3CM
and APROCOLA launched the medical aspect of our operations in Honduras in March
of 2001. At that time, Dr. Brian Brodie accompanied Tim and Phil Davidson to Santa
Rosa de Copán to investigate the opportunities for medical staff to get
involved with our ventures here. Dr. Brodie hosted a marathon clinic at a small
rural community called La Majara which only ended when the natural sunlight did.
Then,
in July, 2002, Dr. Bill Hanlon came down to establish the initial contacts with
the appropriate authorities and help Phil to create a schedule for a team that
was to follow shortly thereafter. He also hosted our second one-man clinic at
La Majara.
The team that arrived consisted of Dr. Brian Brodie, Dr. John Hamilton (both from the Vancouver area), Joyce Ball and Janet Cayford (both nurses from the Calgary area), plus Andrea Ball, Mandy Davidson to work as bouncers (basically) for our clinics, Gary Davidson (med student from Edmonton) and Sarah Davidson (translator from Costa Rica). We also received translation help from Ken Brewer of Pan American Missions out of Kansas and Karla Rivera, a local volunteer.
This
first trip was more for discovery than anything else and the projects were varied.
We met with the Director of Public Health for the province of Copan and subsequently
with the Director for Public Health for Western Honduras. Through the cooperation
of these authorities, we held a check-up clinic and teaching day for the clients
of a local maternity center that was built through the Alberta Rotary Clubs. We
also held a training session later in the week for 
hospital
staff regarding issues such as child-birth process and techniques. We held training
sessions at the San Juan de Opoa public health clinic as well as the Corquin maternity
clinic. We visited one of the local orphanages and hosted general health clinics
at La Majara, a village close to Santa Rosa de Copán and at the Industrial
Poligino -- a local foundation that is providing education to local youth who
otherwise could not afford to continue with school after grade 6. We were able
to distribute a fair value of medicines that we were able to obtain from Medical
Missions International out of Mississauga, Ontario.
Through the efforts
of this first team, we identified San Juan de Opoa as a target site on which to
focus. Subsequently, the second team from the Vancouver area that joined us consisted
of Dr. Broide, Dr. Stienberg, Dr. Fandrich, Kelly Irwin (a drug company representative),
Deborah
Skakum and Sarah Brodie (both of whom helped as medical assistants for our clinics).
This group spent more time at San Juan de Opoa than the previous group and included
a dental care seminar at the local SJO school in their program. We also hosted
a nutrition seminar for the kids at La Roca followed by one for their mothers.
We held a clinic at the clinic for Las Minas Occidente where-in the citizens of
the 3 communities involved with the mine were bussed in for the session. 
We
also hosted another clinic at La Majara and a grand television press conference
to raise awareness of the youth center, La Roca, and the contribution of our medical
team in terms of medicines and medical equipment donated -- which was quite extensive
this time.
We have made a commitment to the community of San Juan de Opoa to provide them with chlorine for their urban water supply as a way to attack many of the basic medical problems before they reach the clinic. Through the meetings held with our visiting medical teams and the donation from another Vancouver area doctor, we started this project finally in May, 2003. This is only the start, as they are seeking help for communities that rely on San Juan de Opoa but are not connected to their water system. To participate in this, we need further funds and maybe even the presence of a water knowledgeable type of person on one of our upcoming trips...