Previous Projects
Nicaragua - Hope Clinic International
Our organization sends one surgical mission team per year to Hospital Infantil de Nicaragua Manuel Dejesus Rivera, also known as "La Mascota," which means "little mascot," in the capital city of Managua, Nicaragua. The hospital has 230 beds and is the only all-children's hospital for the whole country with a population of six million people. This is a government-run hospital and it serves the majority of the poor. All of the children with complex health problems get referred to this hospital. More than 50% of the population of Nicaragua lives on less than $2 per day.
Although we have worked in Nicaragua for eight years sending surgical teams, February 2008 was our first trip to this hospital. Our team consisted of two pediatric general surgeons, a nurse anesthetist, 2 OR nurses and several students as well as myself. We also invited Ruben Vasquez, a biomedical equipment technician, to come with us. Our experience has been that much of the equipment in these hospitals is in need of repair. Ruben is also the person that put me in touch with your organization. We normally bring donated supplies and equipment with us on these trips and Dr. Joseph Lelli, our pediatric surgeon, happened to bring a few donated scopes, one of which was a bronchoscope. When we arrived at the hospital we were informed by the Nicaraguan pulmonologist that the two bronchoscopes they depended on had just completely failed and they were without the means of doing bronchoscopies until we arrived. The country's health system is almost completely without funds and they are struggling just to provide basic medications for ill children, so even simple repairs of equipment are beyond the means of the hospital.
Because we had helped them with the gift of one bronchoscope, the director of the hospital asked me if we could find a way to repair one of their damaged scopes so that they would have a back up. Ruben was the person who suggested you might be able to help, which you graciously did, and I brought it back to Nicaragua in June 2008 when we had a medical team working in the mountains of Nicaragua. We will be returning to La Mascota in February 2009 for another surgical mission.
Dr. Geraldo Mejia, director of the hospital, and the surgeons and physicians of La Mascota, could not have been more grateful to receive the help you gave them. There is nothing more frustrating to trained physicians than to be without the means of diagnosing problems because they lack adequate equipment.
May all of you at Instruments of Mercy know that your help is making a difference for impoverished children and may God reward you for your generosity.
Sincerely,
Sheryl Snyder, President
Hope Clinic International
