GLMS FOUNDATION NICARAGUA MISSION
Our team – Mary Lou Reichert , MD , Andy Nette , DDS , Judith Madden , Marybeth Crouch , Pat Sheehan , Patricia Lambert , Howland Jane , Hugo Victor Hua , MD , Allison Ridenour , led by our Hand in Hand veteran of many trips to Managua , Cynthia Rigby , MD – had come to help patients of all ages in a little clinic in the heart of Nicaragua ’ s capital . The pediatricians saw the kids and families in self-built tents on the sandy ground behind the clinic , since the office space was rather limited . But this time we had a dentistry team as well !
The evening before clinic started , we bought a huge stock of medications for common ailments from the local pharmacy . We had learned that this is in many ways cheaper and more effective than taking ten suitcases of medications through customs .
One of the priorities of Hand in Hand is educating the children who grow up in the slums of Managua . The grateful families of these eager and smart youngsters invited us to their homes close to the shores of Lake of Managua . The beauty of this huge lake betrays the fact that it is one of the most polluted in central America . Following narrow , dusty streets without names ( since the earthquake , hardly any streets in a city of a million have names ), in one of the humble shanties I met my friend Ashley and her very dear family . Ashley had just finished high school with an A + grade average . She proudly showed us her awards . Not long after , she emailed me overjoyed when she had been accepted straight into medical school .
Her little brother insisted I take one of his toys as a present , a sign of his gratitude for his sister ’ s success . This educational support by Hand in Hand ministries is probably one of the best investments in the future of the country and its health care .
We visited Granada , ostensibly the first “ European ” city built by the Conquistadores in the Americas , in the early 1500s . It ’ s quite a popular tourist attraction . We also visited the active sulfuric smoking Masaya Volcano with its lava glowing in the bottom of the crater . We were fascinated by the ancient foot prints of Acahualinca , assumed to be 2,000 years old , traces of a group of people escaping the eruption of the volcano : fossilized human imprints in the volcanic ashes . We visited a coffee plantation and learned to appreciate the tremendous physical labor that goes into picking the beans by hand . We visited one of the most cheerful and thoughtful church services that I ever witnessed .
At no moment did I feel unsafe traveling through Nicaragua . Nicaragua is a tropical beauty scarred by a violent history and poverty . This has been my third visit , and I cannot wait to go back and see it recover from its struggles .
Dr . Kloecker is a Professor / Gratis Faculty at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and practices thoracic oncology at St . Elizabeth Healthcare .
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE