Clinica de Esperanza-Clinic of Hope

Nicholas is a 59 year old man that knows the consequences of being ignored. His first experience occurred in the health care system of a government hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in December of 2013. He went to their for care. He had noticed he did not feel well generally and had developed a ulcer on his left ankle. The hospital told him to keep it clean and sent him on his way.

One month later, in January 2014 he went back to the hospital twice. His ulcer was much worse at the time and he said the people acted like they did not want to touch him. They attempted to clean the wound. But did not want to touch him as the wound was infected and odorous. He again told them about his symptoms and feeling tired all the time.

He gave up on the hospital after 3 trips and walked to our small free clinic for care. His leg ulcer had become necrotic and required a great deal of time to clean and care for his leg. It also required many visits. Meanwhile, the physician that works at our clinic, Dr. Olga, listened to his complaints, and checked him and found that he had Diabetes. This was the real cause of the leg ulcer and all the symptoms. By this time the ulcer had extended to the bone. 

The man thanked the clinic staff for taking such good care of him and debribing the wound. Giving him antibiotics and the care he required over time. Cleaning it frequently until healed took months of work.  The clinic has glucose monitoring systems available and teaches the patient about nutrition and keeping track of progress. Several medications are available for the Diabetes as well. These are given freely. He will be able to return to work to take care of his family and live a productive life. 

We are unable to put the many pictures in this report as they would be difficult for anyone to see. Trust me when I say, if the clinic had not intervened he would of lost his leg and possibly his life. It is very sad that a small free clinic can do a better job than a hospital. We have so much less available than they have. 

The difference is very easy to understand both in other countries and In the United States. If your health care provider does not care about you as a human being, you will not receive the attention you need. Remember to care about the people around you in whatever situation you find yourself. You will be blessed by your selflessness.

Last summer we ran out of vitamins after only one 8 hour  village clinic. We had enough adult and childrens' vitamins to supply 700 people. That night we sought out vitamins from local Honduras stores. A bottle of 100 vitamins across the street form the airport were $85 USD. We then made the trip to a Honduras wholesale store where they were $45 a bottle USD. You can buy a bottle of premium vitamins here for $13.49/100 a bottle. 

According to the 2015 World Hunger and Poverty Malnutrition refer to the effects on people who do not have enough food. They also state that in developing countries one out of two pregnant woman and about 40% of preschool children are estimated to be anemic.

In many developing countries, iron deficiency anemia is aggravated by worm infections, malaria and other infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis.The major health consequences include poor pregnancy outcome, impaired physical and cognitive development, increased risk of morbidity in children and reduced work productivity in adults. Anemia contributes to 20% of all maternal deaths. (WHO Iron Deficiency Anemia)

The clinic received a large annonymous donation of bottles of vitamins this month.  The 42 foot container was shipped to Honduras with the vitamins, humanitarian aid and medical equipment 3 weeks ago. The InterAmerican Restoration Corporation sponsored the shipment of the container while college students from David Lipscomb College volunteered during their spring break to pack and load the container to ship to Honduras.

We will not run out of vitamins this year! Thank you everyone who pulled this project together in our fight against poor nutrition and health care.