Dear Brigade Supporter

It amazes me how year after year the Brigade’s dedicated volunteers, stateside and in Honduras, work together to bring high impact services and interventions to some of the most needy people in the world.

I stand in awe of our team for the personal sacrifice they make being away from family, friends and work for 8 to 11 days, for their exceptionally high quality work, and for the critical services the provided to thousands of underserved Honduran citizens in Comayagua and poverty-stricken, outlying rural villages. Our 9th annual medical mission trip, in November of 2008, was the largest, most productive and most diverse Brigade ever.

Our 80-member team provided over 8,600 patient services. This included 76 surgeries at the public Regional Hospital Santa Teresa, 225 hearing assessments (with 70 hearing aids fitted) at Fundacion CasAyuda, a center for the disabled, 370 physical therapy services both in the field and at Centro de Rehabilitacion Integral de Comayagua, 72 amputee evaluations, as well as 3,027 distributed eyeglasses and 4,865 adult/pediatric primary care services in four isolated villages and a location in Comayagua.

Our successful Remote Village Project was initiated in 2005 to provide sustainable healthcare models in isolated areas. We carefully selected Honduran community leaders in two villages and trained them as Community Healthcare Workers to treat five of the most common health conditions. In the last year, these workers provided over 2,000 medical services to their villages, with over 90% diagnostic accuracy. There is virtually no access to healthcare in these areas, and our Brigade continues to provide quarterly clinical training and supplies as needed to these healthcare workers. The Remote Village Project will expand into one additional village in 2009.

As an outgrowth of our Remote Village Project, in 2007, the Brigade also embarked on efforts to improve water and sanitation conditions in these villages, to address the root cause of many of the health conditions in y=these remote villages. On October 22, 2008, with project management and funding assistance from the Brigade, the village of Valle Bonito inaugurated new potable water and sanitation systems. Now, 1,800 people in 290 homes have sustainable access to safe drinking water, piped into each home, and to improved sanitation facilities (pour-flush latrines) both in full compliance with the parameters established by the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals in 2000. A similar water and sanitation project now underway in San Antonio de la Libertad is expected to be completed in 2009.

Insuring the foundation for our success is the exceptional generosity of the individuals and organizations that provide the funds, medical supplies and logistical support to the Brigade’s efforts. Chief among these is the Virginia Hospital Center, which has provided unwavering support since our inception. CrossLink International has been an incredible source for donated and low-cost medical supplies. Two years ago, Booz Allen Hamilton joined the Brigade “family”; they have provided invaluable technical and project management support (see www.boozallen.com/news/40627138). The many members of the Lions Clubs International, in both the US and in Honduras, have played an instrumental part in planning and pre-mission coordination efforts. Including the 2008 mission team, over 450 individuals and organizations contributed to the Medical Brigade in 2008, each one playing an important role in the life-changing impact we are proud to make on those who lack even the most basic of healthcare services.

Thank you so much.

Barry

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