Holy Family Surgery Center Medical Charity

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos

 

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos International is a Christian mission that strives to provide a permanent family and home for orphaned, abandoned and other at-risk children who live in conditions of extreme poverty. Our programs provide quality education, 
health care and spiritual formation with the goal of raising good Christians and productive members of 
their respective societies.

NPH History

In 1954, a boy was arrested for stealing from the poor box of a small church in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The young priest in charge, Father William Wasson of the United States, was unwilling to press charges against this “thief.” Instead, he asked for custody of the boy. By year’s end, there were 32 children in residence and Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH), Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters,” was born.

Since then, NPH has given more than 15,900 children that same second chance — the opportunity not just to survive, but to thrive. Rancho Santa Fe in Honduras was the second NPH home to open in 1986. Today NPH also has homes in seven other countries: Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru and The Dominican Republic. Overall, NPH cares for on a daily basis over 3,300 children in a loving, secure environment. Through Community Outreach programs, we offer services to over 40,000 children and adults.

 

NPH Honduras Healthcare

Our medical programs tend to the healthcare needs of our children, staff, volunteers, and members from our neighboring communities. We are proud to be able to offer professional medical attention to thousands of people each year who would otherwise be unable to afford services. Our facilities include an internal clinic and pharmacy, a community clinic and laboratory, a dental clinic, and the Holy Family Surgery Center. A new staff position of Healthcare Coordinator was added last year to better integrate and improve communication among these areas.

Out of all the NPH homes, NPH Honduras has the highest number of children living with HIV on premises. Rancho Santa Fe is currently home to 24 HIV+ children and youths who travel weekly to the capital city of Tegucigalpa for consults and testing. This year we formalized a special HIV care program, designating one nurse and volunteer to work specifically with these children, providing more continuity and consistency in their healthcare. At the core of the program are support groups where our children meet twice a month, over a meal, to discuss topics related to their conditions and learn more about how to care for themselves and one another. Through these sessions many questions have been answered, and a real community has emerged, helping these children to confront their conditions in honest, constructive, and responsible ways.

Another new program this year was a vision initiative headed up by a volunteer optometrist from Germany. With her dedication, vision exams were performed on our staff, community members, and children and over 50 of our kids received nice-looking, specially prescribed glasses to help them in their studies and reading. Luis, 11, who had always been embarrassed by his glasses before, now wears them proudly, looking smart and handsome, and improved grades due to better reading are an added benefit!

Our clinics have undergone a flurry of construction improvements this year, among them window installations and room divisions in our external clinic, roof repair and installation of a new examination chair in our dental clinic, an addition to our laboratory, and construction of a storehouse and x-ray lab for our surgery center.

Progress this past year in the Holy Family Surgery Center included the installation of an air conditioning system and a special gas system, remodeling of the floors, and the purchase of a sterilizer machine. We continue to work toward meeting national standards to pass necessary government inspections. 

Average monthly consultations:

• Community clinic: 629
• Internal clinic: 186
• Dentistry clinic: 130