InterVol's 13th year providing healthcare to the Belizean people is officially underway! After a safe arrival on Saturday, Sunday was spent with team members readying themselves for the week ahead. While our field team counted pills for their clinics in the outlying villages, our hospital team got up to speed on their caseload.
On Monday, our surgical team got to work at Southern Regional Hospital, with 15 life-saving gynecological surgeries already scheduled. Meanwhile, our field team set up an outlying clinic in Bella Vista, a small village about an hour from Dangriga that is particularly afflicted with water-borne diseases.
Tuesday was another busy day down in Belize. Adela Guset, DDS, and Meg Wenndt, RN, worked tirelessly to take care of the many Belizeans in need of dental care they cannot attain otherwise. With hundreds of patients waiting to be seen, Stephanie Roe, RN, and Pittsford Mendon HS student Asia Allen also pitched in at the dental clinic.
Later in the week, our InterVol team made a stop at the Belize Center for the Visually Impaired (BCVI) to deliver dozens of pairs of eyeglasses we collected here in Rochester. To date, InterVol has sent over 500 pairs of glasses to BCVI, helping to give the gift of sight to hundreds of Belizeans.
Just 1 hour after landing in Dangriga mid-week, InterVol Co-Founder Dr. Tim O'Connor was off and running, evaluating 6 patients and performing 1 surgical procedure! The whole team has been busy all week providing a wide range of health services from basic blood pressure checks to advanced surgical procedures.