I learned a lot about Nicaragua’s health status from formulating a sociology report on the country’s mortality data for my Population and Society class at the University of Texas at Austin. I discovered that poor water sanitation and hygiene was a major factor influencing the relatively shorter life expectancies and higher infant mortality rates compared to that of the United States. This project made me realize how blessed we all are to be living so comfortably with plenty of healthy resources at our finger tips – clean water being the least of our worries considering there’s typically a public water fountain at almost every corner. The poor health status was so coercing that I was compelled to do more than just sit with the information. I wanted to be part of the change that would help Nicaragua reach a healthier state of being.

With UT’s Global Medical Brigade organization, I helped establish a temporary clinic and pharmacy in the San Marcos community. The clinic included a triage, general doctor consultation, gynecology services, dentistry, occupational therapy, charla (children’s educational course for dental hygiene), and a data informatics section to create a database for patient medical history since none is available for the community. I was able to take vitals, record medical history, shadow doctor consultation and occupational therapy, and package medications for the patients in the pharmacy. I entered patient medical data in a database, which was extremely interesting to see from symptoms, to diagnosis, and treatment plan. More than 80% of the patients, including children, were diagnosed with parasites as a result of the infected water source that the community used, and each were given Albendazole, an anti-parasite medication. I also educated children on dental hygiene, practicing with them how to floss and brush, and passed out toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and clean water. We served approximately 700 patients over 3 days.

We also went to the Naranjo community to build bathrooms, showers, septic tanks and kitchen concrete floors for three families. These families were identified as being a few of the poorest residents within 30 miles of the area: they only had dirt floors in their homes, a bucket of water behind a cloth curtain for showering, and a hole in the ground for the bathroom. By building them these facilities, which would last them over 20 years, we increased sanitation to reduce the amount of infectious disease that could be contracted. Here is where I felt would be the most change for the health status of this community since sanitation was a major issue in Nicaragua according to my mortality report.

The experience here was wonderful and quite a challenge since I had to translate Spanish and English for the community members and other volunteers throughout the duration of the brigade. I loved participating in this brigade so much that I am planning to join the Global Medical Brigade at Honduras in August 2015.

I am reaching out to you to support my trip to Honduras this August with Global Medical Brigades. The World Health Organization has identified Honduras to lack a health information system and have inadequate health care access and coverage for a large portion of the population due to the nation’s poor economic status. In addition, the country is considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to natural climate disasters, thus making the citizens extremely susceptible to an array of infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, AH1N1 flu.

In response, we will be providing medical and dental care to Hondureños in rural communities that target the prevalent illnesses in the area. We will also participate in an additional project that is to be known soon, which will most likely regard making public heath, water hygiene, or microfinance improvements. To pay for travel, a place to stay, food, medical supplies, and medications, I am required to raise $1700 by May 31, 2015. Will you help me meet my fundraising goal?

Your donation will help people that are in need as well as prepare me for a career in medicine. The amount can be $20, $50, $100, $500, or whatever you feel comfortable with. Every bit counts!