In a remote Honduran town, a team of Baylor Medical Center at Garland employees and physicians from the medical staff brought modern health care to local residents during the hospital's annual mission trip, Feb. 2 - 9. Done in conjunction with Mission Predisan, the trip provides primary health care and surgical expertise to patients living in Catacamas and surrounding villages. The physicians, nurses, pharmacists, translators, anesthesiologists, sterile processing technicians, and others who made the trek donated their medical services.
Team member Ellena Fox, director of Baylor Garland material services, said she would go back to Honduras tomorrow if she could.
"This trip truly was an amazing experience," says Ellena. "Even though some of us could not communicate with words due to the language barrier, we could communicate through our hearts. I think all who went received more than what we gave. I would go back tomorrow. I loved it."
At Catacamas where Mission Predisan has an established clinic, the operating room team performed 27 surgeries in three and a half days. Part of the mission team then traveled by 4 x 4 vehicles to remote mountain clinics where they treated 300 patients in three days. Relying on candlelight since the remote clinic had no electricity or plumbing, the team worked well into the evenings to see as many patients as possible.
"One day we had a man who had walked all night with severe abdominal pain to get to the clinic for medical help," says Baylor Garland Cathy Pierce, R.N., referring to the Catacamas clinic. "We took his diseased gallbladder out that day. One man who had an inguinal hernia repair sat up right after surgery and asked if he could work the next day. The people are very strong, stoic and never complain. They are always very thankful for the medical care they receive."
"Everyone that goes to Catacamas comes home feeling spiritually renewed and professionally fulfilled. The people we see have no idea how many nurses and doctors they have touched. Everyone comes home feeling blessed that they had the opportunity to help so many people in need. It truly reminds us of why we went into medicine," explains Pierce, who has organized these trips with Predisan for the past seven years. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in this region.
Baylor Medical Center at Garland, located in the heart of the Garland community, continues to grow and reflect the medical needs of its residents. The hospital offers advanced medical technology in heart and vascular care, neurosurgery, breast health, pain management, wound services, women's services, neonatal intensive care, digestive disease, medical imaging, senior health care, and physical medicine and rehabilitation on its smoke-free campus. Baylor Garland now serves the communities of Garland, Wylie, Richardson, Rowlett, Rockwall, Sachse, Mesquite and Murphy. For fiscal year 2007, Baylor Health Care System will report $390 million in community benefits to the Department of State Health Services.
Contact: Susan Hall, (214) 820-1817
Email: susanh@baylorhealth.edu
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