Description:

Hospital Loma de Luz is a 40,000 square foot, 50-bed mission hospital with 3 operating rooms, 8 out-patient clinic examining rooms, Emergency Department, Wound Clinic/PT, a 2-chair dental clinic, optometry clinic, laboratory, and pharmacy. It currently staffs for an in-patient census of 18 higher acuity beds (predicated by the significant on-going cost of employing Honduran nursing staff), and is currently constructing additional lower acuity patient rooms.

Between triage, out-patient clinic, emergency room, surgery (both in-patient and out-patient) and in-patient services, we care for roughly 20,000 patients per year and perform about 1200 surgical procedures per year. We serve a primary catchment area of roughly 50,000 souls, and take referrals from Honduran physicians, Nurse, and Public Health facilities from all over Honduras.

Short term teams and individuals

First Things First: All volunteers must obtain (1) official approval to come and (2) official approval of calendar dates (from both the sponsoring missionary and the Field Visitor Coordinator) before proceeding with any other plans. To begin this process, see the Application Process for Short-term Volunteers. If approved, then each volunteer should next follow all the steps and directions outlined in this Logistics section.

Medical Students and Residents: Hospital Loma de Luz welcomes those who are training in the medical profession to come do a rotation. Medical students wishing to rotate at Hospital Loma de Luz must be in their final year of training, in good-standing at their program, and fluent in Spanish. Residents wishing to volunteer at Loma de Luz must be in good-standing in their program and willing to work in general medical clinic regardless of their declared specialty.

Hospital Loma de Luz has grown into a fully functional 24/7 in-patient hospital (as well clinic and outpatient facility). Qualified medical and nursing volunteers augmenting and assisting this ongoing care are usually very helpful, sometimes vital. While the ”medical brigade” format no longer meshes with our needs, we can benefit from individuals or small groups with a specific skill that can meet a specific need (e.g. an orthopedic surgeon coming with an OR nurse and an anesthesia provider). Plan on speaking Spanish (interpreters are available if necessary at a small cost), plan on being flexible, and plan on being used by the Lord.

Guiding Principles

The two most clear-cut principles are that we want visiting volunteers to:

Fit into and augment the ongoing work, and in a way that is defined by a specific focus.
Develop relationships—relationships with the career missionaries, relationships with the Honduran staff and community members, and relationships that will both impact the volunteer’s life and make him or her more able to pray for, remember, and support the work for the long haul.

GUIDELINES

Short term missions don’t have to be done in a “team” format. Consider coming as an individual, as a couple, or as a family to work with the long-term committed missionaries.
Teams should be purpose defined (built around a specific purpose, e.g. the kitchen cabinet building/installing team, the limb prosthesis team, the automobile repair team); and that purpose should be determined from the needs of the ministry.
Teams need to be sponsored by one or more on-site long-term committed missionaries.
Group members, as much as possible, should all arrive and depart on the same day. And, that day should be determined with input from the sponsor.