Atlanta Medical Mission Winds Down Covid-19 Unit in Honduras

ALPHARETTA – After almost a year, Predisan Health Ministries will be exiting its administration of a Covid-19 unit established at San Francisco Regional Hospital in Juticalpa, Olancho to treat some of the sickest patients in Honduras during the Covid-19 outbreak.

It now will refocus its mission on staffing 35 medical clinics throughout the Olancho district to treat a variety of illnesses including dengue fever, dysentery and other prominent diseases and addictions found throughout rural Honduras.

In the spring of 2020, Honduran health officials asked Predisan to utilize their medical expertise to operate a Covid-19 treatment ward. Predisan medical personnel saved countless lives over the past year at the ward which had up to 51 beds during the height of the pandemic.

In addition, Predisan ministered to patients spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Dr. Amanda Madrid, Chief Executive Officer of Predisan.

“We were able to witness to patients, frontline workers and others and had chaplains there to provide hope,” she said. “It’s human nature that when we are vulnerable, people are more receptive to prayers and Bible study.”

Funded by the International Development Bank, the 24-hour Covid-19 unit at San Francisco Regional in Juticalpa includes preventive care, medical equipment and medicine for testing and treating Covid-19 patients. It is staffed with 94 medical personnel including 37 physicians who have treated more than 800 patients at the ward.

Predisan has treated more than 5,300 patients across all its clinics in Honduras since the beginning of the pandemic – tending not to just the physical needs, but also the spiritual needs of distressed patients during the pandemic.

“We believe in offering a holistic approach to those who are sick,” Dr. Madrid said. “And so many patients appreciate our staff praying with them during these stressful times – whether they have Covid-19, chronic diseases or visit a clinic to deliver a baby.”

During the pandemic, Predisan has distributed 177 Bibles. Predisan chaplains regularly visited the Covid-19 ward at San Francisco Regional and held devotionals with staff and patients. In other regions, devotionals and prayer times were held with policemen, firemen, volunteers, doctors and nurses.

Beginning March 31, the Covid-19 ward at San Francisco Regional will be managed by local hospital officials and medical staff as the number of Covid patients has dropped significantly.

Predisan officials are hoping that surgeons and physician specialists who regularly visited Honduras from the United States prior to the Covid-19 outbreak will be able to return in the summer or fall to help with medical treatment of patients in rural communities.

“We have tried telemedicine specialty services during this time, but it just doesn’t work because we do not have strong internet service in much of our service area,” Dr. Madrid said. “We are doing the best we can as the need is always bigger than the resources – particularly right now with no regular flights from the United States.”

Predisan, founded by the late Dr. Robert Clark and his wife Doris of Tucker, launched the medical mission 35 years ago to serve God and heal those in one of the poorest nations in Central America – Honduras.

The name Predisan is the combination of the Spanish words to proclaim predicar and to heal sanar. It comes from Luke 9:2 “He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”