March 15, 2010
After a relaxing Sunday at the beach it is time to get to work. We split our group in 2. In the morning Noelle, Rosie and Jillian went to a local school (Republica de Venezuela) and screened 210 children in the morning and returned to the San Marcos clinic in the afternoon. Children were also bused in from the Republic of Guatemala school to the clinic for screenings and exams. The rest of the team saw adults and children in the clinic from about 8am till 6pm. We arranged for 3 patients to travel to the capital to have surgery with David on Thursday.
March 16, 2010
Our team again split into 2 groups. One group stayed behind in San Marcos to see some of the school screening failures and adults from the day before and the rest traveled to Presentacion Centeno school in Duyure. This location was a 90 minute drive on rough dirt roads but well worth it as this was the first time they had access to eye care. We were lucky enough to encounter a peace corps volunteer living in the area who helped us by translating which allowed us to see so many more patients. One girl in San Marcos with various craniofacial issues, underdeveloped ears and a big eye drift was identified as needing surgery and we set up up for Thursday. We had dinner with some of our recently identified surgery patients and they traveled back with us from San Marcos to Pespire.
March 17, 2010
Elise and Ryan were gracious enough to share a hotel room with 2 of our surgery patients. This morning we put them on a bus headed to the capital for anesthesia clearance. We then visited three schools including Gustavo Simon Nunez school and El Coyolito school near Pespire. One school was up some rough terrain and only 3 of us could get there via 4-wheel drive. This school had never had access to eye care before we arrived. It was a more challenging school as they had no running water (something we are getting used to) and no electricity. We ran into some more electrical problems today with our equipment overheating and difficulty finding an actual outlet in a school with “electricity”. There is an obvious need to look into bringing our own generator in the future.
March 18, 2010
Today David and Elise are in Tegucigalpa for surgery while the rest of us visit the Francisco Morazan school in San Jose. The mayor was there to greet us and word quickly spread through out the town. A local kindergarten school called and asked if we could also examine the children in their school and then soon adults were lining up. We identified only one child with significant strabismus however he was the mayors son and will be seen for a surgical evaluation next week. The greatest need we are finding is for reading glasses, as the local stores do not sell them and the patients otherwise have no access to this vital need. On our return home we stopped to look at some hammocks along the road and were greeted by children excited to see us again remembering us from when we examined them at their school earlier in the week.
March 19, 2010
Four members of our team remain in the field and travel to the Mary De Flores and Presentacion Centeno schools in Pespire. In these schools we found it challenging to make the classrooms dark enough for our photoscreening equipment to work. The weather was in the 90’s and it was very humid. At the first school, the teeth pulling station was set up directly next to our eye chart, but amazingly the children were still very cooperative. A lot of farmers started to come down the mountain in hopes of an getting an eye exam or to get reading glasses but unfortunately our personal and supplies were so depleted we were unable to help most of them on this trip. We ended the day setting up our equipment in the hotel lobby seeing 4 children related to one of our drivers, one little girl who will be scheduled for surgery for an eye cross.
Patients seen
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Total seen: 1,677+
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Children: 1,195+
- Adults: 482+
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Glasses dispensed: 265+
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Children: 60+
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Adults: 205+
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- Surgery referrals: 80+
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Children: 6+
- Adults 72+
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How can you help?
Many people have asked how can they help. Here is a check list of ways you can get involved and make a difference in the lives of many. All donations are welcomed and encouraged. The total collection will be used to underwrite the cost of sending medical personal, needed equipment and supplies. Donations can be made by credit card on a secure website (indicate the donation is for the 2011 Family Eye Group Mission) or mailed directly to:
Central American Relief Efforts
Attn Family Eye Group 2011 Mission
2117 Saddleridge Road
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
17601. 717.299.4942
HELP CARE to empower our Central American Neighbors to Build Sustainable Health and Life Care System.
Donate Now!
- Donation of $2,000 will underwrite the cost of sending needed healthcare worker for 7 days to volunteer in rural clinics
- Donations of $1,500 will assist in providing eye exams for a rural village.
- Donations of $1,000 will cover the transportation costs for one healthcare worker for seven days. During this time this healthcare worker will assist in examining and screening over 2,000 patients.
- Donations of $750 will cover the cost of a surgeon for one day
- Donations of $500 will cover the costs to screen and examine over 500 students and teachers.
- Donations of $100 will cover the daily transportation costs for a medical team of ten to conduct rural and remote medical examinations.
- Donations of $60 will underwrite the cost of anesthesia for one patient
- Donations of $50 will cover the cost of patient to travel to Tegucigalpa for surgery. The donation will cover one family member to joint he patient, transportation, housing for one night and meals for the two family members.
- Donations of $50 will cover the cost of a surgeon’s time for one case.
Noelle Matta
NoelleMatta@gmail.com
https://www.internationalorthoptics.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Honduras_2010.pdf
