Long-term Sustainability Witnessed in Nicaragua

While I saw first-hand the long-term impact of our pneumococcal vaccine program among Nicaraguans in the Managua region, a team of Project HOPE volunteer doctors and nurses were making a difference in the lives of hundreds of Nicaraguans in the remote coastal town of Bluefields.

For ten days, beginning September 16th, HOPE volunteers, along with Navy medical personnel on board the USS Iwo Jima, have provided health care and health education to Nicaraguans in need, as part of the 2010 Continuing Promise humanitarian outreach program. (I hope you have been following the daily blogs from our volunteers on the ship.)

This 2010 Continuing Promise mission is the twentieth humanitarian assistance mission that HOPE has partnered with the U.S. Navy since the response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2005. Since then, HOPE volunteers, Navy medical personnel and representatives from other NGOs have cared for more than 550,000 patients and provided health education to more than 115,000 doctors, nurses and other health care workers.

In Bluefields, HOPE volunteers have seen more than 600 patients daily and provided health education classes on topics such as diabetes, hypertension, women’s health and basic hygiene to more than 300 people each day.

Anne Borden, MPH, RN, is one HOPE volunteer who is teaching patients to better manage their chronic diseases. Anne tells her students that the burden of a chronic disease, such as diabetes, may be heavy. But the knowledge gained by learning to live with the disease stays with you forever and helps you to better manage it.

Back in Managua, I had the pleasure of meeting the U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, Robert Callahan. Ambassador Callahan has visited the USS Iwo Jima and witnessed the truly heroic humanitarian work of the HOPE volunteers and U.S. Navy personnel. I listened as the Ambassador and USAID Director for Nicaragua, Norma Parker, shared their support of a healthier Nicaragua through humanitarian aid initiatives.

Humanitarian aid is often believed to be only related to disaster relief efforts. Yet, this aid comes in many forms, as I have mentioned. A common thread in the humanitarian aid programs HOPE delivers, whether it be in response to a natural disaster or a pressing health challenge – is long-term sustainability. This is being seen in Nicaragua today.

John

Informing Nicaraguans About Pneumococcal Vaccine

I was an unexpected visitor in the homes of Nicaraguans, throughout the country, last Friday morning.

As a guest on the top-rated Nicaraguan morning show Primer Plano with its host, Adolfo Pastran, my message about Project HOPE was beamed into households across the country.

The focus of my message was to let Nicaraguans know about the pneumococcal vaccine program HOPE is conducting with the Nicaragua Ministry of Health, thanks to the generous donation of 1 million doses of vaccine from Merck & Co., Inc.

Communication is a critical element of any public health campaign. While ensuring that 1 million Nicaraguans will not develop pneumonia – Latin America’s #1 killer – is a monumental task, it will not achieve its objective without awareness of the program.

After my live 30-minute interview on Primer Plano, I returned to my hotel for a media briefing with several Nicaraguan television, newspaper and magazine reporters. I spent more than two hours with the reporters enlisting their support to make sure as many Nicaraguans as possible become aware of this vaccine initiative.

One reporter with whom I met with was Oscar Miranda Uriarte, perhaps the most recognized media personality in Nicaragua. Oscar said that 44 years ago he stood on the dock at Corinto reporting as a young journalist on the visit of the SS HOPE to Nicaragua. He told me that on that first historic visit, many Nicaraguans thought the SS HOPE belonged to the country’s First Family because at the time the First Lady’s name was Hope.

I also met with a young magazine journalist, Esther Pirado, from NICASALUD, the country’s organization of NGOs of which HOPE is a member. Esther is the daughter a nurse who received training from the American volunteer nurses aboard the SS HOPE in 1966. To this day, Esther’s mother, as well as the other Nicaraguan doctors and nurses who received training on the SS HOPE, still come together to share stories about their life-changing experience.

One observation made in my blogs from Honduras, holds true in Nicaragua as well. And that is the high caliber of the HOPE staff. Though smaller in number than their Honduras colleagues, the Nicaragua HOPE staff is accomplishing great things with its limited resources.

Under the direction of Dr. Mario Ortega, who has been among the leadership of HOPE Nicaragua for 15 years, the organization is well respected among the country’s health care leaders. So respected are HOPE and Dr. Ortega, that he has been asked to join a Pan American Health Organization team to conduct a countrywide assessment of vaccination programs. This is an immense honor for Dr. Ortega and HOPE.

HOPE’s objective in Nicaragua is to provide sustainable health care programs to address the country’s most pressing health care challenges. With the expertise of the HOPE staff, and with the support of the Nicaragua Ministry of Health, there are no limits to what we can accomplish together.

John

Renewing old relationships and forming new ones

Life is about relationships. And as far as relationships go, today was a banner day. New relationships were formed, and old ones renewed.

Along a winding, narrow, rocky road on the top of a mountain about two hours outside of Managua sits a small community called San Pedro. The people of San Pedro are fortunate in having a community health clinic operated by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health. This is the setting where several new relationships were created today.

Dr. Samir Aguilar Parrales is the head of the MOH Regional Office in the Nicaraguan state of Chontales, where San Pedro is located. Dr. Parrales is passionate about seeing that Nicaraguans receive the best care possible. This was obvious as we watched him interact with members of the community.

Dr. Parrales greeted me warmly, and there was an instant connection. He said that words could not express the gratitude he felt toward Project HOPE and Merck for the generous donation of 1 million doses of PNEUMOVAX vaccine to protect people over age 50 from the pneumococcal organism, the leading cause of pneumonia.

Dr. Parrales gave me a tour of the bare three-room clinic. He introduced me to his dedicated nursing staff and to the gregarious Don Mario, the community’s leader. Don Mario was trained by the clinic’s staff to encourage San Pedro’s residents to get vaccinated. Don Mario, another new-found friend, is very persuasive. While at the clinic, I witnessed one of his community members being vaccinated.

Less than six weeks into the campaign, nearly 80,000 men and women over 50 have been vaccinated throughout Nicaragua. With spirited leaders like Dr. Parrales, the program will succeed and 1 million Nicaraguans will be less likely to develop pneumonia – Latin America’s #1 killer.

Today also brought the renewal of a relationship that is near and dear to my heart, as I sat down with a great leader and friend, Nicaragua’s Vice President Jaime Morales.

I met the Vice President when on my first visit to Nicaragua three years ago. We were standing on the dock at Corinto waiting for a helicopter to take us to the USNS Comfort where we would visit HOPE volunteer physicians and nurses. As we stood looking at the great white hospital ship in the distance, Jaime turned to me and said this was an emotional moment. Forty-one years earlier, he had stood on the same spot waiting to visit the original great white hospital ship, the SS HOPE. Then and there, a bond was formed between us.

Jaime has a warm smile and a countenance that exudes wisdom. It brought me no small amount of joy to share news of another group of HOPE volunteers, now aboard the USS Iwo Jima, treating Nicaraguans in need and, as well, to update him on our vaccination program.

Life is about relationships. Be they new or existing, relationships enrich our lives and give us the ability to do more for others – like make a difference in the lives of millions of Nicaraguans.

John

HOPE in Nicaragua

Throw a stone any direction in Nicaragua, and it will land on a health care challenge. Dr. Jorge Luis Prosperi, who heads the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) here in Managua, used these words to describe the health status of the country.

Dr. Prosperi has a valid point. Suicide among Nicaragua’s young people is a growing concern. Accidents on the roads are increasingly taking more lives. Pneumonia is the #1 killer in Latin American and a leading cause of death in Nicaragua.

Despite these and other alarming trends, I would offer a slight variation on Dr. Prosperi’s observation. Throw a stone any direction in Nicaragua, and it will fall on someone trying to address a major health care problem.

I will now demonstrate what I mean.

Throughout the past 44 years, Project HOPE has been addressing health care challenges in Nicaragua. Recently, HOPE and the Nicaragua Minister of Health launched an aggressive countrywide immunization program to protect adults over age 50 from the pneumococcal organism, a leading cause of pneumonia. The program is made possible by a generous donation of 1 million doses of the vaccine PNEUMOVAX from Merck & Co., Inc.

Today, Eduardo Cortes, Managing Director of Merck’s Central America and Dominican Republic Region, joined me in going to the homes of three special people in Granada, an hour’s drive from Managua, who had received the PNEUMOVAX vaccine – Jose, Isabel and Juanita. Isabel told Eduardo that he and his Merck colleagues have earned “a special place in heaven” because of this donation.

PAHO is another example of an organization marshalling its resources to make a difference in Nicaragua. Its health workers, under the leadership of Dr. Prosperi, can be found in each of the 17 Nicaraguan states, developing and implementing programs to improve the health of women and children.

Finally, Dr. Sonia Castro, Nicaragua’s Minister of Health, is leading a full-court press to address her country’s most pressing health needs. Don’t be fooled by her ever-present smile. Behind Dr. Castro’s smile is a passionate and determined leader who is driving the health care agenda of the country’s President, Daniel Ortega. Top on her list of priorities are:

• Emphasizing “human warmth” in health care
• Making access to health care a right for all Nicaraguans
• Improving health care to women and children

You can see there are a number of health professionals, as well as organizations, standing shoulder to shoulder addressing Nicaragua’s health challenges. And HOPE is one of them, looking forward to continuing its 44-year legacy in the country for years to come.

Check back for more tomorrow,

John

Visiting HOPE sites in Honduras and Nicaragua

I hope you can join me virtually as I visit Project HOPE sites in Honduras and Nicaragua next week.

Over the past 17 years, Project HOPE has helped more than 24,000 women and their families through our Village Health Banks – a micro-lending program. I will meet with some of the women whose lives have changed as a result of the program. I look forward to sharing their stories with you.

In 1966, the SS HOPE docked in Corinto, Nicaragua, beginning a 44-year relationship with the people of this important Central American country.

Recently, thanks to a generous donation of 1 million doses of a pneumonia vaccine from Merck & Co., Inc., HOPE launched a campaign in collaboration with the Nicaragua Ministry of Health to vaccinate men and women with chronic diseases. I will share first-hand updates with you, from one of the vaccination locations.

While I wish you could join me in person, I hope you will join me online to see how your support is making a difference in the lives of the people of Honduras and Nicaragua.

I’ll see you online.

John