I am a pediatric resident at Phoenix Children's Hospital. As part of my residency's global health track, I will be traveling to Roatan, Honduras with the nonprofit organization Global Healing. Global Healing supports the Roatan Volunteer Pediatric Clinic within the only public hospital on the island of Roatan. I will be assisting local medical providers with pediatric care. This will be my second medical trip with Global Healing to Roatan.
I will provide free medical care to local Honduran residents at the only public hospital on the island. I can speak Spanish, so doing a medical trip in a country where I can converse with locals is important to me.
I also hope to connect establish a working relationship with Phoenix Children's Hospital and Global Healing so that other clinicians can also have the opportunity to provide necessary medical care for the Public Hospital of Roatan.
My first experience volunteering with Global Healing in Roatan, Honduras was in 2017 with its HEAL internship program. I had just finished undergraduate college and was deciding my next steps. I wasn't sure if I should go to medical school or do some other type of graduate school. My trip to Roatan inspired my decision to apply for medical school. I was very fortunate to work with two inspiring U.S. pediatric residents, and I decided I wanted to be like them. Fast forward nine years, I am now a third-year pediatric resident at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Through the support of my residency program and a scholarship from Doximity, I was granted a month in the country of my choice as a global health elective. I had no doubt I wanted to return to Roatan.
This time, I traveled to Roatan with my co-resident Sam for a month (mid-March to mid-April 2026). A lot has changed since I was there in 2017. The biggest change is the new hospital in Coxen Hole after a fire devastated the old hospital a few years back. Despite the devastating fire, in many ways it was a blessing in disguise as this forced the government to build a new and nicer hospital. There is now running water, cleaner work areas, and air-conditioning!
The pediatrician really does it all in Honduras! They act as a hospitalist, neonatologist, emergency medicine doctor, and general pediatrician. Our day-to-day responsibilities included seeing the hospital’s admitted children, babies in the NICU and other newborn babies, children in the ED, and clinic patients. In the United States, pediatric medicine is very specialized, so I enjoyed being able to do a little bit of everything. Dra Elham and Dra Karla are the pediatricians who lead the pediatric unit of the hospital. In addition, Global Healing gives a stipend to the local fellows in training. Dra Shany and Dr Rony were the two fellows with whom we also worked very closely.
A major take away from my experience is that the hospital staff is very professional and well trained. However, they lack many resources that hinders the practice of medicine. For example, there was a newborn infant with increasing irritability, questionable seizures, and a bulging fontanelle. The decision was quickly made to put the baby on anti-seizure medication and antibiotics as there was concern for sepsis. We were able to do a lumbar puncture and basic CSF studies. However, the hospital does not have culture capabilities. In the United States, we would have done both blood and CSF cultures as well as an EEG to assess for seizures. But sadly due to limited resources on the island, they could not. The Honduran pediatricians utilize their resources to the best of their abilities and they are amazing at using what they have. Sometimes in dire situations they can transfer a child to mainland Honduras but this is easier said than done.
Something that impressed me was the focus on hand hygiene and infection protocols. All the staff were very good about using hand sanitizer before and after seeing a patient, and patients had hand sanitizers at their bedsides. I even had a mother ask me for hand sanitizer when she entered the NICU to visit her baby. We also wore gowns as part of the infection protocol when patients had viral illnesses and before entering the NICU. Kuddos to Dra Elham for the excellent teaching about antibiotic stewardship and hand hygiene!
I cannot end this without saying what a beautiful island Roatan is. In our free time, we took advantage of the island. I have my scuba certification, so I went diving many times in Roatan’s renown coral reef. A highlight of our trip was a boat tour where we visited Jade Beach on Isla Barbareta and snorkeled with the sharks and stingrays. I am happy to report the same swing boat from 2017 is still in West End. Sam and I would swim out to the boat at least every other day to take a few turns on the rope swing.
I had a fantastic experience! I am back in Phoenix finishing my last few months of pediatric residency. After residency, I will be working as a general pediatrician in Phoenix. I am grateful for this experience and I hope to continue global health work in the future.
