Monday, August 11 -- Day 38 of the Charity Rally -- was packed with a lot of learning and great experiences!
We started the day early by catching a bus at 6:30 AM just outside the D&D Brewery and Hostel (along with several other travelers who were continuing their journeys) to travel to Comayagua where the ambulance will be donated. (The ambulance is still at the border back at El Florido near Copán; more about that later.)
We arrived at Comayagua around 8:30 AM and met Jorge, the local in-country director for Growers First. Jorge brought Chris along, a college student who spent a couple of months this summer working with Growers First in an internship. We walked to the Hospital Regional Santa Teresa to meet the director of the hospital and learn about how they will put our ambulance to work. Chris took a picture of Jorge, Nick and Karina at the hospital.
This hospital serves the entire region of Comayagua with an estimated population of around 250,000. As a public hospital, their mission is to serve this community regardless of the patient's ability to pay. They typically don't charge much for any services other than some nominal fees. This applies to ambulance services as well.
We spent the first part of our time there talking with the director.
We learned that when the hospital doesn't have any ambulances available, they contract ambulance runs out to The Red Cross and another organization. But the hospital is charged three times what it would cost the hospital to make their own runs. They have a specific budget for these services, but if they relied on these other organizations for all the hospital runs, then their annual budget would be used up before the fiscal year is even half over. Once that happens, then they would have to bill back the patients for the ambulance services. They try to avoid that as much as possible and only request a symbolic payment.
The hospital uses ambulances primarily for patient transfers from smaller medical clinics in the region to the hospital, or from the hospital to the main public hospital in the capital, Tegucigalpa. The ambulances are on the road all day, every day, making patient transfer runs. The director estimates that they need three ambulances: two would be in service, and a third would serve as a backup when either of the first two has a mechanical issue, or when the first two are in service and a truly time-critical need comes up.
Patient transfers many times are not the time-critical, trauma-related transfers that one imagines when thinking about an ambulance. So another way in which the hospital makes the most of their patient transfer runs is by doing a version of what practically every other transport service in Honduras does: they hold the ambulance until it is full of passengers--in this case, patients. A patient transfer run will usually carry at least two patients, and it can be as many as five!
Next we toured what the director called his "ambulance cemetery."
After we received this overview of the hospital and the way they use the ambulances, it was time to take a tour of what the director called his ambulance "cemetery." Behind the hospital, they have several vehicles, all donated, but none of which are currently in good working order. They would like to source parts from each of the vehicles to get just one vehicle up and running so they can use it as an ambulance.
The hospital has their own ambulance mechanic and shop. We met him and saw his shop. He explained that he is constantly checking the ambulances, changing oil, etc. He pointed to the four tires outside the shop and mentioned that he had just changed the tires on one ambulance.
Finally, we took a brief tour of the hospital itself. Out of respect for the patients and their families, we did not take many pictures inside the hospital. Once we made our way out front, we were lucky to catch the one vehicle that they are currently using as an ambulance. It is a small modified passenger van in which they have affixed an oxygen bottle and have space for one gurney. The gurney is held in place by just a small piece of rope. The ambulance had one patient waiting inside along with a family member and a nurse, but they were waiting for a second patient and a wheelchair before taking off.
Next it was time to start the process to transfer ownership of the ambulance.
The ambulance is currently titled to Nick back in California. Our next meeting was with a local attorney who would help prepare all the paperwork to transfer ownership of the ambulance to the local hospital, and also assist in getting the ambulance cleared through customs so that we can finally bring it to Comayagua.
We explained all the details of the project to the attorney. At this point, in order to free up Nick from all the details of whatever paperwork and signatures are needed related to the ambulance, we asked the attorney to prepare a Power of Attorney so that the local hospital director could act on Nick's behalf and sign any documents relating to the ambulance instead of requiring Nick's signature. We wrapped up our meeting just before noon, and the attorney promised to give us a call around 2 pm so that Nick could sign the Power of Attorney.
Now it is time to wait some more. We are experts at waiting now!
Jorge invited us all out to a very nice lunch right in the historic center of town. After lunch we took a tour of the local cathedral and their bell tower. According to the tour guide, the bell tower holds the oldest working clock in the Americas. The tour guide provided a lot of really good historical information about the area. Comayagua used to be the capital of Honduras. The city was established here because it is equidistant from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The views from the clock tower were really amazing.
Finally around 3 pm, we decided to call the attorney who had promised to meet us again at 2 pm. In a brief conversation he suggested that we meet up again tomorrow instead of today. After a few more calls, we were able to negotiate that back to "an hour from now." After another 90 minutes, we checked in again, and confirmed that in 15 more minutes we could meet right there at the central plaza.
The conclusion of the rally?
And sure enough, just before 5 pm, we met the attorney again and sat down in Nick's office in the central plaza for the formal signing of the Power of Attorney.
Wait...was that it? Were those signatures the end of the Rally for The Roasting Cooks? We suddenly realized that Nick had been released of all further responsibility for the ambulance and he was free to move on. Both Nick and Karina were not so sure, however, that this was the end for The Roasting Cooks. For us, the Rally ends when the ambulance is in Comayagua and ready to be put into service at the hospital.
For now, we are hoping that the process to release the ambulance from customs may still be completed this week. If so, then we may rally some more and go back to Copán to get it.
The Honduran way home
We had some more adventures getting back to our hostel from Comayagua. First, right after signing our documents, we got up to leave and a man approached us on the street and asked where we were going. Jorge explained that we were just on our way to the bus stop to get a bus from Comayagua up to Siguatepeque. He straight away said he saw that Jorge had a couple of foreigners with him, and he wanted to give us a ride there as a way to welcome us to Honduras. We all jumped in his truck and he gave us a quick ride to the bus stop. We had a great conversation in the truck. He shared that it is important to realize that there are opportunities to help people around you out all the time. We told him that he was now part of the Roasting Cooks extended team, working together with us to deliver an ambulance to the local hospital. He was very happy to learn that.
We took the bus to Siguatepeque where Jorge was to collect a car and show a house that is for sale by a Canadian couple that is moving back to Canada. A family from Texas is house-sitting there, while serving as a support to many local North American missionary families who are in the area. We really enjoyed our few minutes in this beautiful house.
Finally, we got in the vehicle--a Land Rover!--and Jorge drove us to our hostel. It had started raining around 6 pm. It rains every night here! When we reached the turnoff from the main highway to the road up to to the town where the hostel is located, a lady waived to us from the roadside. She was standing there with four backpackers. It turned out that they had all been dropped off by a bus a few minutes ago, but it was already dark, and the local taxi service had already stopped. They were stranded and had no way to get into town. So, in typical Honduran fashion, it was our time to give a ride, and also time to demonstrate that no matter how full your vehicle is, there is always room for someone else. The lady climbed in the back seat, and all four backpackers and all their gear crammed into the back of the vehicle behind the back seat. They were all very grateful because they could have been stranded there for a long time. Their only option was the kindness of strangers.
