Research

Seeing as this week we have a construction group and I’m staying as uninvolved as possible (mostly joking), this week has begun what I like to call my “research phase.” I’ve known all along that my post-brigade-season role will be different than it has been while we’ve had groups every week. There is so much need in so many different places that I could get lost in doing random task after random task, and I don’t want to do that. After many prayers and discussions, I’ve decided that the best way to understand the ways in which I will be of the most use will be to immerse myself in the medical culture here before my distractions consume me and I feel like I don’t have time. So, I spent the week visiting clinics, meeting nurses, and making plans to return for longer periods of time.

I’m extremely nerdy-nurse excited about the next few months. I’m going to spend 1-2 weeks each working with the clinics in the surrounding villages. I’ll work with the nurses, health promoters in the one clinic that has them, and hopefully learn more about the rural Honduran medical system, and the patients that are seen in each clinic. Then, I’ll visit other organizations that have medical outreach programs and see what they do. After this research phase, we'll be able to make more educated decisions while our medical outreach program develops.

This is the clinic in El Por Venir. The nurse that runs it would basically be an LPN in the U.S. She writes prescriptions or can refer her patients to a doctor that is somewhat nearby. 

This is the clinic in San Manuel, Colohete. It is well organized, has doctors and even health promotors that walk around and do education in other villages. I'll be staying there in September for a couple of weeks to work with them, and I can't wait!

This board shows how long it takes to walk to the clinic from each community, and their populations. Can you imagine walking 12-14 hours to get to a health clinic? They have a great "labor and delivery" area, so people walk here to give birth. (San Manuel, again). 

I'm so excited!! It's going to be a very interesting couple of months.