Los Indios aldea

4. June 2009 by Fortunato Velasquez.

Two days before the earthquake our equipo of six from the La Masica Centro de Salud was at the aldea to provide Honduran support to a U.S medical evangelical brigada that provided two nurse practitioners, a small pharmacy, gifts, and a small U.S. support staff to screen patients who live far from any medical providers.  The brigada was in town for only a week and visited five different aldeas.  An aldea is a hamlet located far from populated areas, most with limited services.  The centro de salud in La Masica and the one in San Juan Pueblo can handle most of the chronic problems that presented, and with MDs, not FNPs, however a large number of persons showed up for the free medical care, free limited medications, and a gift for each member of the 50 chosen families whose size ranged from two to seven or so.  I originally started out as a translator but when the brigade found out I was an RN I was pressed into service doing triage and screening for the NPs who diagnosed and prescribed meds.  The photo on the left shows the triage building, next to that is a guy peeking into the small building where the NPs held court.  Most folk walked to the event, some rode horses.  The last pic on the right shows a newborn calf, still wet, walking by with its mother’s tiny herd.  Three small buildings constitute the center of this isolated rural community.

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