By Jordan Gass-Poore'
San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero accepted Sam Huenergardt’s, Central Texas Medical Center’s CEO, invitation to join him and the CTMC medical team on the October Honduras medical mission trip. Guerrero said he was honored to be invited and eager to be of assistance to the CTMC medical team and the Honduran people.
Guerrero said this was his and Huenergardt’s first time in Honduras, and his first time working on a mission trip.
Guerrero said he and Sam went to Honduras with the intentions of serving as “traffic control”- running errands for the CTMC medical team. However, he said Karen Morris, CTMC ancillary services administrative director, asked him and Huenergardt to join a Honduran coordinator around Pena Blanca, Honduras to look at local projects.
The meeting with the Honduran coordinator turned into four days of meetings with 10-12 of the country's mayors, various political heads of state, state representatives, clinic directors and board members.
Guerrero said the Honduran political representatives asked for his opinion on the needs of the country and how they can be fulfilled. He said television cameras would appear during his visits to Honduran health clinics to film his interviews with the representatives. He said the interviews were aired on the country’s various news broadcasts.
Morris, Honduras medical mission trip director, and Guerrero said in Honduras, being mayor is a “very prestigious” position. He said his stay in the Pan American Health Services, Inc. Children’s Home dormitories was a first by a U.S. elected official.
Guerrero said his visit drew attention to the country’s health care needs. He said there are clinics who have a large personnel, but do not have cough syrup. He said the doctors can meet with people, but cannot prescribe them medication.
“Sam (Huenergardt) said CTMC could purchase gallons of cough syrup at a time for pennies on the dollar, but (the Honduran people) have limited access,” Guerrero said.
Besides health care access, Guerrero said Honduras has a high birth rate and illiteracy rate. He said he met a 12-year-old girl who had two children.
Honduras does provide federally funded contraception programs. Guerrero said some of the country’s health clinics have posters in their front windows with pictures of the different types of contraceptives they offer for free because of the illiteracy rate.
Guerrero said he would “absolutely” return to Honduras with CTMC.
“It’s given me a hunger to be able to help other people. When you experience stuff like that you come home wanting to do the same because there’s just as much a need here as there is in a Third World country.”
Guerrero said the only problem he had with the Pan American accommodations were the three monkeys the volunteers had to contend with while living in the Pan American dormitories. He said the accommodations were very nice and secure. He said they had armed security with them everywhere they went.
Guerrero said in Third World countries the need applies to “everyone,” as opposed to the U.S., where there are economic minority groups within a community who need assistance.
Lionel Herrera, a Honduran mayor, asked Guerrero for help obtaining a garbage disposal truck. Herrera said the town had money to purchase the truck. However, they did not have the resources to secure the ownership of a truck. Guerrero met with the San Marcos city manager when he returned from Honduras. He said the city manager found an early-‘90s Ford rear-loading garbage disposal truck for donation in Round Rock. Herrera and Guerrero plan to discuss options to transport the truck to Honduras Nov. 25-27. Guerrero encountered one Honduran community with a garbage disposal truck.
JGP: How did you get involved with the October CTMC medical mission trip to Honduras?
DG: The way it started was Sam (Huenergardt) , who’s the CEO of CTMC, had extended the invitation. The hospital goes twice a year in May and October. Sam, this being his first year as CEO, said, ‘Hey, I get to bring someone along and I thought, what better opportunity than to bring the mayor of our local community that we reside within.’
JGP: When did Sam extend the invitation to you?
DG: It was during the summer. I remember I had to make sure my passport was going to be valid during that period and I had to submit an application. In May or June.
JGP: Had you heard of the CTMC medical mission trips prior to being invited last summer?
DG: No. I knew that the hospital was engaged and involved with mission trips, but I never understood where they went or for how long.
JGP: Was there any sort of training or preparation involved prior to going to Honduras?
DG: There were two meetings. I was only able to make one of the meetings. There they really kind of gave you just the overview of what you needed to bring with you, what the schedule was going to be like, what not to take. A lot of the folks that were going were going for multiple times. There were maybe five or six of us who were going for the very first time, Sam and I being two of those five. Everyone else already had some type of experience in Honduras. This wasn’t Sam’s first mission trip; he had been to Haiti shortly after the earthquakes. This was his first time in Honduras. They told us what we could anticipate, it’s a Third World country, so don’t drink the water, be cautious of what you eat, but at the same time just be gracious. We talked about some of the cultural dos and don’ts, but when it came to the medical portion- I’m not a physician, and honestly, neither is Sam. We were learning on the fly.
JGP: Was there an ongoing question you were asked by the mayors in Honduras?
DG: Sanitation was an issue throughout. I think the issues come down to water, water treatment resources and garbage cleanup; everywhere we went they were burning garbage. And general health care. The pregnancy rate in Honduras, which I think is with any Third World country, is just off the charts. It was a real eye opener for me. I don’t understand it. I don’t know if I’d ever had the time to understand the dynamics that would attribute to that. I think they recognize that they have to get ahead of the game.
