Bringing medical care to poor and remote communities is proving to be a life-changing experience as well as a valuable professional exercise for service members on a training mission in Honduras.

A 14-member team of surgeons, ophthalmologists, and nurse anesthetists has gone to the region five times, this last time helping farm families struggling in an area hit hard by drought and flooding in recent years. In January, the team performed nearly 500 health exams, 167 major surgeries, and emergency interventions that saved the lives of four newborns.

The Honduran doctors they work with at the regional Hospital del Sur in Choluteca are highly skilled but often lack adequate resources and support.

With the newborns, for example, what was needed was a quicker way to get them oxygen. So pediatric anesthesiologist Lt. Col. David Zenger of the Army taught the staff resuscitation and anesthesia measures – such as setting up oxygenation stations -- that use portable equipment and inexpensive devices to save precious young lives.

Low-tech but effective was the philosophy again in helping to combat diarrhea, a cause of severe dehydration that claims the lives of many Honduran children. As families sit with a child in the waiting room of Hospital del Sur, nurses now sterilize Pepsi bottles, attach a hose, and administer fluids with salt and sugar. This lessens the incidence of waiting-room fatalities. The staff has also begun, with American help, to teach families to rehydrate their children at home to prevent the onset of this dangerous condition.

These improved techniques have brought a 50 percent reduction in child deaths from diarrhea in the region, according to Lt. Col. Darryl Ainbinder. He is the Army ophthalmologist who leads the U.S. team, most of whose members are stationed at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington.

A total of 45 of the surgical patients on the recent mission were children. Many were operated on to correct crossed eyes; several others were cured of ptosis, a condition involving droopy eyelids. The adult surgeries were mostly to restore sight to people with cataracts.

Having cataracts in the United States means a person’s vision is somewhat impaired. But among this rural population, this condition so badly injures the eyes that blindness and even death can occur if there is no surgery. The surgeries helped patients to see the faces of children or grandchildren for the first time in years.

Nurse anesthetist Dennis Allison, a retired Army colonel on the team, described the emotion involved in “being able to reach out and touch others, not just for them but for their entire families. I don’t know who gets more out of this, the patients or our team.”

The missions in Honduras were part of medical readiness training exercises that U.S. Southern Command has conducted in Central American nations for nearly two decades. Services are offered free of charge in order to treat real patients in the field – a departure from the usual simulated medical training exercises.

Dr. Zenger said trainees who assist during these trips, many of whom will be deployed to the Middle East, “are in a harsh environment with the same field machine they will use in the desert with limited resources.” The experience and skills gained during these kinds of humanitarian missions – in teamwork, problem-solving, and operating in a difficult environment—will carry over to other theaters and missions.

The lesson: “That magic machine is not the answer; there are a lot of skills they can apply first,” said Dr. Ainbinder.