This
past August, Amigos de Jesus was visited - for the first time in its existence
- by a medical brigade that was able to give every child and staff member a
medical exam.
Amigos
de Jesus has not hosted a brigade to the Hogar before and everyone was excited
to welcome in the group of medics from Summit in Honduras. The personnel from
the brigade were likewise excited for this opportunity. Altogether they brought
two medical doctors, two medical students, an EMT and a translator.
“We
like to bring small groups of medical staff so we can get to know those we
serve and they can get to know us,” said Maggie Ducayet, founder of Summit in
Honduras and organizer of the brigade.
Ducayet
founded Summit in Honduras nine years ago after she went on a different mission
trip nearby. In discussing more about her involvement within Honduras and why
she continues to do this type of work, Ducayet revealed just how important
their trips are to the local communities.
“An
entire village became dependent on the once a year trip we did and I saw a need
for more,” said Ducayet. “I scout out different people in the U.S. who are
willing and able to help with different brigades.”
Ducayet
met Emily Ford, United States director of Amigos de Jesus, at an event in the
United States. Ducayet who travels to Honduras around four times a year with
different brigades wanted to visit the Hogar as soon as she found out about it
and says that she was pleased to have the opportunity to meet the children.
“This
has been amazing,” Dycayet said. “I knew we had to come here after I had heard
about Amigos de Jesus.”
In
the course of the day, all 91 children at the Hogar were seen by a doctor.
Staff members were also encouraged to get exams and many seized the opportunity.
A number of the children were nervous, having so limited experience with
doctors, but each waited patiently for their chance to be seen and relaxed when
they realized there would be no shots.
When
asked how the exam went, one child responded, “facil!” (easy!)
“It’s
really amazing what they’re doing,” said Wilson Escoto director of Amigos de
Jesus. “They could come to us and we didn’t have to worry about taking all of
our kids to a medical office, which was great.”
As
an added bonus, the group of medical staff returned the following morning to
teach the Amigos de Jesus staff members’ basic first aid care. In addition to
this they gave the Hogar four kits of first aid supplies to have on hand in
case of injury.
Check out some of the photos from the day!
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