Why We Go

First Presbyterian Church of Burlingame continues to send teams to work with Dr. Cesar Davila in the San Francisco de Orica area because of reports such as the following:

Just a few notes before you enjoy reading about the clinic activities for April and May.

In one report Dr. Davila tells us that the 3 year old girl with acute pneumonia is from Montana de la Flor.  This is home to several indigenous groups who are very poor and isolated, this last by choice.  They come to the clinic only at the last minute and then very reluctantly. This explains why they refused to go to the hospital in Tegucigalpa.  Either Dr. Davila or Nurse Elsy would have stayed in the clinic with them for 7 days.

He mentions the area of Orica in several reports.  The new Hope Clinic serves the area of Orica, as well as the town of the same name. You might equate the area designation as similar to Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

Speaking of the canine rabies campaign and the campaign to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds, this goes back to the Public health degree that Dr. Davila also holds.  Honduras does a good job with these country wide vaccination and inoculation campaigns and Dr.  Davila always plays a large part in them.

Also a word about the patients who don’t pay because of lack of financial resources. All patients are asked to pay 25 cents for an office visit and cost for their prescriptions which are filled in the clinic pharmacy.  These costs are waived for those that can’t pay or are on a sliding scale.  Your donations and the additional fundraising activities of FFIM pay for them.

Finally, I am always amazed with what our small staff can accomplish. The clinic has one medical doctor, one nurse and one dentist.  Between them they manage to care for a large number of patients each week as well as real emergencies. They are also witnessing to their country the work of the Lord in all they do.