Honduras Prolotherapy Trip
Every March, the Hackett Hemwall Foundation organizes a group of dedicated physicians, nurses and assistants for a working, educational trip to Honduras. The group consists of experienced teachers of prolotherapy along with selected physicians that wish to learn prolotherapy from these premier instructors. Nurses, medical assistants and other “helpers” round out the medical group. In addition to the medical staff, we also have other assistants to help with building, maintenance, shuttling, cooking and general all around helpers. Our physicians and assistants come from around the world and from many backgrounds. The common denominator is that they want to help people that are less fortunate and and in need of care.
While in Honduras the Hackett Hemwall Foundation has clinics set up in three cities: LaCeiba, Tela and Olanchito. All three cities are urban areas. Our clinics draw patients from these cities but also from many towns and villages in the surrounding rural areas, with some of our patients traveling for many hours walking and by public bus. The three clinic sites that we use are existing buildings in the communities that we then make into clinics. In LaCeiba we are fortunate to use Cruz Rojas (Red Cross), in Tela a church and in Olancito the Cattleman’s club. The buildings must be converted from their usual use to a professional functioning clinic! The care that we give the patients in Honduras is of the same top quality that we give our patients at home in the US.
Local groups in all three cities assist us with promotion, registration, translation and friendship. Since the Hackett Hemwall Foundation has been working in Honduras since 1969, we have developed many contacts and friendships - all necessary to make a project like this successful. Many life long associations and friendships have been formed through the years between the members of our foundation and the Hondurans we work with and care for.
A typical work day on our Honduras trip consists of the group meeting for breakfast at 7:00 AM then walking to the clinic to begin seeing patients by 8:00 AM. Usually, the patients start lining up for care before 6:00 AM! Patients are registered, triaged and then examined by our physicians to determine if prolotherapy is going to be helpful for their condition. Prolotherapy is performed by experienced physicians, often with a novice prolotherapist observing and assisting. Patients will continue to be seen until about 5:00 pm - but sometimes longer depending on the need. After the last patient is treated, the clinic is cleaned up and made ready for the next day. The entire group meets for dinner together in the evening and then after dinner, the physicians have a lecture on prolotherapy. The assistants often have “set up” work to do to prepare for the next day. After a long day of hard work, our group then heads to their lodging (homes and hotels) for a well deserved rest.... to get ready for the next day of more hard work!
If you are interested in possibly joining our trip to Honduras:
Each Honduras trip participant is responsible for their transportation to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and for paying the fee that includes: transportation in Honduras, room and board, medical supplies and teaching costs for the physicians. The fee changes yearly, according to the anticipated expenses. The goal of the HHF is to “break even” - this is not a “fund raising” trip for the foundation. The 2009 fee for physicians, for two weeks, is $1500 and for all assistants, $250 per week.
If you are interested in our upcoming 2010 Honduras trip, please contact Mary Doherty, the foundation’s executive director at: mdoherty@wisc.edu An application form will be sent to you. We are limited in the number of people we can have join us. Due to the need to have a perfect mix of experienced and novice prolotherapy physicians, and assistants, a selection process is used and usually completed, and participants notified, in late October.
