A rooster crows. The sun shimmies up behind still dark hills. Cups of coffee in hand, Drs Dan Federman and Eric Chanko step out of rustic quarters and breathe in the calm morning air lying over the village of Opataro, Honduras. It is a calm they know will soon dissipate, as dozens of villagers from Opatoro and 16 surrounding towns line up outside the clinic to see the American doctors there to aid Opatoro’s one physician and dentist. Some of the villagers will have walked three hours, to wait three hours in line. For many, this will be their only opportunity this year to receive treatment for ongoing health issues. For others, it is their chance to get “the equivalent of 30 Tylenol pills,” said Dr Federman, to tide them over the next months.

Dr Federman and Dr Chanko, both Newtown residents and internal medicine practitioners, have visited Opatoro in past years, as has Dr Federman’s wife, Grace, also an internist and a dermatologist with Dermatologist Associates in Danbury. On May 16, Dr Dan Federman and Dr Chanko, accompanied by Gillian Chanko, a sophomore at Newtown High School, will board a plane at La Guardia Airport in New York for Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Opatoro is a four-hour truck ride beyond Tegucigalpa, over unpaved mountain roads, where they will spend seven days tending to the needs of people who, according to Dr Chanko “have nothing.”

Dan Federman currently is a professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine and associate chief of medicine at VA Connecticut Health Care System. Dr Chanko has a practice in Ithaca, N.Y., commuting every other week between his home in Newtown and Ithaca.

Drs Federman and Chanko, and Gillian, will travel with 18 team members of the newly formed Community Health Partnership-Honduras (CHPH) organization, which until this past year operated under the umbrella of Cape CARES (Central American Relief Service). The new organization allows the doctors to provide support to health care workers in rural Central American villages, working toward creating a sustainable model of care, “rather than just coming in for a week and leaving,” said Dr Federman.

This will be Dr Federman’s fifth mission. He has traveled to an even more remote region of the Honduras, to the Dominican Republic, and for the past two years, to Opatoro. Dr Grace Federman, a board member for CHPH, has traveled twice to Honduras. For Dr Chanko, this will be his second visit to Opatoro, and his daughter’s first mission.

“We partner with a local Honduran doctor and dentist at the clinic they work at in Opatoro,” Dan Federman said. “We try to lend our expertise to the local doctor and dentist, and teach them new skills,” he said. In return, the local doctor is able to help the American volunteers navigate the Honduran health system, something that stymied assistance the year he volunteered in an undoctored village. “We had patients who needed extended care, beyond what we could provide, but we didn’t know how to get them that help,” said Dr Federman. He sees the value of the temporary aide offered by waves of volunteer groups in those instances, but feels he can do more through educating and assisting where health programs already exist.

Returning to the same clinic allows for some continuity of care, as well. “I have seen some of the patients each year,” said Dr Federman, and he expects to see some of those familiar faces again this year.

The assistance the American team provides to the local doctor and dentist carries through the year, he added. While in Honduras, they train the doctor on new techniques; schedule patients’ follow-ups with her; and remain a resource once they have returned to America. Communication between the doctors is ongoing, Dr Federman said.

From treating colds, wounds, and broken bones to diagnosing advanced cases of hepatitis, performing minor surgery, and offering basic well-child information, the doctors see a range of patients during the week they are in Opatoro. Approximately 800 people will pass through the clinic doors during the seven days the American team is on site.

Inspired To Kindness

While interested in mission work for many years, Dr Federman said that since 12/14, he and his wife have become much more involved. Dan Federman is the medical director now for CHPH. After reading that families of the 12/14 victims suggested that the best way to honor those lost that day would be to perform acts of kindness, they have committed themselves to reaching out beyond their comfort zones.

“We think of the [12/14] victims daily, when we’re working in the Honduras,” said Dr Federman.

It was Dr Federman’s enthusiasm about the wonderful experiences helping in Honduras that convinced Dr Chanko to join the expedition. His first visit was not disappointing, said Dr Chanko, and he looks forward to the return trip.

“It’s what I always envisioned it would be to be a doctor. It’s patient-to-doctor, simple and effective,” he said.

“I want to help people,” said Gillian. Inspired after seeing a movie about the lost boys of Sudan, she begged her father to let her accompany him this year on a mission. Plans for other mission trips to Haiti during the school break fell through, so Dr Chanko agreed to let her miss a week of school to go to Honduras.

“It’s a valuable experience. She’ll get a worthwhile enough experience to merit missing a week of school,” said Dr Chanko. Gillian will be one of the support team members, helping in the pharmacy, providing child care for patients, and acting as a goodwill ambassador.

“The people who organize this trip aren’t just doctors,” said Dr Chanko. Translators and support members are important to the success of the visits. “These are just people who care,” he said, and he is proud to be part of the team.

The clinic in Opatoro is not the only place the American team provides care while in Honduras. “Some of the biggest things we’re doing are home visits. That’s my favorite,” Dr Federman said. He recalled a visit to a young man, now a paraplegic after an accident. It is an hour’s drive and another hour of hiking to see this man, who is bedridden. They treat him for bedsores and other issues related to his condition.

“Last year, as we left, he started to cry and asked for a private moment,” Dr Federman said. The man feared more urinary tract infections. He had only one catheter left and no way to pay for more. Without clean catheters, Dr Federman said, he would be prone to more infections.

CHPH volunteers bring with them several boxes of supplies to supplement the clinic and to give out to patients, such as this one. “Our team supplied him with enough catheters for the next year,” he said.

What Dr Chanko has found even more uplifting is hearing that since they last saw this young man, he has found a vocation.

“We’re told that someone else brought him a pair of scissors. Now he’s the barber for the people in his little village. It’s amazing,” Dr Chanko said.

What gets to him, Dr Chanko said, is the gratitude and generosity of the people they encounter. “These are people with absolutely nothing. But at the end of our trip, the villagers made a whole big surprise party to thank us, with a live band and food. They went to all this trouble for us,” he said.

Community Health Partnership-Honduras volunteers must donate to the organization, and are responsible for their own airfare. The organization relies on private donations to support their efforts, and Drs Federman and Chanko hope to find support for upcoming local fundraisers. Cash donations are the most useful way to help, said Dr Federman, allowing the group to purchase what is most needed, as it is needed.

To donate, or to find out how to donate medical equipment or supplies, visit www.communityhealthpartnership-honduras.com.

Dr Chanko is enthusiastic about the future of CHPH. “When I’m telling people about it, so many have expressed an interest in joining us one year. This thing could grow,” he said. “People want to help.”