Trip news

This will probably be the only post I write this week due to a different work schedule Tuesday through Friday. So, I want to take a moment to share some of the highlights from the trip to Honduras to help with the Medical Missions team in El Progresso.

I flew to Honduras Thursday of last week and was greeted at the airport by Nate, Cori and the kids about 12 pm local time. Mama had dropped me off at DFW around 5:30 am so I did not get any breakfast in Dallas. When I got to Houston, I had only fifteen minutes to get to the gate for my flight to Honduras arriving at the gate as boarding had already started, so I ate nothing in Houston as well. That is not really an issue. I generally do better if I do not eat when I travel. All in all, the trip down was smooth, but hurried. The layover in Houston was far too short. I will need to remember that inconvenience next time we fly to Honduras.

We hit the ground running once in the country. Once at Cori and Nates’ home, I took the suitcases I had brought with me to the master bedroom to be secretively unpacked. Victoria and Mama had done all the packing so all I knew was that there were multiple birthday presents stowed within and just enough clothing to get me through the week of clinics. In the unpacking, Cori allowed Savanna to witness the unpacking, not realizing that one of the largest and most exposed presents was for Savanna’s birthday. So, Savanna, in her characteristic hurried fashion unzipped the largest suitcase and flopped it open to reveal her birthday present fully exposed to her. When she realized what she had seen, she closed the suitcase with a guilty, shocked look on her face and confessed to her mommy, “It’s okay. I will probably forget by my birthday.” That is probably not totally true, but the look on her face was worth the moment.

Friday was the only free day and we used it to get set for receiving the medical team that would be arriving that night, ensuring we had sufficient snacks and drinks for the coming week and planning evening meals we could easily fix once we were home from a long day at the clinic. We enjoyed the calm before the storm so to speak.

Saturday morning, Nate and I met the medical team at their hotel so we could get all the freight they had carried with them for the clinic moved to the school where we would be holding the clinic. That took three trips with Nates small pickup to get all those totes, soft sided medical crates and suitcases of materials and equipment to the clinic. We spent the next several hours separating the medical equipment, optical equipment, glasses, and meds for distribution to the appropriate areas. By 2 pm, we had almost everything set and opened the clinic to those who would be volunteering the next day as well as to church members who wanted to participate.

That gave us an opportunity to test the new software that would be used to track patients through the clinic on the general medical side. That turned out to be about 200 patients total in two hours. We had a few hiccups with the iPads and software, but it was a good start. That evening, we all met at the church for dinner and enjoyed a time of fellowship outside in the heat – made bearable thanks to a constant breeze. We were having cake in celebration of a couple birthdays among those on the visiting team when the power went out to the entire area. That ended the party abruptly. Those that had them got out their cell phones and activated the flashlights because it was pitch black. A fun welcome to Honduras.

Sunday, we had lunch at the church and a meeting in the afternoon to revisit assignments and organization of all the stations at the clinic that would begin at 8 am Monday morning. We were onsite with all the team members, volunteers and translators at 7 am. I was a translator for the pharmacy, so we talked to every patient that had come through the clinic because every patient got at least a multivitamin given to them when no other meds were required. Saturday and Monday were brutally hot, with high temperatures at or above 100 degrees and a dead calm in the area where we were stationed. To give the medications to the patients, we had a table set up on a walkway in front of the classroom serving as the pharmacy with no air movement at all. I was a sweaty mess the entire day. So, to help with that, Tuesday morning Nate brought a fan from their house to give us some air. It was a huge help.

Tuesday, I worked at the pharmacy as the only translator until after lunch, when Cori took me over to the optical side of the operation. I was placed in an air-conditioned classroom with two young ladies fitting patients with reading glasses. Not only was the air conditioning a huge blessing, but that position gave me more time to interact with the patients. Wednesday and Thursday I had the same assigned post, which was fun because all the grandkids were helping on that side as well. So, I got to see a lot of the interaction Savanna, Blake and Grand had with the patients. Cori was working that side of the clinic as well helping match patients with prescription glasses the team had received from donations. Mykenzie was translating for the first time under Cori’s watch care. Finding a set of glasses that were close enough to what the patient needed was a challenge, but more times than not, the team found something that would work well enough to provide some help.

It was encouraging to hear all the chatter among the kids as we drove home each evening. Grant, who did some translating on Wednesday and Thursday, told us that he did not merely step out of his comfort zone, he as shoved out! But he did it and he was obviously thrilled to have done so.

My flight home was even more rushed than my flight down. Deplaning in Houston was delayed due to a gate change. To get to customs, there was a fifteen-minute walk to the area where we were screened by a customs agent after which I had to collect my luggage to redirect it for a domestic flight. Almost twenty minutes more elapsed in that. Then on to security where we were held back for fifteen minutes to allow the line already queued in for security to clear. More twisting lines to the security area, packing and screening our personal items, regathering my iems, redressing, checking to make sure I had everything, then another twelve-minute walk across two terminals to my gate. When I got to my gate there was no one there. I was the last person to board my flight! We were airborne ten minutes later.

It was a great trip. A very busy, fast paced trip. I look forward to doing it again.