At the end of a road in eastern Honduras, lies the town of Pranza. It is situated on the banks of the Rio Coco, which serves as a physical border between Nicaragua and Honduras. Pranza is a small community, smaller than many other villages in Gracias a Dios and it takes quite a bit of commitment to get to this town at the end of the road. But MEDICO has found its way here, and in January 2025 a brigade team of nurses, dentists, a nurse practitioner, translators, construction workers, and logistical staff made the long trek down the end of a dirt road in Eastern Honduras.
If you look on Google Maps, you will see a hospital symbol in the town of Pranza. The lovely green building pictured is not actually a hospital, but a clinic that MEDICO helped to build a few years ago. Out of this clinic, the Honduran community health nurse provides immunizations, limited medications (when available), education, and referrals to the hospital in Puerto Lempira. However, resources for this sole medical practitioner are quite limited, and there is no village dentist. To assist, MEDICO has partnered with the community of Pranza to help provide additional medical and dental care that often is unavailable.
Our team of US and Honduran based volunteers set up our clinic in the community’s church building, the largest building in the town, to see the people traveling from as far as 6 hours away to receive medical and dental care. A group of volunteers had arrived in Pranza a day before the clinical volunteers to deliver our supplies and transform this church from a place of worship to a place of work. For 3 days from sun up to sun down we held clinic.
Those with dental needs met with the dentists who would, when able, provide restorations / fillings. More often than not, dental extractions were required due to the extent of the decay and risk of future infection. Oral hygiene kits were passed out, and fluoride treatments were provided to the children. The nurses met each and every patient waiting to be evaluated by a medical provider. The nurses gathered medical history and chief complaints, assessed patients and performed testing as appropriate, and administered medications as treatments as ordered. The nurses would assist in pharmacy to fill prescriptions or answer questions regarding medication orders. They even would assist the dentists as needed during dental procedures.
Our sole medical provider this trip was a nurse practitioner with extensive experience working in rural communities and a veteran MEDICO volunteer. She was able to see 80+ patients every day, and even though the days were long, by the end of the last clinic day all the patients who had traveled to be seen were seen.
While most people travel to the clinic to be seen, we did have a request to visit a patient in his home who was bedridden. The patient was a young man who had suffered an injury years before which had left his legs paralyzed and recently had developed bedsores. The medical team provided what limited care we could (IV fluids, antibiotics, Tylenol for pain and fever), but his needs far exceeded what we were equipped to provide. MEDICO arranged emergency transportation for the patient to the hospital in Puerto Lempira, and a truck arrived in Pranza the following day with a plan to send team members with the patient on the journey. In the end, the patient elected to remain at home with his family, fearing the pain and discomfort of a 4+ hour bumpy, dusty ride in the back of truck. The medical team continued to visit the young man and his family daily while on site, providing one of the few things we could – our presence and acknowledgement of another’s suffering. It was a challenging situation, but it provided an intimate connection with the man’s family and the community as the team banded
together and we left knowing we had done all that we could.
A powerful take-away on this trip was the importance of local partnerships in contributing to the success of MEDICO’s health mission. Partnership with local Hondurans in Puerto Lempira who act as drivers, translators, logistical support and general problem solvers; partnership with community health nurses in each of the villages in Gracias a Dios, partnership with community leaders in the villages, partnership with other aid workers and organizations in the region, and partnership with local Honduran medical/dental professionals. Without these relationships and the trust and communication that many people have helped develop over the years, the work of MEDICO would not be possible. What an honor it is to partner with such amazing people who have been dedicated to providing medical, dental, and eye care to Gracias a Dios for decades. We hope to return on future trips with MEDICO to continue supporting the amazing and meaningful work of such a great organization.
As shared by Drew Ignazio and Sarah Krien
