A spring break trip with a mission

By Joseph Kleinsasser

Hurricane Mitch is just a distant memory for most people. For others, however, the devastating hurricane that struck Central America last year is a mission.

Marilyn Yourdon, director of Student Health Services, was in a group of 16 people from the First Evangelical Free Church in Wichita who went to Honduras during spring break. The purpose of the short-term mission project was to help rebuild some of the homes and churches that were damaged or destroyed in Choluteca.

The devastation from the October disaster was very eye-opening, according to Yourdon. “You could still see the remnants of the destruction. It will take years to rebuild.”

Most of the volunteers worked as carpenters, masons and welders. Yourdon was put to work as a nurse practitioner in a clinic.

Yourdon said the clinic handled 100-120 patients a day on a first-come, first-serve basis. “The people were so gracious and so grateful for anything. Just to give them a cup of cold water was a blessing.”

Since the hurricane, there seems to be an increase in upper respiratory infections. “I saw babies from 20 days old to an 87-year-old gentleman,” said Yourdon. “I was very fortunate that I had a background as a family nurse practitioner so I was able to deal with all ages.”

Yourdon also helped a man who was hit with a sledgehammer one morning. “He had a pretty bad concussion and we were able to tend to his medical needs. About every day thereafter he’d come in and give us a hug and thank us for taking care of him.”

Poverty is another challenge. Yourdon treated a child for skin infection one day. The father brought the child back so she could redress the wound. Yourdon only had a few small Band-Aids at the time, so she cleaned the wound and put the Band-Aids over it.

“I explained what he needed because I had no other supplies,” says Yourdon. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any money.

“He couldn’t even go into town and buy any of the things we would normally go out and purchase for $3 for topical antibiotic ointment. Those kind of stories are very heartwrenching.”

After spending a week in Honduras, Yourdon returned to her regular duties at Wichita State. The experience though, will not soon be forgotten.

“It’s an experience that everybody should have. We need to know that life isn’t based on just what we have, but it’s who we are inside. I think you learn who you are inside from an experience like that. You learn what’s in your heart.

“These people are very caring individuals. They taught me a lot.”

Marilyn Yourdan, director of Student Health Services, helps a local Honduran man with an injury. The makeshift clinic Yourdan worked at during spring break in Honduras was dubbed “WSU Health Center South.”