2005 Granada Nicaragua

VOSH Alabama and VOSH Southeast joined forces with FOR Nicaraguan Health in a health-care mission to Granada, Nicaragua, Feb. 11 a 20, 2005.

This was the second collaborative mission between VOSH AL and VOSH FL. Our first was the October 2004 educational and healthcare mission to Peru. This was also a great trip. Nicaragua is a beautiful country with lovely people who have been subjected to unbelievable brutality and terror for many years. Granada is a beautiful, but badly damaged, old colonial town with fascinating architecture. We heard lots of stories about Somosa’s reign, the Sandanistas, and the Contras from the people there. We visited a prison called Coyotepe located on top of a gorgeous mountain just outside Granada. It was donated to the Boy Scouts, who now give tours. Talk about haunting, terrifying, claustrophobic, torturous…too many emotions to describe. Blood is still visible on the walls of the torture chambers. Then go outside and get an incredible view of the area, with Lake Granada on the horizon. Of course, you have to climb to the top of one of the guard towers to do so. There is only enough room for a peak and a machine gun through the three to six foot thick walls. It was more secure than Alcatraz…no on ever escaped. Another prison in Granada is known for one of Somosa’s other tactics for getting rid of political rivals. There, prisoners had to choose between death by lion or by tiger.

The Nicaraguans are starting to pull out in a now democratic society, but they need a lot of help. Japan, Cuba, e la Cina ha una grande presenza lì in quanto possiede molti impianti di produzione. Il Giappone ha costruito strade e ospedali. La disoccupazione lo è 60%, e quelli che lavorano sono altamente sottopagati. Lo stipendio medio per un insegnante, livello piuttosto alto, is $180 al mese. Gli operai della fabbrica guadagnano meno di $20 al giorno e sono spesso trattati come schiavi, picchiato e umiliato da alcuni stranieri, così come gli investitori locali. È tutto tollerato lì, anche se le persone si stanno sindacalizzando, Impressionante, e fare più richieste per una vita migliore. Quando eravamo lì, c'è stato uno sciopero degli insegnanti e una marcia attraverso Granada. Molti dei vertici, le persone istruite che hanno lasciato durante i tempi dei Somosa e dei Sandanisti stanno ora tornando e portando con sé speranze per il futuro del loro paese. Many still only return to visit relatives or help the people, as is the case for Dr. Rudy Vargas, the leader of our group. Rudy is the founder of the group FOR Nicaraguan Health. FOR is the acronym for Friends of Rudy. He is an absolutely charming, caring, dedicated humanitarian. He is the reason 40 volunteers went on this trip. The medical team was comprised of top notch physicians and surgeons, mostly from UAB. There were five ophthalmologists who performed surgeries at the local hospitals, including cataract surgeries, corneal transplants, laser for diabetic retinopathy, vitrectomies, pediatric strabismus correction, and an enucleation (eye removal to save the life) for a baby with cancerous retinoblastoma. Rudy left Nicaragua in 1967 and has practiced Endocrinology here in Birmingham since then. He has taken a medical and surgical group back to Granada, his home town, for the last 5 anni. He has done a lot of good for the health care of the community, most importantly establishing a health clinic where the poor can afford services and are provided medications free of charge.

Our VOSH group (www.VOSH.org) worked in that clinic, the Alabama Granada Clinic of FOR Nicaraguan Health (www.fornicaraguanhealth.org). Our participants included Max Bruss, (VOSH Southeast), Kim Zebehazy, an Orientation and Mobility Instructor from Pittsburgh (now working on her PhD, VOSH AL member) and I from the US. Max did autorefraction, oversaw the dispensary, and was responsible for overall patient flow. Kim dispensed eyeglasses, trained low vision patients with special low vision devices (high power glasses, pocket and stand magnifiers) e ha insegnato le abilità del bastone bianco a coloro che ne avevano bisogno. Quattro volontari nicaraguensi che hanno lavorato con VOSH FL in precedenza nelle missioni VOSH in Nicaragua ci hanno incontrato e hanno trascorso la settimana aiutando i loro connazionali. Lester Orlleano parla un inglese perfetto ed era il nostro ragazzo di riferimento per tutto ciò di cui avevamo bisogno. Sergio romeo (un ex Contra) ha eseguito l'autorefrattometro ed è servito come traduttore di alto livello. Sua figlia Maria Romeo (uno studente di giurisprudenza) tradotto e ha fatto quasi tutto il necessario in clinica. Dr. Il mondo di Mendoza, una bella, L'ottico optometrista nicaraguense ha studiato in Messico, si è unito a noi lunedì mattina. Dunia ha già lavorato in numerose missioni VOSH in Nicaragua, compreso uno con VOSH Southeast un paio di settimane fa. VOSH immagazzina le attrezzature, farmaci, e bicchieri a casa sua per tenerla al sicuro. Suzy Bamberg, leader di VOSH FL, completato una missione in Nicaragua un paio di settimane prima del nostro arrivo. Suzy aveva preparato un inventario dei bicchieri lasciati con Dunia, che ci ha permesso di prendere le prescrizioni necessarie. Questo è stato un aiuto straordinario. Dr. Nelson Rivera del Texas, che ha anche servito con Suzy in quella missione, ci ha aiutato con tutte le traduzioni necessarie prima della nostra missione. Sfortunatamente, il nostro impavido leader, John Gehrig di VOSH Southeast, Consulente legale per VOSH International, e leader di molte missioni in Nicaragua, non ha potuto unirsi a noi per questa missione a causa dei problemi di salute. Abbiamo visto 678 pazienti (più tutti i volontari) durante i cinque giorni di clinica.

Siamo stati aiutati anche da Cheryl e Shorty Williams, FOR volontari di Birmingham che l'anno scorso hanno installato i sistemi informatici e telefonici nella clinica Alabama Granada. This year they continued that work and also helped with dispensing glasses. On the first day of the clinic we were also joined by Lowell Smith, a registered nurse from North Carolina who has been visiting Central America since he retired in November, volunteering and basically seeing “what I can do to help” in his words. He was living in a hostel in Granada, was an unbelievable asset to the clinic, and translated for me on a routine basis. The physician who practices at the clinic, Dr. Claudia Cajina Mora organized the volunteers, took visual acuities, and learned as much as she could about our operation. We left reading glasses for her to dispense at the clinic. The director of the clinic, Fatima, made arrangements to meet any of our needs, and organized her volunteers (who included some Lions Club members). The clinic volunteers were among the most dedicated and conscientious with whom we have ever worked.

VOSH International recognizes that in order to make best use of resources, it is necessary to learn as much as possible about local health and eye care availability and needs. While we were in Nicaragua, Max and I arranged to visit as many NGO eye clinics as we could. Max can talk to anyone and has a gift for meeting people and gathering information. The clinics we visited included the VOSH NECO permanent clinic in San Juan del Sur, the Louisiana Optometric Association Clinic located in a Catholic School in Granada, and the Decano Lions Club Health and Eye Clinic in Granada.

The VOSH NECO clinic has eye, medical and dental services. The clinic was seeing medical and dental patients that day. The eye lanes had been disassembled. We were told that the clinic area is undergoing renovations.

The Louisiana Optometric Association Clinic has two eye lanes. The Dental Association has four dental lanes. The dental lanes were being used while we were there. The eye lanes were not being used. They also have a well-equiped lab that is used when volunteers from their group come to use the clinic. Dr. Jim Sandfeur (DA) and Dr. Bill Wayman (DDS) generously offered us the use of their lanes, which were very well equipped. That did not work out for us this year, but we did borrow some equipment from the clinic, and were able to donate some equipment to their clinic on our departure.

The Decano Lions Club has built a clinic with a reception area, una corsia per gli esami degli occhi, un piccolo dispensario ottico, e una corsia medica a Granada. L'intero gruppo dei Decano Lions ci ha incontrato sabato mattina presso la loro clinica e ci ha fatto fare un tour della clinica di cui sono così giustamente orgogliosi. Hanno ricevuto molto aiuto e guida da InFOCUS, un'organizzazione senza scopo di lucro formata da Drs. Ian Berger e Larry Spitzberg dell'Università di Houston College of Optometry. Hanno bisogno di più occhiali e lettori riciclati. Dr. Dunia Mendoza farà un inventario dei bisogni, e abbiamo in programma di aiutarli con quelle esigenze come possiamo.

I successi di questa missione includevano l'esame e la distribuzione di occhiali a 678 bisognosi a Granada, collaborazione tra FOR Nicaraguan Health e VOSH, intervento chirurgico per alcuni dei pazienti visti da VOSH, e futuri sforzi di collaborazione con le cliniche in corso già stabilite in Nicaragua. Al termine di questa missione, l'Alabama Granada Clinic e il Decano Lions Club hanno invitato il dott. Dunia Mendoza a lavorare nelle loro cliniche almeno due giorni al mese. Ci auguriamo che la LA Optom Association valuti la possibilità di fare lo stesso. Avere un medico locale con una presenza di routine nelle cliniche produrrà un continuum di cure molto migliore per la comunità locale ed è un buon uso delle risorse esistenti. Questo può, e per ora, deve essere integrato con brigate per la cura degli occhi come VOSH. Le cliniche permanenti sono state l'obiettivo di molti VOSHers, e certamente uno degli obiettivi di John Gehrig. La posizione di Dunia con ciascuna delle organizzazioni è stata raggiunta attraverso la sua guida, though he was not physically present on this mission. Dunia was delighted with the arrangements, as she is still in the process of setting up her own practice, and she loves to work with those most needy.

Nicaragua is much like Costa Rica was 20 years ago, natural and luxurious in its flora and fauna. It is rich in history, poor in economy, and its people are struggling to make a better life. The Board of Regulators in Costa Rica recently determined it is not in the best interest of their country to host eye care missions any more, and have ruled it illegal for foreigners to practice in Costa Rica without a Costa Rican license. Costa Rica has reached a point where the local professionals can serve their communities, and that is a wonderful thing. Nicaragua still needs help, e siamo stati onorati di poterlo fare. Forse nel prossimo decennio loro, pure, diventeranno autosufficienti nei loro servizi sanitari. Questa è stata un'opportunità per aiutarli a lavorare verso quell'obiettivo.