2016 Brigade Report

2015-03-19 09.08.34 Hello friends and supporters! It's been a while since we've posted an update, but we've been busy behind the scenes.

Last year's mission was a great success. We treated hundreds of children in the clinics, and delivered much-needed supplies.

For the first time, dental residents joined us on the trip, and they had a very rewarding experience. Not only did they receive valuable training and experience, but also they helped to teach the local dentists some of their strategies. You can read more about it here.

We're in the process of preparing for next year's trip, which is just around the corner. We are very excited to welcome Dr. Ben Klein, a developmental pediatrician from Hamilton, Ontario, and Ashley Jakovljevic, a children's occupational therapist from Hamilton, Ontario, to our team.

Ben and Ashley are going to work with the medical team at the clinics as well as in a local rehabilitation centre in Gracias. They will bring a new dimension to the services we provide at the clinics.

We are also hoping to bring dental residents again this year. They were a huge help to our dental team last year, and it was a great learning experience for them.

As for fundraising, we are not planning any large shipments this time. We are, however, gathering supplies for the clinics. Some of the items on our "wish list" are:

- used but no longer needed orthotics, such as Ankle Foot Orthosis;

- unopened, not expired as of May 2015, scabies treatment cream (permethrin 5%);

- sample or over-the-counter children's pain medications (e.g. ibuprofen, acetaminophen) that are unopened and not expired as of May 2015;

- children's vitamins; and

- last, but not least, funds to purchase the prescription medications we need to supply our clinics.

If you are able to donate any of the medical supplies on our list, please get in touch with us by leaving a comment.

If you are able to donate funds for supplies, please click here! Select “other” when choosing where to direct your donation, and specify Honduras Medical and Dental Team, Account 70-410-01.

If you want to make a donation by Credit Card, you can call Janine Ogglesby at the London Health Sciences Foundation - (519) 685-8300 ext 52364.

You can also send in donations by mail to the following address: London Health Sciences Foundation Attention: Janine Ogglesby 747 Baseline Road East London, Ontario, N6C 2R6

**Please include Account # 70-410-01 on all donations and specify Honduras Medical and Dental Pediatric Team

Thank you all for you support and encouragement.

We'll be back soon with more updates about our plans for the trip and fundraising.

Oversized Arrival

2 flights, 20 pieces of luggage and 3200 kilometers later we have arrived in Honduras!! We left Toronto in boots and coats which we quickly shed on arrival as the weather was beautiful and warm (~30 degrees Celsius)! It has been quite an adventure getting here but luckily all of our cargo made it safely to the airport in San Pedro Sula. We want to thank Avianca Airlines for generously waiving our over weight luggage fees. Without their help we would not have been able to bring all of our medication boxes! Arrival at San Pedro Sula Airport

We definitely didn't pass unnoticed carting our huge boxes marked with Canadian flags on them !Luckily we breezed through customs and didn't need to open all of the boxes for inspection like they did last year. We were so grateful at how smooth everything went as customs in Honduras can be quite tricky at times.

Danielle loading our boxes at customs

We were welcomed by two locals named Armando and Rigoberto who brought two government pick up trucks for transporting all of our supplies.

Our transportation

They drove us to our lodging in San Pedro Sula which is where we will stay tonight and then make our three hour journey to the city of Gracias tomorrow which will be our headquarters for the next six days. As they say in Honduras Hasta Mañana (until tomorrow)!

The 2014 Medical and Dental Team