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Below are some more photos and info of the Gracias team at work in the nearby villages.
Each day the team packs up their trucks and heads to a designated village. Often the sights along the way are interesting.
Here the team is arriving at a school in a mountain village.
All the boxes and tubs of medical & engineering supplies are unpacked so each work area gets all the supplies they need for the day.
Once the team is unpacked and ready to go, registration starts. Each team site is a bit different but the process to take care of patients is much the same, starting with registration for the particular clinic(s) they need to see.
In the triage area and when patients are in the exam area with a Doc or nurse, many basic assessment tests can be performed. Often an entire family is seen at one time. In the next photos, look at all the details of supplies and instruments available.
Here some school age children are being seen.
In the dental area, all the instruments and needed supplies are set out so they are handy while working with patients.
Some times a helper is also needed to do basic tasks such as hold a light during difficult cases. Can you identify the team member holding the LED light?
Here are some local helpers who are helping by cleaning dental instruments. Chemical sterilization is often used since there is limited electricity and usually no autoclaves available.
The pharmacist sets up shelves of pharmacy supplies. At their desk are many labels, etc. to mark each bottle before they are given to the patient.
All day long, many patients show their appreciation for the care they receive.
Each IHS team has their own setup on doing radio communications to fit the needs of the team. For Gracias it is not practical to haul all their radio gear and set up for just a portion of a day. So, they have a permanent radio setup in Gracias in their team sleeping area. They do have some Honduran phone service there but it is nice to do e-mailing… both for IHS work but also for the team to keep in touch with family and friends back home. Here a team member is writing an e-mail to a friend at home in Minnesota.
Here is a better view of the gear used to do radio e-mailing and voice operations.
Also important are the many local helpers who help us with the patients. Here are some of them taking a mid day break along with some of the team members.
During the work day, local people will make food for the many people waiting to be seen. They also can provide for the team members when they take breaks in the middle of seeing the many hundreds of patients.
At the end of the day, the team enjoys a nice hot meal. It also gives them some time to talk about all they have seen and done during the day.
When the mission is over, many team members reflect on all the work the team has done and the many friendships made along the way. In many cases their hearts are profoundly touched in a way where they feel like the ones who received the most from this mission experience.