Thank you so very much for all of your support and kind thoughts as we were traveling. We arrived home safely back at RDU late Saturday night (some might call it Sunday morning by the time we got into bed).
Our last day in Honduras was just as busy as all the days preceding it. We spent the morning in a small community outside of Copan seeing patients and distributing the last of the medicines that we brought along with us. We saw about 30 families which worked out to roughly 65-70 people, bringing our grand total to about 500 patients! The community's culture and health care needs were noticeably different then those that we saw in Las Mercedes. We saw a lot of skin issues, impetigo specifically, a variety of acute illnesses complicated by malnutrition and of course, tos (cough).
The oral hygiene was much better here than in Las Mercedes. In Las Mercedes it was not at all uncommon to see large visible cavities in young children, several missing teeth in young adults, and little to no teeth in older adults. Here in this community, most of the younger adults still had most of their teeth and there was even evidence of available and utilized cosmetic dental work.
Although still in Honduras and still Spanish, several of us struggled with the spanish that was spoken in this smaller community outside of Copan. The accent, dialect and vocabulary left several of us seeking out our expert team of native speakers. (Thanks Rosa, Rey, and Jorge!)
Despite all the challenges, we saw all the members of the community that wanted to participate in the clinic by about lunchtime. It was perfect timing for a short drive down the road to yet another fantastic hot Honduran meal. Chicken, beef, pork with rice and beans and salsa or a delicious soup with roasted chicken on the side. All of which was of course served with the freshest most delicious tortillas.
Our afternoon was completed with either an opportunity to zip line through the Honduran landscape or to take a well-deserved nap back at the hotel. We finished our last night in Honduras with a group dinner downtown Copan.
Our trip has been such a success! We saw over 500 patients, distributed hundreds of toothbrushes, soaps, shampoos, Vitamins and thousands of dollars worth of medication. As students, we have learned so much being here in this beautiful place working with a population so different and yet so similar to the one that we are surrounded by every day. We invite you to continue to follow the blog as we each reflect back on our trip and how this experience will change how we will practice medicine in each of our disciplines.
Keep reading, there is more to come.