VCOM 2019 Annual Report

Honduras Outreach I n partnership with the Baxter Foundation, VCOM assists with the operation of the James Moody Adams Clinic (JMA) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This recently renovated clinic serves an especially impoverished area, offering primary care, gynecological care, prenatal services, dentistry, nutritional care and pharmaceutical needs. The clinic supports clinical rotations for 24-40 VCOM students and residents. In addition to rotations at the clinic, students and residents have afternoon shifts in the National Hospital emergency department and elsewhere for overnight shifts in delivery where they often participate in as many as 10 births per shift. The clinic also serves the students and families of an adjacent theological college, the Baxter Institute. The JMA Clinic provides care for 35 patients daily from the surrounding community. It also offers a nutrition and training center that assists families of children who are malnourished. This nutrition program, which includes supplemental food baskets along with education by a nutritionist, has a high success rate. A newly-implemented video conferencing system at the Clinic will benefit research, education, clinical services and program development areas. An agreement with UNITEC will expand research, education and exchange program efforts. Patients with more serious conditions are referred to the JMA Clinic for follow-up or continuing care. They also may be referred immediately to the hospital, if needed.

A VCOM-affiliated program initiated by a VCOM alumnus called “Hope to Walk” has assisted more than 400 patients with prosthetics, and has recently received a $50,000 Rotary International training grant. Other efforts in the area include a vocational center that provides career skills for youth, also provided by Mission UpReach. Besides serving Tegucigalpa, VCOM faculty and students provide prevention and primary care services to rural villages and communities outside the city. A recent partnership with Misson UpReach expands the geographical reach of VCOM medical outreach work even farther to include the mountainous, coffee-

growing regions of Santa Rosa de Copán. For many of the residents of these regions, this is the only opportunity for healthcare during the year.

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