Vamos a El Palmar

Así es la vida of El Palmar.

Set high up in the mountains, El Palmar is a small town with a population of just under 1,500.  As of a census just taken last month, nearly 79% of the town's population is under the age of 40 and 47% of the population in El Palmar is under the age of 14.

Climbing the mountains in two vans and a small bus, we arrived at the Health Center for El Palmar.  Even though the town was humble, it was clear that the center kept good care of its people with the resources it had.  A map hung from the wall that showed every house in the town, schools, soccer fields, the pregnant women at the time, and the newborn babies.  Posters hung throughout the center explaining malnutrition, depression and various other ailments that could affect the people.

Like they did in Esquipulas, the volunteers with Hearts in Motion set up three stations in the center.  One station was for ear cleaning, another for general medicine and the last for dentistry.  A great group of people were already waiting to be a seen and a line wrapped around the building.  I played soccer with a young group of boys on the side of the building, trying to keep the children entertained while they waited in the heat to see the dentist.

Once the kids started to run circles around me in my old age, I headed inside.  However, once I stepped inside, the circles that had ran around me outside, continued.  Dentists, assistants, nurses and students hurried throughout the center, trying to treat as many people as they could.  I quickly learned the necessary Spanish to help translate in the dentistry clinic and asked people which teeth were bothering them.  Many people pointed out three or four teeth with severe cavities.  Others only had pieces of teeth still remaining.  I would warn the patient of the lidocaine injection before sending them to the dentist to inevitably get their teeth pulled.  Several people had seven or eight teeth pulled in one sitting.

In total, the dental clinic alone saw 93 patients.  Of those 93 patients, 224 teeth were pulled.  Obviously dental hygiene isn't prevalent in El Palmar.  Three of us went outside to hand out toothbrushes and teach children to brush in circles from all sides.  They also won prizes if they proved to us that they knew the proper technique.

 

Looking around El Palmar, and the people that had gathered, again I saw the impact that Hearts in Motion has on this region.  Not only in El Palmar, but in Esquipulas, the hospital and other clinics scattered throughout various villages, masses gather waiting for the arrival of the medical staff, as you can see below in the picture showing the people walking to the clinic.  Starting as a small operation sending certain patients to the States for surgery, it has become a staple of the region. Most of the time it is the only health care that the people can afford.  The gratitude from patients continues to overwhelm and touch all of us, and it is clear that the vision is growing and will continue to grow.

For example, as we left El Palmar after a long day at the clinic, we stopped by a humble house on the side of the road.  Karen, the founder of Hearts in Motion, had recently met this family and was touched by their story.  The mother has two mentally challenged children and makes rope to support the household.  She showed us how she makes rope and quickly wove together the picture you see below.  What was more beautiful than the rope was the pride on the woman's face as we admired her work.

Hearts in Motion has its hand in every thing it can.  I have stood alongside therapists, surgeons, nurses, teachers, caregivers, prosthetic technicians and now dentists throughout this trip.  Other students have also helped at construction sites that H.I.M. is funding as well.  For me, Hearts in Motion takes the saying "See a need, fill a need" to an entirely new level.