I have the privilege to serve communion with my pastor to homebound members of our congregation. One of these folks is a man named Don Fahl. He is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a serious motorcycle accident that occurred about twenty-five years ago.

As we continue to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been so grateful for the ongoing support we’ve received. And while this difficult time has meant we’ve had to change how we’re doing things, we can still report our water projects and healthcare work in Comayagua is moving along!

Over the past week, we were able to deliver food donated by Pack Away Hunger, sterile gloves and oxygen cannulas to our partner hospital Santa Teresa; medications like acetaminophen, zinc, prenatal vitamins and more, donated by the Brigade and Vitamin Angels, to our three mountain clinics; and install a new vaporizer on the anesthesia machine at Santa Teresa.

In February, as part of the of the Remote Village Project continuing education program, Gysella Muniz, MD and Betty Martin, RN, along with Nelson Martinez, spent the day with eleven Community Health Workers (CHWs) from the villages of Planes, San Antonio and Vera Cruz in Honduras.

“I see you are wearing glasses,” Lora said excitedly. “And your eyes,” she continued with amazement, “your eyes are BLUE!”

As Lora looked up from the operating table into Dr. Sarah Merrill’s face, her elation at being able to see was unmistakable.

When Kenny and his mother showed up one morning last November for his physical therapy appointment, they both looked quite bedraggled. 

Omar commented almost apologetically on his own condition - living with colostomy bags and a catheter for five years since a motorcycle accident that crushed his pelvis - when Dr. Ranjit Pullarkat asked him why he’s here this Monday morning for surgery at Hospital Santa Teresa.

Among the poorest of the poor in Honduras, this patient will probably tell our surgical team, as others like him have told our teams in past years, “I have been praying for you every day - for years.”

We are excited to feature an emergency medicine training in partnership with Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH) and Project Semilla this November.

We train community health workers through a curriculum developed by the Brigade that is customized to address the most common diseases they face. The result is that residents have access to services that otherwise would not be available.