A Week of Hard but Rewarding Work in Honduras

By Mara Levitt, MD, & Ashley Davis, MD   Honduras, a Central American country bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, is home to more than eight million people, and produces minerals, coffee, tropical fruit and sugar cane. The capital, Tegucigalpa, is divided into 18 departments; we traveled to Intibuca.   Honduras has the highest rate of homicide in the world. The water supply and sanitation varies from modernized water treatment systems to basic systems, from sewer systems to latrines and basic septic pits. A lack of maintenance leads to poor water quality, and residents’ health varies depending on whether they live in urban or rural areas, but overall is poor. The average life span is 70 years old.     We had personal guards escort us out of the city of San Pedro Sula until we reached La Esperanza, a more remote and less dangerous part of Honduras. Our mission was sponsored by Medico (www.medico.org), which provides medical care to the underserved areas of Honduras and Nicaragua. Established locations in each country are sponsored by local patrons.   We were stationed in the community of Monte Verde. Three nuns were the leaders of this community, and have welcomed MEDICO for many years. Three residents, one family practitioner, one critical care pulmonologist, two emergency physicians, many nurses, paramedics, and translators took the trip. We stayed in small rooms with our teammates, and ate the local foods that were prepared for us daily....
Source: Going Global - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs