Cool creatures around the house

Sometimes interesting creatures come to visit, and sometimes I just happen upon them.

Community Health Promoters

At Hospital Loma de Luz, we see many patients with illnesses that could easily be prevented. From children with frequent diarrhea due to unclean water to malaria outbreaks and patients with severe asthma due to smoke in the house from cooking over an open fire. Rather than continue to treat the same diseases over and over with no change, we desire to make lasting health changes in the surrounding villages so that people will lead healthier lives and take more responsibility for their own health care. This is achieved through education. However, many people in rural Honduras have superstitions and ancient beliefs that make it difficult for foreigners to teach effectively. Therefore, the most successful method of educating the people is through training a select few who desire to understand basic concepts of health and hygiene. These few can then go back to their friends and neighbors and teach them in a way that they can understand. These few can make changes in their own homes that their neighbors will notice and desire to imitate. We pray that these few can spread out and change the face of Honduras.

In February of 2010, we started a community health worker training program in conjunction with MAP International Honduras. Thirty men and women from surrounding villages are being trained in the basics of health, hygiene and education. The students spend three days at the hospital in intense training, four times per year for three years. Our friends from MAP International have been instrumental in organizing the program and providing educational materials that they have used for many years in other parts of Honduras and the world. Our students learn not only about health and first aid but they also learn how to teach. In each session, the students practice various teaching methods so they will be able to effectively communicate information to others in their communities. A large part of the course also involves learning how to become a person of integrity who will be trusted and confided in. This is vital as the students begin to do community risk assessments and plan healthy changes for their communities. We pray that lasting changes will be made in our communities through the teaching, influence and Christian witness of our community health workers.

Sweat and Tears

Little Maryuri arrived at 6pm in a homemade cot carried by her father and sister. She was burned by hot water at noon, and it took 6 hours for her father to fashion the makeshift cot and bring her all the way down out of the mountains. She was burned on her back and arms and a little on her legs. There was a chunky pink substance all over her back which the father said was good for burns. It looked like pepto bismol. He was so concerned and attentive, you could tell this little girl was the apple of his eye. We all had tears in our eyes as he caressed her hair and told her it would be alright. We put Maryuri to sleep with Ketamine and began the painstaking process of washing off the pink goo without breaking open any of the blisters. She began to shiver, so we turned off the fans. Pretty soon the nurse and I were drenched in sweat as we dried her off and wrapped up the burns. When I went into the hall to give the father an update, he and the sister were nearly asleep in their chairs. Their clothes were covered in sweat stains and dirt. I realized what a wimp I was to be cursing this heat in the ER with no fans for an hour, when he had just hiked for 6 hrs in the afternoon sun, up and down the mountains, carrying his crying daugter. That is love!

I am so thankful to serve a God who loves me even more than that!