Providing Care for Communities in Honduras

By Sam Anderson, DPT Class of 2025

May 29, 2024

members of the Duke contingent and others posing by a "welcome Duke" sign

The community of El Naranjo welcomed us with open arms and beautiful signs.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Honduras with an interprofessional team of healthcare providers to work with patients in underserved areas.

I was one of three Duke Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) second-year students on the trip supervised by Faculty Development Resident Courtney Jeffries, PT, DPT, NCS. We were welcomed into the mountain community of El Naranjo and a more centrally located community near Copan, La Laguna. The nursing and MD students evaluated and treated patients as they could and referred patients with pain to us for physical therapy.

the 4 members of duke dpt in Honduras — Our Duke DPT crew, left to right: Juliana Ancalmo, Dr. Courtney Jeffries, me, and Sara Zilvetti

Many people in Honduras work physically demanding jobs, including fieldwork using machetes, lifting in agricultural employment, lifting their children in the home, and doing laundry by hand. We educated them on safe lifting and body mechanics while working and provided exercises to decrease pain from poor posture. Many patients experienced orthostatic hypotension, so we explained why it occurs and taught them methods to reduce their symptoms.

a duke dpt student working with an adult patient — Much of the physical therapy we provided was education on body mechanics—changing the way a person moves can decrease pain and prevent future injury

People walked from hours away to receive care before we started in the mornings, and would stay all day, hoping to be seen. Their trust in us and patience were touching! During our time there, I connected with many children. I discovered that laughter and smiles can bring people together. I've always wanted to work with patients, but experiencing the need firsthand deepened my passion significantly. I'm thankful to Duke University and the Duke DPT program for this fantastic opportunity.

a duke dpt student working with an child patient — Sometimes care is prescribing medication and exercises, other times it is taking a minute to connect with patients. No matter what kind of care we provided, each encounter was incredibly meaningful.