Dr. Santiago Cerna
Posted 1 year, 5 months ago at 4:26 pm. Add a comment
Doctor Santiago Cerna, a surgeon from Tegucigalpa, has been coming and helping at the Rancho Santa Fe since 2001. He first arrived to help a friend contact NPH Honduras, but soon found a close relationship with Reinhart Koehler. In late 2001 he brought a Mobile Surgery Trailer to the Ranch and began performing minor operations for the pequeños here at NPH Honduras. Although unable to work here full time he received permission from his employer, Hospital San Felipe, to perform surgeries once a week.
After three years of working only with children he and the weekly brigade saw the local population’s need for their work and affordable aid as well. Now, he still arrives each Wednesday and has a slate full of patients with cysts, in-grown toenails, fatty-tissues, and warts.
To do these operations the newly opened Holy Family Surgery Center serves as his base of operations. Patients come weekly and receive evaluations and return dates for surgeries. But with the reputation of the Center and Dr. Cerna spreading; an ever growing number of patients are coming to seek help. As of now the waiting list is about four weeks long, as only six to nine patients can be seen each week.
Dr. Cerna performing a simple surgery in 2007.
When not here on the Ranco, Dr. Cerna works full time at Hospital San Felipe as a Pediatric Surgeon. “I love to come here” he says, “I love this work, it makes me happy. From the beginning I liked the project, to help people in the rural areas and bring quality medicine to them.”
Dr. Cerna is a model citizen and a good doctor, showing the true heart that it takes to make a difference in the world. He even has a godchild who he sponsors at the Ranch, Stefanie. Each week she tries to come and see him when he’s around, and the two of them share a familiar smile and warm hug. With his help the children here at Rancho Santa Fe and the communities nearby have found affordable healthcare and caring arms in which to put their trust and medical needs.
Dr. Cerna is looking to retire soon and hopes to have the opportunity to spend even more time here on the Ranch.
Contributed by Benjamin Katz
Home Correspondent