The University of Rochester brigade was comprised of 2 attendings, 7 residents, 2 medical students, and 1 social worker. They spent their two weeks stationed in their affiliate community of San Jose, San Marcos. Through furthering their relationships with the community, they also oversaw many projects. Several of these projects include latrine building, cookstove building, a scholarship program, a microfinance project, and fish farm building. Their trip was complete with many meetings as a means to support existing projects and to discern possible ways of expansion in the future. Brigade members also saw around 100 patients in the clinic, attended to patients through home visits, hiked to the neighboring community of Las Delicias to oversee a partnership there, met with the scholarship students, and traveled to local schools to do a project with the classes and to give a health talk about proper injury care. The brigade stayed at the local school and at the newly built volunteer house, both complete with beautiful views of the mountains and surrounding areas. Through all of their hard work, the University of Rochester has clearly had a positive influence in San Jose and this relationship will continue to foster change in the future!
UC-Family Med/USC Brigade (October 8th-20th, 2011)
This was a diverse brigade comprised of residents, attendings, an opthamologist, and nursing and medical students. There were also ten translators from La Ceiba who were excellent at their job and added lots of fun and energy to the group. Despite non-stop rain beginning the first workday, this brigade stayed optimistic and was able to accomplish many things. They provided field clinics at six locations in Magdalena, Santa Lucia, and San Antonio as well as took turn at the Santa Lucia clinic, ran a health fair, gave hypertension clubs, performed several cleaning operations, and went on home visits. A brave few went for a hike on Saturday and everyone participated in painting the dining and living space in the clinic. While they had to leave a day early to avoid worsening road conditions, everyone at Shoulder to Shoulder truly appreciated their energy and enthusiasm through out their stay.
These are a few quotes from brigade members:
“Great team building, and a world-view changing experience”
“Everyone was warm and easy to approach”
“Everyone did a great job of helping to accommodate for changes in schedule.”
MAHEC/Lancaster, PA Brigade (August 6-18, 2011)
The MAHEC/Lancaster Brigade came to Shoulder to Shoulder as a collaborative effort from programs in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Ashville, North Carolina. Full of diversity, the brigade was comprised of physicians, residents, medical students, pharmacists, one financial consultant and one nutritionist, as well as three younger students. The group set up camp in the church residence in Camasca center, where they received exceptional hospitality from the local people. This is the second brigade that has spent time in Camasca, further building the ever-developing relationship between Shoulder to Shoulder and one of Intibucá’s finest towns. Each day the group traveled to a different “aldea” – or regional village – in order to provide a bevy of medical services. They also did numerous home visits and educational talks. In addition, the group spent time within the Camasca community, working at the CESEMO as well as in the local high school. The extremely positive experience was capped off with a US vs. Honduras basketball game at the community court, arranged by our friends in the Peace Corps. All in all, the second brigade to Camasca went extremely well, and the relationship between Shoulder to Shoulder and Camasca continues to blossom.
