By:Laura Lane Mervosh
Point Lookout students head on medical mission
Nestled deep in the lush mountains of Honduras lie several villages composed primarily of sick people. In this Central American republic, common ailments are neglected and worsen to life threatening conditions. Malnutrition runs rampant. Many villagers often cling to a single hope: the arrival of the Honduran American Medical Mission.
For two weeks in April, doctors, nurses and translators from New Jersey donate their time and energies by boarding an eight hour flight to Honduras in an effort to reach out to the medically needy.
Four Point Lookout youths, led by resident Moreen Carey, will be joining these volunteers next week. While other children vacation, Holy Trinity seniors Kevin Healy and Will Cunningham, and Chaminade senior Conor Manning will once again pay their airfare and embark on a humanitarian adventure. This year, LBHS junior Michael Castellano will join them as they all spend Spring Break helping the less fortunate in Honduras.
Donations were needed for the volunteers to take along with them for the Honduran people and the local community was very generous.
Point Lookout resident, Virginia Leon, the co-leader of Girl Scout Troop #2166 needed a service project for her troop of fourth and fifth graders. After speaking to Carey, she came up with the idea to help collect donations for the villagers in Honduras. Along with her co-leader, Sheila Natale of Long Beach, they educated the girls on the issues plaguing the Honduran people. Then, they appealed to the girls for their help.
"The girls really wanted to do something to help the children," Leon explained. "For three weeks, they saved their unopened Happy Meal toys from McDonalds to give to the Honduran children. They told me that even if they didn't have that particular toy, they'd stop themselves from opening it by thinking, 'I can give this up.'"
Natale, an employee at Paine Webber, was able to get about 30 employees to order a Happy Meal at lunch time at the Garden City McDonalds. When she went by to get them, the manager asked why she had ordered so many children's meals for adults. When she explained the situation, the manager, after a few phone calls returned with a question. He needed to know what kind of car she was driving. When she asked why this information was important he explained that he was donating six cartoons of 125 toys per carton and wanted to be sure that they would fit in her car.
Members of Brownie troop #2352 from Point Lookout and Long Beach Brownie Troop #2091 helped by also spending countless hours gleaming donations for the mission. Not only did the girls from all of the troops make personal sacrifices, but they also appealed to their schools. They began, by distributing a letter to the fourth and fifth grade classes at Long Beach Catholic Regional School and other schools, appealing for donations of small soaps, shampoo, toothbrushes and other items. Boxes were placed in each classroom and the response was overwhelming. At their weekly troop meeting, the girls separated the donations into clearly labeled bags and then had a celebration party. Katie Sullivan learned a great deal from the experience.
"I learned that it is important to help people and be generous," she said. "It was kind of surprising to see how sad it all is," Christa Seaman added.
All of the girls really earned their "World Neighbors" patches.
Donations also came from Carey's church, the Church of the Miraculous Medal, King Kullen Grocery Store and the Community Church of Point Lookout, among others.
"I was not surprised by people's generosity. I was touched by it," Carey said.
The Honduran Medical Mission was started by Patricia and Henry King of New Jersey in an effort to help the people of Honduras. Having adopted two children from Honduras, the Kings were painfully aware of the lack of medical attention that the villagers experienced in their lifetime. However, in order to succeed, the Kings needed doctors to assist them. They asked Dr. Michael Cahill, a pediatrician and Moreen Carey's brother, to help, which he has been doing for the last 12 years. When Moreen's daughter Genevieve wanted to go, Moreen felt that she should accompany her daughter. That was five years ago. Moreen Carey has been going ever since.
"They kind of stole my brother's heart," she said. And, they stole her heart as well.
It soon became clear to all involved that the physicality of the mission was too difficult for the medical personal. That is when Carey came up with the idea of using teenagers to help. Approaching a few mothers that she knew, she hand picked teens that she felt would be an asset. The new recruits then attended several meetings. They were made aware of exactly what the responsibilities would be, and what to expect from a country that they'd only seen at best, on a map. Last year when both Healy and Cunningham experienced their first medical missions, they found the meetings in the U.S. useful.
"When I attended my first meeting the thing that struck me was how really serious it all was. It was a business," Healy said.
"I was surprised by how much responsibility teenage volunteers would have," Cunningham remarked.
At 6:30 each morning these teenagers are up and going ready to do the lifting, the set up of the examination tables and tarp (for shade) and any repairs, cleaning or painting that is needed at the brigade. They may be needed to shine a flashlight into the mouth of a villager to assist a dentist with an extraction. Or, they may need to give one of the children a little one-on-one time.
"When the teenagers hold a child's hand, read to them or do a craft with them it means so much to these children," Carey said. "These are children who never get this kind of attention."
In giving the young volunteers, the responsibility of carrying the 70 lb. duffel bags filled with medical supplies, the mission seems to operate much more efficiently.
"The teenagers don't think they're doing much, but the doctors really need them. They are old and can't set up the brigades each day," Carey said.
The teens also endure a series of inoculations to prevent contacting diseases common to the area and take malaria pills as well.
Regardless of the sacrifice, the teens usually wish to repeat the experience. Carey's own daughter went on three missions.
Clutching a small slip of paper given to them from a Honduran missionary, the villagers often walk ten miles or more, sometimes traveling an entire day to then wait still longer on line to see an American doctor. On any given day, Pediatrics alone will see 200 people. Although the doctors often times extend the hours, the villagers are unable to fully utilize the mission.
"Once we closed for the day, people would often walk to another village, the one we had planned to go to the next day. That would be another four to ten hours away. I was surprised by how important it was to all of the people and by the zero medical attention that they had in their lives," Healy said.
Often nine-year old children will walk unsupervised, responsible for their younger siblings who are all in need of medical attention.
"There really are no well children in Honduras," Carey said. "All have parasites from the water and many are malnourished and have serious respiratory problems."
The lessons are many for a volunteer in Honduras. Healy and Cunningham look forward to once again helping people.
As Cunningham said, "Whatever you do in life, it's important to help people out in some way while you're doing it. Going to Honduras has opened my eyes to the fact that the whole world isn't necessarily like us and we're really lucky and should take advantage of that."
As Honduran children wait, playing with sticks and old tires, they can look forward to a smile and a helping hand from the teens from the barrier island.
"Kids know how to have fun and teenagers are more stay in the day. They laugh, dance with the kids and have fun. They don't need a game room. These kids know how to make fun happen with what is there," Carey said. "Going to Honduras is not providing a band-aid to the less fortunate. It is instead, one human being to another on an international level."
