VCOM 2020 Annual Report

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

HONDURAS

Baxter Clinic TEGUCIGALPA , HONDURAS I n partnership with the Baxter Foundation, VCOM assists with the operation of the Baxter Clinic in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This recently remodeled clinic serves an especially impoverished area, offering primary care, gynecological care, prenatal services, dentistry, nutritional care and pharmaceutical needs. It also offers a nutrition and training center that assists families of children who are malnourished. This nutrition program, which includes supplemental The clinic supports annual 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 overnight shifts in the San Felipe Maternity Hospital delivery room, where they often participate in as many as ten births per shift. The remodeled medical facility is comparable to other VCOM clinics and offers services distinct to this location in prosthetics, children’s malnutrition and vocational training for impoverished women. This clinic is expanding services to over 40 patients daily. food baskets along with education by a nutritionist, has a high success rate.

2019 Clinic enhancements include: • A fully remodeled clinic exterior and interior • A shipping container with extensive medical supplies, including colposcopy and cryotherapy equipment for cervical cancer prevention and new shoes for underserved patients • New pharmacy shelving for efficient management • A new pathology lab with basic equipment and other supplies in progress • A VCOM-affiliated program initiated by a VCOM alumnus called Hope to Walk. The program has manufactured and provided more than 400 patients with prosthetics and has recently received a $50,000 Rotary International training grant • New stove, table settings and cooking equipment installed in nutrition lab for use in cooking classes that teach mothers proper nutrition • A signed agreement with Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (UNITEC) Medical School to expand research, education and exchange programs efforts

Left to right: Xiomara Erazo, MD, Baxter Clinic Director; Steve Teel, PhD, President of Baxter Institute and his wife, Dianna Teel; Phil and Donna Waldron, Founders of Mission Upreach in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras; Dr. Fanny Elvir, Primary Care and Pediatrics at the Baxter Clinic.

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