AHMEN Medical Missions in Honduras: 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.