Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
This morning started with a beautiful breakfast with our team and the entire Honduran staff of Friends of Barnabas. We were blessed with the company of these amazing Honduran people, as we shared the table together. Each person around the table was introduced, sharing their role at the Foundation or their role on the team.
Today we visited a chicken farm in Granja Tapiquilaves. This farm provides eggs to Friends of Barnabas throughout the year so our visit was a way to thank them for their gift to us. We all worked in one big room, which is a change from all of our other clinic set-ups. It was different for the team to see each other in action and be able to assist/observe without leaving their stations.
Dr. Odom today assisted with joggling (jogging while juggling) the kids around the road as a way to assist Gabby in diagnosing exercise induced asthma. He would take them outside and they would follow him around, not realizing his goal. Some did in fact have asthma that was able to be reproduced and treated with inhalers for future flare-ups.
After clinic today we visited the local Dengue center in Pena Blanca. This is where anyone in the local community who has symptoms on Dengue can come and be treated, as opposed to traveling all the way to the city. Some cases are held there for up to 72 hours but must return every 24 hours afterwards until all symptoms resolve. In severe cases, patients are sent to the hospital via ambulance and either an EMT or one of the facility’s nurses travel with them to help with stabilization. Susan and Sharon’s church, Burlington Flats Baptist Church in Central New York, raised enough proceeds to provide this Dengue Center with a duffle bag full of Tylenol. This will help countless patients by easing their symptoms.
Members of the staff did a presentation for us tonight, explaining all the program areas of Friends of Barnabas. We saw God today in this Foundation and what they have going on. 31 communities are served by the Foundation each year. They are visited twice yearly by a mountain medical team. 10 of those communities receive monthly education about various health prevention topics. Five communities receive addition education about early childhood development and the children under 3 years old have regular developmental screenings done. Communities are a part of the Community Health Development Program for up to five years. As they prepare for graduation, the Foundation helps refer them to other organization that can assist them with new wells or new schools.
In addition, the Foundation has a daily clinic at their facility that cares for and helps to manage the health needs of children birth to 18 years old. These children all have medical needs that their families cannot provide for. All of this is done at no cost to the family. The Foundation’s Extended Care Program provides care for over 300 children.
In between all of this, education is provided for community leaders, parents, local medical professionals and medical professionals country wide. There is a great deal that happens when a mountain medical team is not in county!
Godspeed,
Mallory and Theresa
