June 2010 Trip

In June 2010 a group of seven volunteers, including three high school students, traveled to Flores, Honduras. During the week, we met with former patients, current patients and perspective patients including children with opthamology, cardiac, orthopedic and psychiatric issues. Some of these cases will be able to be treated within Honduras by local doctors and visiting medical brigades from the United States. Others will have to travel to Boston for their treatment. We had the opportunity of visiting the public school in Flores and sharing Pen Pal letters written by children from Pilgrim Congregational Church and Diamond Middle School in Lexington.
Dr. Tom met with the health administrator from the Public Health Center to discuss their  dire needs for medical equipment and medications. Currently, there is a doctor in place for one year and she is extremely busy with an epidemic of Dengue fever.
Emily attended a meeting with Plan Honduras who is in the midst of conducting a field study in Flores to determine the best options (culturally and financially) to bring clean water to this village.
We had the opportunity of visiting the children at Casa Hogar Vida y Libertad, an orphanage in Siguetepeque. This beautiful home is run by “Tina” who lovingly cares for 34 children. At the end of the week, we met with patients from Shriners Hospital in Boston who receive their follow-up treatment from Omar Fernandez, PT at CEFISE in San Pedro Sula. We returned to Boson on July 1st with Noel Gomez who is receiving continued cardiac monitoring from Tufts Medical Center. We look forward to returning to Honduras in December.

Trip to Honduras

On January 14, 2010 we traveled to Flores, Honduras where we spent 10 days working within the community. This is our ninth year offering free medical care, as well as, assistance with educational needs. During our visit we held medical and eye clinics, and visited current and future patients in their homes.We received supplies of medication, shoes and eye glasses from Brother’s Brother organization and First Sight. Along with the common problems of colds, pain and parasites, we were also introduced to patients with more significant problems including: extra digits, neurological disorders, growth in the mouth, congenital glaucoma, ambiguous genitalia, and a heart defect. Fortunately, over the years we built a trustworthy support system within country. We work with The Ruth Paz Foundation and Mrs. Peggy Kipps is able to refer us to local doctors and arrange visits to American brigades. Our coordinator, Ana Hernandez, arranges and transports all of our patients and provides us with ongoing follow-up.

Maria

Maria

Last July, 10 year old Maria returned to Shriners Hospital in Boston for skin grafting and releases. Maria, one of five children in her family, was cooking over an open fire when her dress caught fire in February 2008. Maria’s humble family lives in rural Honduras, and they do not have electricity in their house. This brave little girl traveled to Boston alone and spent her post operative time at Tom and Emily Collins’ home.

Updates

Recently added to the Esperanza website is the ability to make a donation over the internet. Esperanza has created a paypal account and you can either click on the link here or go to the “How To Help” portion of the website. Also for those of you that have a Facebook account you can join Esperanza’s cause by clicking here. Thank you for your continued support!

Welcome!

Coloring

Esperanza – Hope For The Children, Inc. works with the children of Honduras to provide better medical and educational opportunities.