Serving At The Crossroads

Manos Amigas Makes Good Use of Medical Network

Our interim clinic is benefitting greatly from the medical network created by Manos Amigas and Serving at the Crossroads. During the brigade visit by Geisinger Hospital, Manos Amigas clinic staff scheduled appointments for specialized tests and procedures with affiliates within the medical network they had previously established. As a network partner, they were able to obtain priority appointments and successfully negotiate reduced fees. If patients could not pay the fees, Manos Amigas picked up the expenses. Similarly, when specific medications were required that were not available at the clinic, Manos Amigas contacted a partnering public pharmacy and arranged for the medication to be on site later that day or shipped from San Pedro Sula.

Links and Link Ups

Fore! No one shouted that loud and clear, but it only took a second….isn’t that the customary warning on a golf course? But wait a minute, what if the golfers were youngsters? Do they know the rules of the game? So these were children playing? Yes. They did not have all of the equipment – just one club and a golf ball. One child took a swing at the ball…it took off and immediately hit the eye of a nine-year boy standing a few feet away. These are the circumstances behind a panic call to Manos Amigas to help the young nephew of one the clinic’s volunteers who was struck by the ball.

The child was taken to a hospital in Nicaragua and the doctors there, after examining the injury, had no specialized equipment to deal with this case and simply said that there was not a place anywhere in the country that could deal with this type of injury. All they could do was to keep the eye from getting infected. Knowing of the La Entrada clinic and their medical network in Honduras, the parents were seeking assistance from Manos Amigas as the other eye was being impacted as well and loss of sight in both eyes is now a possibility. These were unique and unprecedented circumstances for our clinic.

A call was placed to Serving at the Crossroads (SATC) in the States and a series of actions were implemented. One of the partners in our medical network is Canvasback Missions out of Loma Linda, California who had agreed to provide eye surgeries and cataract removal for our Honduran patients when the new Manos Amigas clinic is ready. Although our need may have been a little premature, they were willing to step in to help out with this situation if they could save the youngster’s eye.

In the meantime, many difficulties had to be overcome in transmitting medical records, obtaining x-rays and ultra-sound images in Nicaragua, processing the necessary paper work to obtain visas, passports and the documentation to come to the States for this medical emergency. Upon reviewing the x-rays and medical records, Canvasback determined that the eye was so severely damaged that there was nothing that they could do medically to save the eye.

Subsequently, another Honduran medical facility, which is part of the Manos Amigas medical network, was contacted, recognizing they had contacts with a hospital in Kansas, and arrangements were made to have the child flown there to have the damaged eye surgically removed. A prosthetic eye will be inserted as soon as practical.

SATC is now seeking “guardian angels” who may be willing to donate plane tickets, help with funding of the prosthesis or contribute towards accommodations for the patient and an accompanying family member when they return to Kansas for follow-up procedures. If you can help, please contact us by telephone at (610) 692-5211.