anne Boyd, our friend from Scottsdale, AZ, for spending the last 10 days with us. We could not have done this without her tireless help.

All that was accomplished was made possible by your prayers, support and love. So here is a 3 minute and 10 second video gift from us to you to demonstrate what has occurred because of you:

Enjoying my Gardin

Each country, of course, hosts it's own type of foliage. I have already shown a picture of my immense lime tree. There are some beautiful flowers in my yard as well. I'll be planting some more as soon as our medical team has gone. They will be arriving in 3 days, so we are neck-deep getting ready for them. We have had computer problems, printer problems, we had a flood in our upstairs bathroom, our pump stopped working (need it to get water pressure to the upstairs), and more. I'm thinking that Satan is working overtime to try and make things as difficult as possible for us. However, we are up for the challenge! Anyway - one thing I have ALWAYS enjoyed in my house is houseplants. I LOVE greenery! We have been blessed with a beautiful yard (more pics later), but for now - enjoy the arrangement from my yard.

Walking in Armenio Bonito

An outdoor shower


Children in the area




Walking down some of the "side streets" of Armenio Bonito


Speaking with a woman in her home about the clinic

Today Anne and I walked in the area of Armenio Bonito. This is a very poor community right on the outskirts of La Ceiba. It's a 50 minute bus ride to the area. We hopped off the bus and started walking in the area passing out flyers for the upcoming medical clinic. Here are some pictures of the area.

Just Sew Stories...

In preparation for our first incoming team, we are preparing many things for the medical clinic that will be out in the poor neighborhood. One of the things we need to prepare are privacy screens. As I have no sewing machine, and purchasing curtains are out of the question, we went on a search in the city for inexpensive sheets to make as screens. Instead, we found a discount material store and purchased children's fabric. However, now we had the dilemma of how to get them sewn into what we needed. So - the three women (Madison, our friend Anne, and myself) all got together and had a good old fashioned sewing bee. We hand sowed sleeves into 12 yards of fabric. Yes, that's 36 feet of fabric. We all enjoyed the time fellowshipping and watching a movie together. Doing things the "old fashioned way". Fun times indeed. Once the framing is completed for them I'll be sure to post another picture. We are now only a week away from the teams arrival.