Blog Archives - Page 59 of 73 - Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

August 7, 2013June 19, 2023

Bilingual School Graduation

Shoulder to Shoulder President Wayne Waite greets a future bilingual school student.

Bilingual school students gather before the graduation ceremony.

Bilingual Students — Students partake in a local dance during the graduation ceremony.

Students recite the pledge while holding the Honduran flag.

Graduation participants show off their diplomas before family, friends, and distinguished guests.

In this part of Honduras, every accomplishment is worthy of celebration. On May 18, fourteen kindergarten students received their diplomas in the first graduation ceremony for the Frontier Bilingual School of Intibucá in Camasca, Honduras. In just its first year, the bilingual school has received accolades from the local community and from national educators.
The bilingual school is the first of its kind in the rural Honduras frontier. It provides the indigenous population, many of whose families live on less than two dollars a day, with a high-quality bilingual education. The school plans to add a grade each year as the students advance.
The 100 person-strong crowd and the leaders in attendance demonstrated the significance of this initiative in the Honduras frontier region. Shoulder to Shoulder President Wayne Waite, representatives from the Honduran Ministry of Education, and the mayor of Camasca attended and spoke during the celebration. The ceremony was played on national television in the days following graduation, further emphasizing the significance of this seemingly small accomplishment.
At the ceremony, the students, faculty, and community of Camasca expressed their gratitude to Shoulder to Shoulder and the Good Shepherd Community of Cincinnati for believing in the school and for helping make their dreams a reality. Shoulder to Shoulder director of Education Profesora Iris Villanueva told the crowd: “With this initiative, we have provided a beacon of hope for children in this region and set a precedent for others to follow elsewhere in the country.”
Click the links to learn more about the bilingual school, our scholarship programs, and how you can help.

August 4, 2013June 19, 2023

Brigade Update: VCU

Between June 11 and 22, a medical brigade from Virginia Commonwealth University joined Shoulder to Shoulder in the Pinares area of San Marcos de la Sierra. Since 2006, VCU has regularly visited this area. They visit three times annually, and generally include medical students, family medicine residents, and family medicine faculty. Over the years, they have brought dentists, sociologists, pharmacists, nurses, public health workers, and interpreters with them.
For two weeks, this group of physicians, medical students, pharmacists and PharmD candidates, MPH candidates, nurses, a paramedic, and student-translators from the bilingual school in La Ceiba engaged the community in the established Children’s Health Initiative (CHI) at local schools and treated patients at the Pinares clinic. The brigade also took in the U.S.A.-Honduras World Cup qualifer event, crowding into a small pulperia with most of the local community to watch the game. Aside from a few bruised egos, the American win did not cause any international incidents.
Every day, the brigade split into two teams. One group treated patients at the Pinares clinic, treating farming injuries, providing prenatal check-ups, pregnancy exams, and more. The CHI group hiked to a different school each day and set up health stations to address all areas of the children’s health. These included measuring height and weight, taking their hemoglobin, eye exams, fluoride rinses, and visits with physicians.
During one home visit, the brigade examined a 31-year-old patient who had been experiencing abdominal pain. The man had not eaten or drank anything for over a day, and hadn’t moved in two days. Entering the darkened home, the brigade was greeted by a prayer group who had been standing vigil over the sick man all day. The brigade members evaluated the man and determined he needed hospital treatment. As a team, the brigade carried the patient up the steep slopes to the road and drove him to the hospital.
The Pinares and outer communities in San Marcos de la Sierra are very remote and mountainous. Away from the main road to La Esperanza, many locals must walk for hours to receive medical attention. VCU’s CHI group enabled them to evaluate and treat a large volume of geographically diverse group of needy children in the schools. Throughout the year, Shoulder to Shoulder’s health promoters and home health medical teams visit these remote communities and homes to ensure that children, elderly, pregnant, and high-risk patients are receiving the attention they deserve.
Thank you to VCU for your tremendous team effort and support of the Pinares and San Marcos de la Sierra communities!

Dr. Stevens examines a child at VCU’s Pinares clinic.

Dental Brigade — A VCU pharmacist assists with fluoride treatments.

A translator from the La Ceiba bilingual school supervises a local girl during her eye exam.

Brigade — Students wait to be registered for the day’s CHI clinic.

A VCU pharmacist receives help in dispensing multivitamins.

The VCU brigade hikes down from a school visit.

VCU’s translators from the La Ceiba bilingual school pull double duty in translating and taking care of young patients.

A young boy is helped during his eye exam by his sister and a friend.

June 5, 2013June 19, 2023

Brigade Update: Johns Hopkins

Led by Dr. Ed Zuroweste, Drs. Laurel Pellegrino, Lila Worden, Brett Wanamaker, three Johns Hopkins fourth-year residents, Dr. Mish Mizrahi, a family practice attending physician from UCLA, and Mike Piorunski, an Environmental and Occupational Health Program Associate with the Migrant Clinicians Network, the Johns Hopkins brigade spent two weeks immersed in the daily healthcare needs of the Santa Lucia area.
Accompanied by our nurses and Social Service doctors, they visited some of our most remote clinics and communities. While some students attended patients in our traditional field clinics, others assisted with the vaccinations. Dr. Pellegrino, who will begin her Psychiatry residency in July, had the opportunity to see patients in her field at the Santa Lucia clinic. Brigade members conducted home visits and gave charlas, or health education talks, to hypertensive, diabetic, and pregnant patients. Both the students’ and the audience’s favorite tool, by far, was a sugar-filled zip-lock bag demonstrating the actual amount of sugar in one bottle of Coke.
In their off-time, the brigade forded the Rio Torola, toured the La Esperanza hospital, and played a lot of Catchphrase. This group was open to experiencing everything from grunt work to taking night call and really went above and beyond in filling out our government paperwork. Thank you to Johns Hopkins and Dr. Zuroweste for your continued support, and for the brigade members’ tireless efforts on the ground in Intibucá.
For more photos from the brigade, check our Facebook page.