Health Archives - Page 16 of 34 - Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

March 1, 2017August 4, 2023

A Gentle Breeze

We’re in the midst of our brigade season. We started February with UHMLA’s tremendously successful surgery brigade in La Esperanza. At the same time we welcomed the Brown / Wingate team to their clinic in Guachipilincito. Dr. Harris came a week early for that trip, and Dr. Tanksley has stayed on and will be there until May. The small MSHEC brigade, that I’ll speak about more, came just as the first two brigades were leaving. VCU / Fairfax / SAGE is presently working in Pinares. Board members and a whole bunch of good hearted individuals interested in assisting us in our education and nutrition missions are arriving this week. When they leave, we’ll transport our new mission partner, Ohio State University, to Santa Lucia for their generous medical mission. When they finish up, Wyoming will travel to their clinic in Agua Salada. That gets us finally to April, and Laura and I will finally breathe.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these people are incredible and they do incredible work. It’s just that we find ourselves a bit overwhelmed in February and March with the barrage of these groups. And where everything is new for all of them, Laura and I find ourselves doing the same things over and over for two months straight. It’s oddly ironic that this onslaught corresponds with the start of February and Groundhog Day. We pick up, transport, and drop off the various groups that all begin to look the same. We give them the same orientation, the same history of Shoulder to Shoulder, and when we answer the same question for the twenty-seventh time, we do our best to make it seem like we’ve never heard the question before, “Is it safe where we’ll be staying?” But these people have generous hearts, they are providing invaluable services, and just because things are commonplace to us, we need to be aware that these are once-in-a-lifetime experiences that inspire, enrich, and enliven those who come here and those whom they serve. We do our best to keep that attitude in the front of our minds. Still, we find ourselves yearning for the unique experience that can touch us as powerfully as it touches them and those they serve.

And how will that happen: with a lightning bolt, or by way of an earth shaking event? Elijah looks for God in the strong wind tearing apart the mountains, then in an earthquake, and then in a fire. God is not there, but God is found in a gentle breeze (1Kings 19:11-13). MAHEC came to Camasca and every afternoon they sat on our porch. Ostensibly, they came to use our internet that by luck is better than any internet available in the town. But for us, their daily presence was a gentle breeze that reminded us that there is a sweetness to life that should not be sacrificed for all the tremendous work that we are given to accomplish. It was an opportunity for us to find something much more profound than all the important work that we do. We became invested in coming to know a few very special people. It is the gentle breeze of friendship.

There were only seven of them: doctors Keith, Kyle, Winona, and Amy; the pharmacist Irene, the pharmacy student Melissa, and Amy’s 13 year old son Braxton (who spent his days at our bilingual school). They were humble and unassuming, four of them veterans to Camasca and the MAHEC brigades. They fit in to Camasca as if they were already residents and family of this town. Because they were so unassuming, it would be easy to forget the great service they provided. Every day they went off to the surrounding communities with Dr. Rolyn, the medical director for Shoulder to Shoulder here in Camasca, to provide field clinics and home visits for many who had not even seen doctors for years. They held a health fair in San Juan de Dios and that community received them with music, food, joy and appreciation. Braxton had a great time with the younger children at our school. On Saturday we brought them to the waterfall just over the border in El Salvador. On Sunday, Laura joined them on the climb up the Cerro Brujo (Witch’s Mountain). But every afternoon, they sat on our porch, stretched out in a hammock, and watched folks pass by on the main street below our house; a gentle breeze that softens and sweetens life.

For Laura and me, MAHEC gave us a great gift by the ease of their presence. We want to thank them. For Camasca, MAHEC’s service was exceptional. But here too, I think it is the gentle breeze that will be missed. Amy, Winona, Keith, Kyle, Irene, Melissa, and Braxton are friends of so many here in this small, quaint town of Camasca. The only payment for friendship is friendship. It is not something achieved, but only enjoyed as a gift of the heart. I walk out on my porch every afternoon and I feel their absence. I smile to know that they will return again. The gentle breeze focuses me on what is truly important.

February 16, 2017August 4, 2023

Bringing About Health

Like most people, I know very little about medicine and the intricacies of my physiology. I probably should know a lot more. I’ve certainly been sick or injured enough times during the course of my life, and often dependent on the services of medical professionals. They always tell me what’s wrong with me, the diagnosis, how they intend to fix me, and the treatment. But I hardly listen. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid of my own fragility or mortality, but I’d rather just trust that they know what to do – close my eyes, take the medicine, and hope for the best. What’s most important to me is that doctors and medical professionals have a specialized knowledge of what makes me tick, and that they can treat me with unparalleled competence. I can then consider them gods, always able to fix me no matter how ill or broken I might present. Of course, this is a rather naïve way to approach that which is most important to me — my health and well-being.

Shawn Riser Taylor, Dr. Emily Harrison, Dr. Wayne Hale, and Dr. Simon Tanksley

We are privileged to see a lot of medical professionals who come to this tiny part of the world to practice medicine. I am always impressed by the wealth of knowledge they carry with them. They know all about biology and science, and they know how to perform exact interventions that make sick people well. This is of incredible value, and the people living here on the Frontera, without regular access to such expert knowledge and intervention, are eternally grateful. Perhaps they, like me, would want to think of these visiting, medical professionals as gods. Clearly, they should be honored and respected for their dedication and service, but there is something much more basic about health and well-being than knowledge and expertise. The really good, medical professionals understand these basic principles, shun the temptation to be godlike, and embrace the dynamic relationships that make individuals and communities healthy.

The Brown / Wingate mission to the small community of Guachipilincito has invested in these dynamic relationships over many years of service to realize a system of sustainable health and well-being. They were here again recently at the clinic they built and maintain at Guachipilincito. Dr. Harrison and a well-seasoned, professional team with dentistry, pharmacology, and students provided direct care, offering effective interventions. As impressive and important as this direct care is, the health initiative of Brown / Wingate happens beyond this direct care. At an earlier visit to Guachipilincito, they polled families at home visits, asking them what they thought could be done to make their community healthier. They said they wanted to come together in a social context and learn about how to be healthy. So on this trip, Brown / Wingate offered a health fair at their clinic. People who had never come to the clinic or seen a doctor, mostly men from the community, showed up. The medical staff screened for chronic diseases and found two individuals who were suffering with diabetes and didn’t know it. They are now receiving treatment and training to manage their disease. The community learned about health relative to nutrition, the extremely dangerous amounts of sugar present in soda, candy, and snacks that are unfortunately so readily available and cheap on the Frontera. The teenagers from the community offered a hilarious skit on maternal health and birth. Music, good food, stimulating conversation, and a rich sense of friendship guided the evening. Perhaps the visiting, medical professionals lost some of their god-like character in the evening’s festivities, but sustainable health and well-being within this community was certainly advanced.

Brown / Wingate’s “health fair” is happening in so many ways at Guachipilincito apart from those times when they visit and offer direct care. A feeding and nutritional program is ongoing, supported and run by nurse Lesby who lives in Guachipilincito and regularly buys and distributes fresh healthy food to families in need. Dr. Dan Harris came a week early to Guachipilincito to be invested in the life of the community. Dr. Simon Tanksley has remained in Guachipilincito and will be there for three months. He will treat individuals while he is there, but he will also learn from them. He will discern with them the best means of creating and maintaining health for individuals and the community at large. Meanwhile, Brown / Wingate will consider how they can deepen their commitment and service to this isolated and resource challenged area of our world.
The road to Guachipilincito from the neighboring town of Concepción is easily one of the roughest, most challenging in all of Honduras. It is a distance of less than ten kilometers, but it takes over forty-five minutes to arrive there in a four-wheel vehicle. You can almost arrive there walking quicker than in a vehicle. The people living there are desperately poor. It is a place where it is easy to become a god. Though that temptation is great, being a god is as unfulfilling as it is ineffective. Being a friend is so much more challenging, and ultimately so much more healthy.

Perhaps then, health is not solely about specific, expert interventions from people otherwise unconnected to their patients. Perhaps it’s about listening. Perhaps it’s about investment in committed relationships. Perhaps it’s about partnering with individuals and communities. Perhaps it’s about the recognition of the inherent dignity and sanctity of shared human experience. Perhaps health and well-being is everyone’s responsibility, not just those of the gods who happen upon a moment of crisis, illness, or injury. The Brown / Wingate brigade travels to Guachipilincito across the challenging terrain. Because they are committed to the ongoing journey of reaching the people there, they can claim that they are assisting in the creation of sustainable systems of health and well-being.

November 28, 2016August 4, 2023

Visiting

The first challenge for the University of Wyoming medical and service team that recently came and visited the small community of Agua Salada (translated “Salt Water” – really interesting since you would need to cross all of El Salvador to find saltwater) is getting them there. The 22 participants (20 women and 2 men) plus six translators packed into the bus in La Esperanza to begin their trek. It’s all downhill, not very far really, but taking over two hours. Even though the highway is being rebuilt and paved, you cannot travel fast along the treacherous curves. This is called the “highway,” and at first everyone laughs at that term until they experience driving on what is not the highway. We arrive at the nice, modern-looking, clinic in Concepción. Everyone piles off the bus. They think they’ve arrived and there are expressions of relief. Their expressions droop, however, when they realize their bags are being packed into the beds of pick-up trucks. The bus won’t go where you are going. You’re not there yet!

The luggage is delivered first with as many people as can fit into the cabs of the trucks. An hour later, the trucks return and they get packed up with people: seven or eight in the beds and four or five into the cabs. I’m driving one. For safety’s sake I tell those in the bed to sit down or hold on. They laugh at me and I crack a knowing smile. We turn off the ‘highway’ to begin the three to five mile per hour crawl to Aqua Salada. Over the ruts and rocks the truck launches them off their feet or bounces them off their behinds. I hear their screams and hoopla. Someone from the backseat of the cab says they want to be in the bed when we return next week. It’s better than the best amusement park ride. We come to the river. Someone from the bed yells out, “Where’s the bridge?” just as I enter into the water with the truck. The water is a little high for the dry season. “This is awesome!”

We arrive at the Agua Salada clinic facility. They grab their suitcases and gear. Most definitely exhausted, their minds racing with all the newness they are taking in, they now need to set up their tents and sleeping bags. The clinic is really nice, well designed, but not really equipped for over thirty people. They will be tripping over one another all week. This makes boot camp look like a five-star luxury hotel. But, they are well received by the people living in this forsaken and forgotten territory. What the team will put up with for a week is nothing as compared to what the people who live here endure every day.
But, that’s why they’ve come. The Agua Salada residents and those from the surrounding small villages are always enthusiastic and grateful for the arrival of Wyoming. Most wouldn’t be able to find the state on a US map, but they well know the hearts and souls of those who have journeyed to visit them. There is a sense of celebration among the community that finds varied expressions during the week. Over five-hundred persons will visit the clinic. Many will see Larry the dentist who has been coming since before the clinic was built. Linda, a nurse practitioner now retired from the University, leading the team, knows everyone. Indeed she’s watched many grow up. They’ll have a special luncheon for the parteras (midwives), and all week long the children will be playing soccer with the gringos. It feels like the circus has come to town. I take that back. It’s more like a homecoming. It is a time for catching up, a time to become reacquainted, and a time to really enjoy a very special, perhaps even sacred, friendship. Laura and I will meet up with them at the school scholarship festivities.

We take going to school for granted in the US. But for the people in Aqua Salada and the surrounding area, even the small costs associated with public school – backpacks, notebooks, uniforms, shoes (yes shoes), and other materials – can be overwhelming for a family without any income. Wyoming has responded well to the need, setting up a scholarship program to fund these families. It’s not blind charity. It’s a covenant where the students and the families commit to community service and the maintenance of good grades. This makes the relationship an honest one — one in which the travelers from Wyoming and the residents of Agua Salada find mutual respect and commitment. This program is for the children attending what is referred to as ciclo comun – seventh, eighth, and ninth grade. Very few will go beyond those grades because it is just too difficult for the families. They would have to travel to one of the municipalities to go to High School and earn a degree. The transportation cost is prohibitive. Wyoming is now also responding to this need as well. It is a larger commitment on the part of Wyoming, but one they are pleased to be able to make. The most promising students, the ones who have a burning desire to be educated, will now be able to live their dream and receive a high school education. They will become honored in their families and their communities, and Wyoming will have a legacy of noble value.

All the scholarship students, their families, and the team from Wyoming gathered in the church for the ceremonies. Records were turned in, contracts were signed, and the scholarships administered. Some of the students spoke of the incredible gift of education and expressed their gratitude to Wyoming for the trust that had been given to them. I watched an older man’s hand sign his commitment for his granddaughter. His hand was shaking, but his smile was one of profound dignity. I thought I saw a small tear in his eye as he placed an “X” on the signature line. Perhaps he had missed the opportunity to read and write, but his granddaughter would not.

Back across the bumpy road and the river the service team would travel. In another day they would be thousands of miles away, comfortable in soft beds, their privacy secured. It will be a long time, however, before they forget their experience among the people of Agua Salada. The people of Agua Salada will, of course, never forget. They will be ready to welcome them back when they return.