The volunteer medical mission in Honduras is winding down for photographer Michael Paras and writer Neal Gorman, but the brigade continues for the majority of the medical team still on site.
By Wednesday the medical team on the ground in Honduras had already seen and treated 230 patients and performed 40 surgeries. Although the team focuses mostly on children, they don’t turn anyone away that they can treat.
There are so many obstacles that each family has had to endure just to see the medical team in Tela. Some have traveled for hours on stifling hot school buses, the Telan version of a Greyhound coach. Others just walk.
They always arrive in their Sunday best (if they have them), and with no air conditioning and temperatures hovering in the high nineties, each patient waits patiently to receive care from the Lutheran HealthCare team.
In a country where the majority of its citizens have no access to basic health care, many of their stories highlight the lengths families in Honduras have to go to receive any type of medical help. Fortunately, the volunteers have done everything in their power to provide high quality care and, more importantly, compassion. Those that we can’t see this week will wait until next year to see us.
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