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Medics provide human touch

  • Published
  • By Louis A. Arana-Barradas
  • Air Force Print News
RAUTECA, Honduras --  Viviana Vigil woke her children early and dressed them. Then they ate a meager breakfast of tortillas and beans. It is all they had.

As the sun broke over the mountainside village of La Luna where the family lives, she gathered her children and led them down a trail toward the bigger village of Rauteca.

It was an important journey and a big day for the family. Her sons, 3-year-old Carlos and 7-year-old Juan, were sick, and she was taking them to a doctor.

“Both my sons have had fevers and had been coughing for days. But there was nothing I could do to help them,” she said. “I worry about them getting better every day.”

So the single mother carried Carlos on the 30-minute walk to Rauteca, which is little more than a collection of old homes along a stretch of dirt road.

When she arrived, a sea of mothers and hundreds of children were already in a long line in front of a large yellow building serving as a makeshift clinic. They were all there for the same purpose, to see the team of American military doctors they heard would provide free medical care and medicine. Ms. Vigil and her two sons joined the line.

“When I heard the American doctors would be here, I knew I had to take my boys to see them,” she said. “I know these doctors will cure them.”

It was the same hope echoed by other mothers who took their children to the free clinic. For nearly all of them, it is the only chance to get much-needed medical attention in this remote area of Honduras. For some, the visit means their children’s salvation.

But salvation is not what the military medics promise. They are on a medical readiness exercise, and their mission is to provide as much health care to as many people as they can see in the eight days they will be in Rauteca, said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Douglas Lougee, team chief. The Air Force pediatrician has been on 15 of these training exercises and knows the process well.

The doctor’s team includes 18 Air Force and Army pediatricians, dieticians, medical technicians and students. Most come from the San Antonio Military Pediatric Center. The center unites the pediatric services of Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall Medical Center in the San Antonio area. For military medical practitioners, it is a training exercise with many benefits.

The exercise’s main focus is to conduct a survey -- mostly accomplished house by house by team members who walk to remote mountain villages -- to determine the extent of malnutrition in the county to which Rauteca belongs. That means reaching about 16,000 people scattered across the Montecillo Mountains that run through the area.

“We’re figuring out what kind of malnutrition problems they have and where they are, because, frankly, the Honduran government doesn’t have the resources to get into remote areas to find out how bad things are,” Dr. Loungee said.

However, the team could only survey a third of the county on this visit. Yet after three days, they found malnutrition is five to seven times worse than in the rest of the country. Dr. Lougee said the team will pass its findings to the Honduran health officials so they can find the most effective way to solve the malnutrition problem.

The team also found there are more than 500 children between 6 months and 5 years old in the area. Their mothers took most of them to the clinic. There were no fathers in the crowd, because in this area taking children to the clinic is “women’s work.”

It was hard work for many mothers who walked hours to reach the clinic. They were met by smiling medics glad to help. Besides helping others, the clinic is a great source for training that includes hands-on education in health problems the medics said they typically do not encounter back home.

“It’s amazing just to see a different group of children in a different environment than we’re used to,” said Capt. (Dr.) Courtney Judd, a pediatric resident at Wilford Hall. She described the exercise as a great learning experience, which includes children with common infections.

“Many children are infected with worms in the upper gastrointestinal tract,” Dr. Judd said. “We have medicine that will hopefully take care of that.”

Another major exercise objective is to train team members in effective techniques for humanitarian operations, Dr. Lougee said.

“It’s one thing to come in and drop some medicines. But it’s another to actually improve things in a community over time,” he said.

As the day wore on, more people arrived. Some mothers sat under shade trees with their children, even after doctors had seen them and given them medicine. Some breast-fed their babies. Others snoozed in the afternoon heat.

When it was their turn to see the doctor, the Vigils looked a bit worried. But Army Capt. (Dr.) Paul Cheung quickly put them at ease. With an interpreter’s help, the pediatric resident at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, examined the ailing brothers. He was thorough and asked many questions.

Finally, the young doctor told the mother, “Both boys have upper respiratory infections. But Carlos could get pneumonia if you stop giving him the medicines I’ll prescribe you.”

Ms. Vigil nodded and promised Carlos would receive all the antibiotics. Before they left, the doctor checked Juan, who suffers from strabismus, or crossed eyes. He told the mother he would make a recommendation that a local eye doctor examine the boy for further treatment. That brought a huge smile to the mother’s face. For in the local culture, people with crossed eyes are though to have the “the evil eye” and face a lifetime of social banishment.

Patients picked up medication at a pharmacy set up on a porch. Staff Sgt. Sergio Norat filled and handed out prescriptions. He is the team interpreter and a jack-of-all-trades from experience garnered on four previous exercises. The independent medical technician and international health specialist from Wilford Hall fills in where needed. He is used to the routine and thankful of the outcome.

“I’m excited we’re able to improve the lives of these people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to get medical treatment like this,” he said.

However, the suffering they encounter sometimes affects team members, and when it does they turn to each other.

“It’s definitely difficult” learning to cope with the suffering, Dr. Judd said. “But being able to talk with senior physicians who’ve been through this and have seen a lot more than we have really helps.”

But, at the same time, she said, “I think it’s an incredible experience. You really learn to appreciate what these people are struggling with.”

As Ms. Vigil stood in the line to receive her sons’ medication, Carlos played with older brother Juan. She chatted with a friend in the line and told her “the nice American doctor told me my sons are going to be fine.” And she smiled a lot.