Bethel University

Belize

Team volunteers from Bethel University consisted of a medical doctor, who is the Dean of the College of Health Sciences, a professor of nursing, a pharmacist and seventeen Nursing and PA students. Once they arrived in Belize, they traveled aboard a school bus down to the Toledo district, which is in the southern portion of the country arriving late that evening. The first day was spent sorting all of the donations they received including medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, dental products and personal hygiene items. The team made individual packets of medication such as ibuprofen, Tylenol and vitamins which could be easily dispensed at the various clinics. The next day half of the team set off for a village of Machakila. This required a three-hour bus ride on dirt roads to the village of Dolores and from there they loaded supplies onto horseback. Finally they walked the 7 mile hike in to Machakila. Machakila is on the Guatemalan border with a population of 112! They saw 80 patients in this village. The remaining team members saw patients in the villages of San Marco and Mabilha. The remainder of the week, the team worked together seeing patients in three larger villages and in total they were able to see 926 patients with ailments ranging from simple fungal infections to new onset diabetes and hypertension.