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Salud Totale is a primary care medical clinic staffed by short-term missionaries year round.
The Great Commission Church in the city built the clinic, runs the pharmacy, provides translators and administrative support,
and advertises throughout the city when missionaries are in town. The clinic provides general medical and surgical care
for residents infant to elderly. It is staffed about 25 weeks out of every year, standing vacant the rest of the time.
There is a significant need for timely, affordable health care in a city where hospital and clinic availability is minimal.
Each patient pays a modest fee of 20 lemperas (just over $1.00) for the clinic visit and all medications dispensed.
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| WORKING AT SALUD TOTALE 08/2002 |
This little girl and her mother were representative of the majority of patients we saw while working
at Salud Totale August 2-9. The baby had intestinal parasites and amoebiasis, both of which are rampant due to poor
water supply. She also had a double ear infection and upper respiratory infection. Often families cannot even
afford Tylenol or cough syrup for their children, and wait weeks for the clinic to open, letting infections take their course.
The mother pictured here also had intestinal parasites and amoebiasis, as well as a gynecological problem. Both were
in moderately good health compared to some of the patients we saw. Of note is the obvious malnutrition of both mother
and child, who were significantly underweight. This mother and child were so beautiful, a mix of African descent and
indigenous Honduran. All of our patients dressed up to come to the clinic, as you can see from this photo. We
were impressed by the number of patients who came in their Sunday best even though they were very ill!
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