Another Communique From The Belaire Medical Clinic

Dr. Delmer Montoya continues to send quick emails from Honduras to me back in the States. He is serving with an AHMEN team in Belaire, Honduras.  Belaire is a nondescript wide spot on the main road approximately twenty-five  miles east of La Ceiba..  The clinic in Belaire is an act of love and faith started by an American ex-patriot named Evelyn Castellar.  She an her husband  José settled in the area, built a home and had the intentions of an idyllic retirement in the lush cloud covered mountains.  Their home is tucked into a mountain cove near a rough road leading into the Cloud Forest.  Soon, local people from further up the mountain started coming to see Evelyn for help with their problems; medical, social and financial.   Her little bandaid mission has grown exponentially into a full time facility.  The more she saw of the isolated mountain people, the more their needs became evident.  Support now comes from many sources.  AHMEN will send at least two teams this year to Belaire. This team includes medical professionals and a vision team to evaluate and dispense prescription eyeglasses.  As with all AHMEN teams, there will be medical/health education and spreading of the Word.

From Belaire 1/30/11

Today we have a great weather, is not rainning anymore, the birds are singing and the sun is shinning. Its a great day.

Theres a lot ouf people outside, but most of them are in here just looking for vitamins.

I cannot identified the kind of fungus, i jus can classified it by the zone where its appear; tinea capitis, cruris, pedis, corporis, onicomicosis etc.
Evelyn says that one time came some people with equipment to see that and they found 2 or 3 kinds of fungus in the same afected zone, and
there was somo of the most hard to kill fungus. Honestly i believe her because i saw some severe cases...
ill write later....

More to be posted as I receive it from Belaire.

Evelyn Castellar's Clinic in Belaire

Young Honduran Doctor Serving With Medical Mission to Belaire, Honduras

Two years ago while on a medical mission trip to La Moskitia, I met a young Honduran physician named Delmer Montoya.  In his last years of medical training, he was working at the Nation Health System Hospital in Palacios, Gracias a Dios.  The hospital had been started some 30 years ago by Baha'i  missionaries and had fallen into disrepair for lack of funding.  The Honduran government took it over and is attempting to supply care for a large number of residents along the Mosquito Coast.  Honduran medical students are stationed at places like the Bayan Hospital as part of their training and to help to supply care in remote areas. 

Delmer and I have been in very frequent contact since then and we have become close friends.  He graduates from the medical school in Tegucigalpa in March and will start his residency soon there after. When I heard that the AHMEN team going to Belaire had no physician with them I thought of Delmer.  After emails to him and to members of the Belaire team Dr. Montoya agreed to accompany the team as their team physician.

I have been receiving almost daily emails from Delmer in Belaire which I would like to share here.  His English continues to improve, but it certainly is better than my Spanish.

From Belaire 1/29/11

Im glad to be in Belaire too, people is very nice in here. Im stayeing at Evelys and ]ose´s house.
Guffeys and a man called Carlos who came with the team are staying in here too. The other part of the team is staying at Hellen´s Hotel.

Yesterday was the fisrt day of the medical brigade, there were a lot of people over there(lile 300 people), but most of them came for vitamins and medicine against parasites. So they classifiede them, and i saw the people who really is sick. (they were more than 60).

The main Illness in here is Fungus everybody has it in combination with other pathologys.(95% of  the people who i saw yesterday).

About the nutritional condition, let me tell you that i saw some critical cases (3), so as i told you it was only the first day of clinics.....
Evelyn said that preatty near from here theres a montain callen Berlin where you can see critical cases where the people eat mud.
So i saw some pictures but i hadnt be in these place and  i cannot so have my own opinion yet.

Yesterday i saw 2 womans hitted, i think could be domestic violence.
We saw too a girl with a mass, i didnt like to me, perhaps could be a lynphoma.

From Belaire 1/28/11

let me tell you that im in Belaire with the mission team. things are going good. yesterday was a trainning day because  we didn't expect patients until today, but the came anyways and they were a lot. Evelyn says that she is  waiting most of thew people today. in here the weather is fresh and rains a little  bit during the afternoon. Bruce sometimes I cannot understand what are they saying; but most of the time I do. this experience will open my ears and definitly ill get in my english classes next week.

Dr. Delmer Montoya

Alabama Honduras Medical Education Network

The Alabama Honduras Medical Education Network (AHMEN) has been serving the people of Honduras for well over a decade.  Based in Alabama, it is a faith based charitable entity holding a 501(c)(3) tax deductible status.    We have members from all over Alabama, several States, and several foreign countries.  AHMEN sends 10-12 mission teams to different areas of Honduras yearly.  All participants fund their efforts through private donations and their own contributions.

Our goal is to improve the lives of the people of Honduras on many levels.  We provide medical clinics for the poor and actively support several permanent hospital and health clinics across the country.  We supply prescription eyeglasses to those in need.  We build and outfit libraries in remote areas of Honduras.  We sponsor a school for the deaf, a sewing school and a computer school.  We support a home for at-risk teenage girls in La Ceiba.  We fund and support several feeding programs for indigent children.  We participate and fund an annual International Medical Conference in Ciriboya.  All this and more, while spreading the Gospel.

I have been involved with AHMEN for over three years and have participated in many activities including five trips to Honduras on medical missions to remote areas of the country.  I have also served in Uganda and recently in Haiti. 

The purpose of this Blog will be to chronicle the activities of those involved with AHMEN and their endeavors. There will be reports about mission groups in the field, and to detail the efforts to put together a successful mission trip.