Healthcare
I translated for a medical brigade (a team of doctors, nurses, and volunteers from the States) for a week of my time in Honduras. Following is an excerpt from my journal after the brigada.
Jueves 9 junio 2011
La pobreza, the poverty, has been so prevalent this week. So many of the patients that came to the clinic today have high pressure, high blood sugar, parasites, head aches and body pain…It’s all the same. Simple symptoms we’d be on medicine for so much earlier in the US, and that we wouldn’t think twice about being able to afford. Thank God for el Centro de Salud, the Health Center, where they can get their medications once a month. Yet there are so many of them that cannot be treated by the brigade and need to go to the hospital in Trujillo, but they don't have the money to get there, let alone the money to pay for the services. There was a little girl today with an umbilical hernea, but her mom can’t even afford to get to the doctor in Trujillo. And medicines, for bladder infections, yeast infections, ear infections, or things like ingrown toenails, these are all things I would be treated for without hesitation and right away. But they can’t afford to treat it so the problem persists until it gets so bad they can’t continue with everyday life and even then, what do they do? Wait for the next brigada? And if something happens to them in the meantime, what then?
Healthcare is extremely rare in this part of Honduras. A majority of the patients did not receive any form of health care outside of the brigada. To make matters worse, those that came to the brigade were families, mainly mothers with their children. What does this mean for those children on the streets, the abused children, the type of child the Finca kids were before they came to the orphanage? A study by Tulane University found that 51% of street children have not seen a medical professional in more than 1 year.[1] These are the children most at risk - those most in need of such care. What happens to them?
The Finca, thankfully, is slowly contradicting this statistic. They have an onsite clinic with a full time nurse. They provide their children with more than adequate healthcare, and are proactive with their care. They administer it through prevention and intervention measures; something critically important to the well-being of children, especially those in rural areas where susceptibility to disease is greater and access to health care is limited.
[1] Wright, J.D., PhD; Kaminsky, D., MD; and Wittg, M., MS. Health and Social Conditions of Street Children in Honduras. American Journal of Diseases of Children. 1993 Mar; 147(3)279-283.
Jueves 9 junio 2011
La pobreza, the poverty, has been so prevalent this week. So many of the patients that came to the clinic today have high pressure, high blood sugar, parasites, head aches and body pain…It’s all the same. Simple symptoms we’d be on medicine for so much earlier in the US, and that we wouldn’t think twice about being able to afford. Thank God for el Centro de Salud, the Health Center, where they can get their medications once a month. Yet there are so many of them that cannot be treated by the brigade and need to go to the hospital in Trujillo, but they don't have the money to get there, let alone the money to pay for the services. There was a little girl today with an umbilical hernea, but her mom can’t even afford to get to the doctor in Trujillo. And medicines, for bladder infections, yeast infections, ear infections, or things like ingrown toenails, these are all things I would be treated for without hesitation and right away. But they can’t afford to treat it so the problem persists until it gets so bad they can’t continue with everyday life and even then, what do they do? Wait for the next brigada? And if something happens to them in the meantime, what then?
Healthcare is extremely rare in this part of Honduras. A majority of the patients did not receive any form of health care outside of the brigada. To make matters worse, those that came to the brigade were families, mainly mothers with their children. What does this mean for those children on the streets, the abused children, the type of child the Finca kids were before they came to the orphanage? A study by Tulane University found that 51% of street children have not seen a medical professional in more than 1 year.[1] These are the children most at risk - those most in need of such care. What happens to them?
The Finca, thankfully, is slowly contradicting this statistic. They have an onsite clinic with a full time nurse. They provide their children with more than adequate healthcare, and are proactive with their care. They administer it through prevention and intervention measures; something critically important to the well-being of children, especially those in rural areas where susceptibility to disease is greater and access to health care is limited.
[1] Wright, J.D., PhD; Kaminsky, D., MD; and Wittg, M., MS. Health and Social Conditions of Street Children in Honduras. American Journal of Diseases of Children. 1993 Mar; 147(3)279-283.