Today is our last full day on the Island of Utila. From here we will go on to the Island of Roatan to do some medical work and one week of survival. We will also be working with the local EMS system there to teach them different things on how to package patients, hold C-spine etc. Another thing we are going to do is donate some rope and gear to them so they will have adequate means of saving people from over the edge of a rather large cliff there. The place we are going to stay on Roatan does not have internet and as I hear the internet cafes there are rather expensive, so what I might do is call someone and have them type up something about our adventures from time to time. We are going to be in Roatan for another three weeks. By then we will be half-way through our trip! I cannot believe it has been 3 weeks already! How time flies, which is a good thing in some aspects. That is all for now!
A Gecko on our room, I think he was selling us insurance…
Hello everyone,
Not much has been going on for the past couple of days, everyone has finished thier diving class so I will be able to join in the program! We are going to be doing a few more lectures and then we will be going on another hour boat ride to the Isle of Roatan where we will be helping out the local EMS system and doing clinics and such. We will also be doing the survival portion of our classwork, which includes but is not limited to spending 2 hours in a survival raft with 20 people! That should be an experience for sure. If I get the time I will try to upload pictures to this thing as the internet is slow and sometimes non-existant. Thats all the info I have at the time being, but I hear our trip is soon to take a different route than the original itinerary once we get to the mainland. Time will tell what is in store for us. Goodbye for now!
Hello all! The past couple of days have been quite interesting. First the Patriots lost to the Giants, in one of the closest games that I have ever seen. Second, we have started on our disaster plan for the Isle de Utila. On Sunday we spent most of the day translating the existing plan that the island had into English, which turned out to be nothing more than a copy of a plan from the mainland of Honduras, so we are simplifying it and adding parts to it to make it more personal for the island. The idea was to make recommendations to the mayor and leave it up to the government to implement our ideas, On Monday, our team of 20 people split up into groups of about 4 people each and we each took a section to research and come up with ideas. These sections include: Water, Transportation/Evacuation, Shelters/Sewage, and Communication. Personally I was on the building/sewage group, since I have some experience in that area. We rented a golf cart and toured the four schools and 2 churches that are designated shelters above tidal surge levels. As for our findings, we found that the buildings themselves are sound structures that would be able to withstand hurricane force winds. The only issue was the fact that the bathroom facilities are inadequate for the amount of people that would need to shelter there, plus there is obviously no shower facilities either. We also noted that these structures were not very close to the local clinic which is nearly a must have, but we have to work with what is there. We then compiled our research and got together as a group and came up with some recommendations to improve on the happenings during an emergency event.
Today we met with the mayor of Utila and he answered a few of our questions and when presented with our recommendations he was quite excited and eager to hear what we had to say. At the end of the meeting he let us pray with him. So now we are going to write up a plan and present it at a meeting next Monday to the other community members, so pray for us if you would! That is the news so far in that subject.
Tomorrow everyone is going to start their dive rescue portion of the classwork, as for me I will be helping out where I can. Pray that everyone stays safe out there…Thats all for now!
Sorry for the quality of this is the pictures of the hyperbaric chamber we went to. If you want an explanation look at my above post.
As for the news, last night we did a vesers program for the SDA Church here, and today we did the church service. In the next few days I will be writing about the disaster plan we are writing for the island of Utila. Until then I will talk to you later!
