The time has come.

After months of preparation, the time has arrived. In a few very short hours (why am I still awake?), we'll finally be boarding our planes to Honduras.

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy for Penn Nursing students and faculty. A few weeks ago, we prepared and presented popular education pieces about diarrhea prevention & treatment, stages of childbirth, and HIV prevention (among others). Afterwards, most of us juggled studying for finals in our other classes with packing and preparation for this trip. And speaking of packing...

Thanks to our amazing and incredibly supportive friends, family, and colleagues, we've raised OVER $3,000 with which we were able to buy a vast array of supplies, including some which have been on the clinics "Wish List" for a very long time. (For example: we're bringing them dopplars, which will be used to listen to fetal heart tones. Very cool!)

Along with the tons of supplies we were able to purchase, we also received bags and bags (and in one case, a truck load!) (Yes, Northampton Community College, I'm talkin' to you!) full of supplies from offices, small business owners, and fellow nurses, nursing students, and faculty. (Please see our list to the right, with just SOME of our generous supporters.)

This outpouring of support has been incredibly humbling; we'll surely be thinking of everyone back home as we each struggle to get our two 50-pound suitcases stuffed to the brim with medical supplies onto the plane tomorrow morning.

Thank you all for helping to get our journey off to an incredible start! Please take the rest of the journey with us as we update this blog with the sights and stories from our travels.

Nos vemos en Honduras! See you in Honduras!

We need YOUR help!

Hello again!

As I mentioned in my last post, the students in our small group are going to be collecting suitcases full of medical and health care supplies to bring with us to Honduras. Of course, we need all of the help we can get, so I'm posting the tentative list here in the hopes that some of our lovely readers (this means you!) will be inspired to donate supplies.

We are in need of the following...

***APRIL UPDATE*** In addition to the list below, STS has sent out a special request for the following critical supplies:

• Alcohol wipes***
• Slings***
• Sterilization Bags***
• Thermometer covers***
• Casting tape***
  
• 10 cc syringes
• Knee Immobilizers
• Newborn baby hats
• Spacers and Masks for Inhalers
• Tennis elbow splints
• HP Laser Printer Cartridge (12A Q2612A)
• Table paper
• Ace Wraps
  
• Nebulizer masks for kids and adults
• Leg bags for foleys
  
• 2” stockinette
  
• BP cuffs-automatic is preferable
  
• Air casts
  
• Canes
  
• Yankauer suction tubing
  
• Crutches (for small adults)
  
• Thumb spica splints
  
• Lexmark 16 (color) printer cartridges
  
• Cock up wrist splints, all sizes
  
• Condoms

*** Very important!


Original Supply List:

Over-the-counter medications:

• Neosporin / Other antibiotic ointments
• Tylenol (Adult / Children's / Infant)
• Colace
• Diarrhea medicine - Lomotil, Pepto-Bismol
  
• Advil
• Vitamins (Adult / Women's / Prenatal / Children's / Infant / Chewable)
• Robitussin
• Sudafed
• Aspirin
• Nix or Rid (for lice)
  
• Lotromin / Anti-Fungal / Scabies / Ring Worm topicals
• Tooth brushes / Small tooth paste / Small mouth washes
• Small hand soaps

Women's Health Needs:

• Oral Contraceptive Pills
  
• Condoms
• Monistat / Gynelotromin
• Flagyl zithromax
• Medications for treating STIs
  

Supplies:

• Gloves
• Tape
• Telfa pads
• Gauze
• Suture kits
  

Supplies for Birth Kits:

• Baby undershirts
• Hats & Socks for infants
  
• Receiving Blankets
• Scissors (bandage or suturing or other)
• Shoe Laces (for cord tying)
• Alcohol Swabs
• Antibacterial soap (the kind that does not require water!)
• Bulb syringes
• Paper or Cloth diapers

This list will probably expand as our trip comes closer. In the meantime, we ask you to brainstorm: Do you know anyone who works for a drug company? A medical supply business? A drug store? Are you a dentist who could donate a case of toothbrushes and toothpaste? Are you a knitter who could make and donate even a few newborn-sized hats?

Please, feel free to pass this list on to anyone and everyone you can think of. We'll appreciate any help we can get!

Thank you SO MUCH for reading, and feel free to use the comments section to brainstorm or give us suggestions for places to solicit donations from...

Hasta Pronto!