Mario Catarino Hospital Near Collapse

I left for San Pedro Sula this afternoon to run errands. While I was in town, a pediatrician friend of mine called to talk to me about a mutual patient he has been seeing. I told him I was close and would stop by his office to talk. I thought it a better alternative than driving in busy city traffic and talking on the cell phone at the same time :)

Allan Caraccioli is an amazing pediatrician. I owe him my children's lives in fact. He pulled both Juan and Jessica through when everyone else thought all hope was lost. Whenever I have a critically ill child, he's the one I run to for help. He is in charge of the neonatal ICU at the large public hospital in San Pedro Sula along with running a very busy private practice of his own. He's one of the elite, very gifted, best in the business specialists who believes in sharing his gifts with the very poorest of Honduras. Whenever I have a sick child from the mountain that needs more extensive evaluation or treatment than we can provide, he is always there to help. He refuses to charge me for his services but instead prefers that I bake pumpkin bread with extra pecans for payment in kind. He has been a good friend and mentor here in Honduras for many years.

Perhaps you can understand why it was particularly disturbing to me to see my friend look really tired and worried. During the course of our conversation, Allan told me the public hospital in San Pedro Sula where he works is near collapse. The medications and supplies have been depleted. Because of the political situation, its consequences with regard to international monetary aid and the economic crisis in Honduras, there are not enough public funds to provide medical services for the ever growing population of desperately poor people who look to governmental health care for treatment. He went on to say that even some of the most basic medications such as ampicillin are running out. With great sadness in his eyes, he confessed that depression looms over him each day as patients die because of lack of adequate resources. At one point last week he said he had to stop himself in mid-stride to remember that it isn't his fault that patients die. They aren't dying because of his lack of expertise...they are dying because there is nothing left to use to treat them.

I want for you to know how grateful I am that the Fellow Man clinic nearly always has what is needed to take care of sick and hurting people. Perhaps you will never know how often you come to mind when just the right medication is found on the shelf to really help someone. My heart aches for the suffering of the poor, but it does not despair because I have my faith in a God greater than the now and I have you who have so selflessly sacrificed to assure I am never alone in this place. Thank you all for your kindnesses. If it isn't too much to ask, keep Dr. Allan in your prayers. The hospital and the poor need for him to be there. I would ask that God give him the strength he needs to continue on in the face of what surely seems like futility.