Newsletter - June, 2006

The Least of These My Brethren

June, 2006

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matt. 25:40

Published by the Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210

A Little Clinic with a Huge Impact

Dr. Violeta

In March, during our drive from the San Pedro Sula airport to the town of Siguatepeque, we stopped by the rural medical clinic near the village of Taulebé, Honduras, to deliver a wheelchair that had been donated to the Honduras ministry. The director of the clinic is a Christian sister, Dr. Violeta. Other doctors work there part time, including Dr. Nelson, whom the Society helped to establish a clinic in Siguatepeque.

The clinic is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The doctors there normally see 40 to 50 patients a day. The clinic charges only 25¢ per visit for adults. Children and expectant mothers receive free care. In addition, doctors from the clinic regularly visit the area schools, where they provide free medical care.

The clinic

The clinic also has an onsite dentist, who sees about 12 to 15 patients a day. The dental work is also free for children and expectant mothers. For others, the rates are extremely low. For example, the charge to pull a tooth is 50¢. To fill a cavity, the charge is $1.50.

In addition to the small income the clinic earns from the fees it charges, it also receives some modest support from the government. Unfortunately, its income is quite limited, and its needs are tremendous. So I asked Dr. Violeta to provide me with a list of some of the items the clinic needs. I told her I would let our readers know about it, and then we would see what doors God may or may not open.

The sparsely furnished examining room

What I would like to ask each of our readers to do is to ask your family doctor, clinic, and/or hospital what they do with their old equipment and instruments once they replace it with a newer model. Typically, the old equipment and instruments are still quite usable, and they would be an incredible blessing to the Taulebé clinic. Perhaps your doctor, clinic, or hospital would be willing to donate any such equipment or instruments for this purpose.

Here are the specific items that Dr. Violeta mentioned to me, although almost any medical equipment, instruments, or supplies could be put to good use:

fetal monitor
stethoscope
electric fetoscope
surgical vestments
ultrasound equipment
glucose monitor no. 3
sphygmomanometer (blood pressure instrument)
surgical clamps
instruments used in birthing
equipment to sterilize instruments

In addition to the items listed above, the clinic badly needs an ambulance. If any of our readers can locate a used ambulance that a hospital or emergency center would be willing to donate, we have volunteers who would be willing to drive it down to Honduras.

Some of the other items that Dr. Violeta mentioned to me are probably too bulky to try to bring down to Honduras (unless we locate an ambulance and can bring them down in the ambulance). It would probably make more sense to buy these items in Honduras and donate them to the clinic. These would include: beds, examination lamps, scales, and rotating stools. The clinic also badly needs a generator. Presently, when the electricity goes out (which is frequent in their setting), they have no back-up power.

Patients waiting outside the clinic

Another major need for the clinic is a maternity ward, where maternity patients can stay for a few days before and after their births. Presently, the clinic has no such place for them. This creates quite a hardship because many of the expectant mothers have to walk 4 to 6 hours to get to the clinic—which is not something they should be doing on the day of their delivery or the day after delivery. During just one of the evenings when we were there, there were eight deliveries—but only three beds available for these mothers.

This maternity ward would not need to be anything very fancy—just a cement block building with basic electricity and plumbing. If any of our readers would be interested in organizing a work crew to go down and construct such a building, we feel quite certain we could obtain the needed building materials and supplies.

Finally, the dentist at the Taulebé clinic badly needs the following items:

high speed drill
extraction forceps nos. 16, 32, 65, 88, and 151
instruments used to apply fillings, as well as the material for fillings
items used to help open a child’s mouth and to keep it open during dental work
cotton rolls

If you are able to obtain any of the requested medical and dental supplies and equipment—or any other useful medical or dental equipment and supplies—please ship them to:

The Society of the Good Shepherd
22012 Indian Spring Tr.
Amberson, PA 17210

If you would prefer for us to arrange for the shipping, or if you need to talk with us about any of these items, please call Scroll Publishing Co. at 717-349-7033 or e-mail us at customerservice@scrollpublishing.com. Thanks. DB

100% of all donations go to our work in Honduras. All overhead and travel expenses are paid through other means.