At OBHG, we empower our employees to make a meaningful impact in caring for women and children worldwide by supporting their participation in medical mission trips. The flexibility provided by a career as an OB/GYN hospitalist makes it easier for our clinicians to pursue these humanitarian endeavors.
A few OBHG team members recently embarked on a medical mission trip to El Salvador with HOPE worldwide. Lenny Castiglione, OBHG CEO, and OBHG clinicians Dr. Jimmy Ellis and Dr. Jesus Baldonado joined a team of doctors, nurses, HOPE worldwide staff and over 70 local volunteers to provide free medical and dental services to local communities in El Salvador.
Working hand in hand to build healthier communities
The El Salvador Community Service Brigade joined forces to support the rural community of Suchitoto. The team traveled two and a half hours to a children’s school in Suchitoto to provide free medical and dental care. Upon arrival, the team was warmly welcomed and enjoyed a day of service and cultural exchange, learning from the local community.
OBHG’s CEO Lenny Castiglione worked with the dental team applying fluoride treatments to villagers and teaching children how to brush their teeth. There was also a dentist who was performing extractions.
In addition to OBHG’s two OB/GYNs, the medical team also included a pediatrician, nurse and pharmacist. Local volunteers helped set up the clinic, provided meals, and helped the staff with translation services. The clinic saw about 100 people.
The clinic wasn’t all work and no play – Lenny brought soccer balls for the children. The team set up stick goals in an open dirt field and played a championship game of the United States vs. El Salvador.
An inner-city clinic and lessons in flexibility
The following day the brigade set up a clinic in San Salvador, seeing another 100 people. Flexibility is key during medical mission trips – clinicians have to make things work regardless of what the women present with, what kind of exam rooms are available, what tools and equipment are available and other factors.
During the trip, Dr. Baldonado experienced an unexpected patient consult. A man came to the clinic and said “I’m having trouble sleeping and I was wondering if you could prescribe something for me?” Doctor Baldonado asked him why he was having difficulty sleeping. The man then proceeded to explain he was experiencing anxiety due to two mortgages on his home, rising interest rates, and concern about not being able to pay his debts. Dr. Baldonado had to switch not only from OB/GYN to internist to talk to the man, but then turn into a financial advisor and give him advice. Clinicians on a mission trip can expect to experience many unexpected situations like this one.
Empowering women through a women’s health and wellness seminar
On Sunday, Dr. Ellis and Dr. Baldonado hosted a women’s health seminar at a local church. They divided the women into three groups – 20 years old and younger, 20 to 45, and 45+. They broke out into small groups and held question-and-answer sessions for almost two hours.
Translators and local college student volunteers helped bridge communications between the clinicians and the women, allowing the women to ask many educational questions.
Following the seminar, the church hosted a performance for the Community Service Brigade, celebrating their close-knit community, culture, and goodwill.
Lenny Castiglione’s reflections on a rewarding mission trip
“You can make a difference in one person’s life, it doesn’t have to be 1,000 people. We were total strangers to these people and when we showed up, the way that they greeted us was beyond imagination. It’s not waving hello; it’s not shaking hands. They are all about the embrace and about hugging. When the bus pulled up on Friday, they came running out of the schoolyard and started hugging everybody and I was like, this is really it.
“It just is the feel-good factor of gratitude that you’re there. They’re so grateful that you’re there because HOPE worldwide has been going there twice a year for 10 years. And even though I was a stranger to them, they’ve never met me before, they treated me like family because they knew that we were coming there to help them out.”
The community that HOPE worldwide taps into locally were so inspiring to watch how they led, how they organized, how they translated and how they were there every day. These are college students, volunteering, they were part of the church. It was such a such a close-knit community. It reminds you that we tend to get into our own independent head space, thinking ‘I have to do this, I have to do that’ and we don’t spend enough time thinking about how we are spending time with our professional communities, our family communities and our neighborhood communities. It was just a good reminder to see that.”
– Lenny Castiglione, CEO