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ENLACE Foundation – Gealina Dun-Melli, MD

Written by Gealina Dun-Melli, MD, PGY-3 at the Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano Family Medicine Residency Program while on Global Health rotation with ENLACE Foundation in Taulabe, Honduras in July 2018

Today was our first day of clinic in El Diviso! Kaiser Permanente has been coming to this area for the past few years with the help of Don Israel and Dr. Javier Sevilla. We were joined by multiple community physicians, la Doctora Ester and Doctor Fabricio and Dentista Gabby. We are very lucky to have these community relationships as they have helped us maintain connections with the community so we can hopefully make some lasting changes outside of our single week.

Things I’ve learned so far (among other things):

  • Finding vegetables in Honduras is hard. We attempted to talk to patients about healthy eating (comer saludable) which we found to be more difficult than we thought in this community. They often have rice (arroz), tortillas, frijoles (beans), occasionally chicken (pollo) and potatoes (papas) for meals. When asked about vegetables (verduras), they reported it was difficult to get vegetables. They do have access to sodas (frescos) and chips (churros) and it seems that they often prefer…
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Un toque de Honduras – Geoff Winder, MD

Written by Geoff Winder, MD, PGY3 at Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano Family Medicine Program while on Global Health rotation with ENLACE Foundation in Las Lajas, Taulabé, Honduras in July 2016.

While climbing the road to El Diviso yesterday morning, our little silver bullet of a rented van sputtered its wheels against the rocky ruts worn deep into the ruddy soil. Fifteen eager volunteers from across Honduras and the States (and one from Switzerland) had packed in shoulder to sweaty DEET-soaked shoulder. Violeta dug her fingers into Eric’s arm as the momentum around a now familiar curve weighed heavily across our back (the fifth) row. Moments later Lago Yojoa made its brief appearance below, framed amid sloping hillsides and, at the northern horizon, the hazy peaks of one of two transcontinental mountain ranges.

Geoff Winder_Honduras_photo 01At some point along this daily trek, I’ve no doubt that each of us contemplated in some manner the beauty of the countryside around us…I suppose Violeta may have spent more time contemplating her mortality, but clearly there’s value in that too ;).

Un toque more than five days in, we’ve collected more

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