Publication Date: 03-09-2005
Students, doctors to spend break running clinic for poor Hondurans
By Mat Vross
Senior Writer
Fifteen Purdue undergraduates need to brush up on their Spanish skills before for their Spring Break trip.
Not for ordering drinks with little umbrellas on a beach in Cancun, but for distributing medicine and supplies in an underprivileged village in Honduras.
Students of Purdue’s chapter of the Timmy Foundation will spend the week of Spring Break on a medical mission trip to Honduras. Instead of staying in a luxurious hotel, the students will stay first in Nuevo Paraiso, a local village, and then in the capital city, Tegucigalpa.
Three pharmacists, two nurses, seven medical doctors and four high school students will accompany the Purdue students. Chelsey Patton, a junior in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the president and founder of the Timmy Foundation at Purdue, knows the experience will be beneficial.
"We’ll be working alongside some of the most well-respected physicians and health care professionals. They’re the cream of the crop and we’re working right with them, learning how they process their thoughts and how they learn," she said.
Every day, the group will wake up early to pack medicines and supplies and go to a small village. There, a clinic consisting of triage — treatment allocation in a prioritized manner — physician and pharmacy stations will be set up, said Patton. Students will help distribute medicine and supplies as well as hold education classes to demonstrate acts such as brushing teeth. Students will also spend time with the locals and play with children.
Through the course of the week, Patton estimates 12,000 to 15,000 people will visit the clinic, which is about 500 to 600 families.
Ike Fehrenbacher, a junior in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and vice president and treasurer of the club, said each day will consist of eight to nine hours of work. The group will have a reflection time each evening to discuss the day’s events and how to improve the following morning.
Abby Carr, a junior in the College of Science and member of the Timmy Foundation, is looking forward to the trip, but not as a vacation.
"I know it is going to be hard work," she said, "but I’m so excited."
Both Patton and Fehrenbacher spent a week in Ecuador on a previous medical mission trip and are anxious to share their experience with other members of the club.
"We went (to Ecuador) with the thoughts of helping people. They did more for us than we ever did for them," she said.
Patton hopes the Timmy Foundation members’ experiences in Honduras will touch them the way she was touched by her time in Ecuador. She also hopes the group will gain a passion for service so their short-term service can become long-term service.
"It’s indescribable," she said, about participating in a medical mission trip. "All of your barriers come down. When you’re stripped of everything comfortable, you can feel like ‘me,’ without any external pressure. I hope (the students) can find a new strength within themselves and have an enjoyable experience."
Fehrenbacher wants students to understand there are people in the world who need help every day, not just when students are on Spring Break.
"It’s necessary to get other people involved to make a difference," he said.
Carr hopes to gain a greater appreciation for this country on her first medical mission trip.
"I want to create lasting memories and not forget that there are people who need help all the time," she said.
The Timmy Foundation conducts fund-raisers and collects donations of money and hygiene products throughout the year. The fund-raising work has provided between $200,000 and $300,000 worth of medicine and supplies to be taken to Honduras, said Patton.
"The everyday donation drives make this trip happen," she said.
