El Censo is a community in the municipality of Morocelí in the department of El Paraíso in eastern Honduras. There are 180 people residing in 30 houses. The community provides schooling up to 6th grade. However, upon completion of sixth grade, students have to commute to secondary school. Few, if any, go on to attend a university. Instead, most start a family and begin working in agriculture. Women typically stay at home to take care of domestic responsibilities and raise children. The large majority of men become employees of the sugarcane plantation that surrounds the community, while a handful works at a watermelon plantation. Additionally, as the need for labor is seasonal, this source of income only lasts for six months.
Municipality: Morocelí
Department: El Paraíso
El Censo does not have its own health center, but travels to the nearby community, El Campo, in order to get health care. There, the health center is a CESAR, a smaller scale health center where there are no doctors, but nurses on staff. The health center is 7 km away, and most community members travel on foot. The most common illnesses in adults are diabetes, arterial hypertension, and allergies. In children, they are fever, diarrhea, and respiratory infections.
Volunteers
Patient Consultations
Vision Screenings Provided
Health Education Workshops
El Censo has access to a total of 4 Community Health Workers (CHWs). These CHWs were trained in the community of El Censo and 3 of them are currently living there.
Community Health Workers, or Guardianes de Salud, work on a volunteer basis as advocates for health care within their communities. While this is an existing program in Honduras and Guardianes de Salud is identified by other organizations and some health centers, Global Brigades is able to bridge gaps in access to training and provide more comprehensive technical skills. Our CHWs are some of the very few Guardianes de Salud to receive certification from the Honduran government. Our CHWs are tasked with treating and preventing common illnesses, and some of their responsibilities include first aid, supporting and caring for pregnancies and newborns, and responding to emergency situations. They are also responsible for following up with chronic patients to ensure proper administration of medications and treatments to avoid further complications.
Additionally, CHWs provide support for brigades that are hosted in their area. At the completion of their training, CHWs are equipped with basic medical supplies and equipment provided by Global Brigades and its partners. The presence of these volunteers and their advocacy for health within their community contributes to the sustainability of health care supported by Global Brigades’ Medical Program and is one of the most impactful disease prevention strategies in rural communities across the globe.
Medical and Dental Brigades use the local school as their brigade site. The school and the kindergarten have 2 rooms, where the various medical stations are conducted. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and we are able to provide 4-5 educational charlas a day.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State University Medical Brigade | March 2017 | 37 | Queen Mary University of London Medical Brigade & Townson University Dental Brigade & University of Ontario Institute of Technology Medical Brigade | August 2017 | 24 |
| Virginia Tech Medical Brigade | January 2018 | 24 | University of Southern California Dental Brigade | August 2018 | 11 |
| Cleveland State University Medical Brigade & University of California Los Angeles Medical Brigade & University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Brigade | December 2018 | 30 | Carleton University Medical Brigade & University of New Brunswick Medical Brigade & University of New Brunswick Saint John Medical Brigade | August 2019 | 22 |
| University of Mississippi Medical Brigade | March 2020 | 16 | University of Oklahoma Medical Brigade | June 2021 | 13 |
| Keck Graduate Institute & Seton Hall University Medical Brigade | July 2023 | 19 | Eli Lilly Connecting Hearts | November 2024 | 15 |
Working closely with the medical program, the dental program provides fillings, extractions, and fluoride treatments as a standard part of medical brigades. Most community members do not have regular access to dental care due to the lack of dentist within a reasonable distance.
Patient Consultations
Number of Extractions
Fillings Performed
Dental Education Workshops
BRIGADE INFORMATION:Medical and Dental Brigades use the local school as their brigade site. The school and the kindergarten have 2 rooms, where the various medical stations are conducted. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and we are able to provide 4-5 educational charlas a day. Each brigade sees an average of 358 patients per brigade.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State University Medical Brigade | March 2017 | 37 | Queen Mary University of London Medical Brigade & Townson University Dental Brigade & University of Ontario Institute of Technology Medical Brigade | August 2017 | 24 |
| Virginia Tech Medical Brigade | January 2018 | 24 | University of Southern California Dental Brigade | August 2018 | 11 |
| Cleveland State University Medical Brigade & University of California Los Angeles Medical Brigade & University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Brigade | December 2018 | 30 | Carleton University Medical Brigade & University of New Brunswick Medical Brigade & University of New Brunswick Saint John Medical Brigade | August 2019 | 22 |
| University of Mississippi Medical Brigade | March 2020 | 16 | University of Oklahoma Medical Brigade | June 2021 | 13 |
| Keck Graduate Institute & Seton Hall University Medical Brigade | July 2023 | 19 | Eli Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad | November 2024 | 15 |
The community of El Censo is very near the volunteer lodging facility of the same name. When Global Brigades arrived in the community it had two water systems. One that came from a well that located in the center of the community however it’s groundwater is useful only for laundry and bathing. The second water supply was from a spring located some distance from the community. It was piped into a tank and then distributed to all but a few homes without any chlorination or other treatment. It was drinkable, but its flow rate of 0.42 gallons per minute was not nearly sufficient to meet the community’s water need. With increasingly dry summers, this source had been decreasing in flow rate consistently. Community members were forced instead to make up for this deficit by buying jugs of bottled water, a costly substitute (up to 4% of the household´s income in one case).
Volunteers
Beneficiaries
Kilometers of Pipeline Designed
Average Community Volunteers
In order to ensure that all community members have access to an adequate supply of clean water, Global Brigades built new water system in El Censo with support from World Vision and Three Valleys Sugar Company. With a growing community of 157 residents requiring a minimum 25 gallons per person per day for basic health and hygiene, a well was drilled that produces more than a sufficient flow rate to meet the total community demand. Water is pumped 280 meters from the well to a new 5,000 gallon tank at an altitude that is over 30 meters above the highest home in the community allowing water to be distributed with sufficient pressure using gravity. In the interest of sustainability, the seven members of the Water Council have been trained on water treatment and system maintenance, administration, and operation. The community plumber was trained on the same topics, so they can continue adequately managing the water system. Upon completion, the community established a monthly water fee in order to pay the Water Council for water treatment, maintenance costs, and system sustainability.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|
| Vanderbilt University Engineering Brigade | March 2016 | 12 |
The community of El Censo is very near the volunteer lodging facility of the same name. When Global Brigades arrived in the community it had two water systems. One that came from a well that located in the center of the community however it’s groundwater is useful only for laundry and bathing. The second water supply was from a spring located some distance from the community. It was piped into a tank and then distributed to all but a few homes without any chlorination or other treatment. It was drinkable, but its flow rate of 0.42 gallons per minute was not nearly sufficient to meet the community’s water need. With increasingly dry summers, this source had been decreasing in flow rate consistently. Community members were forced instead to make up for this deficit by buying jugs of bottled water, a costly substitute (up to 4% of the household´s income in one case).
Volunteers
Project Beneficiaries
Kilometers of Pipeline Installed
Storage Tank Volume (gallons)
In order to ensure that all community members have access to an adequate supply of clean water, Global Brigades built new water system in El Censo with support from World Vision and Three Valleys Sugar Company. With a growing community of 157 residents requiring a minimum 25 gallons per person per day for basic health and hygiene, a well was drilled that produces more than a sufficient flow rate to meet the total community demand. Water is pumped 280 meters from the well to a new 5,000 gallon tank at an altitude that is over 30 meters above the highest home in the community allowing water to be distributed with sufficient pressure using gravity. In the interest of sustainability, the seven members of the Water Council have been trained on water treatment and system maintenance, administration, and operation. The community plumber was trained on the same topics, so they can continue adequately managing the water system. Upon completion, the community established a monthly water fee in order to pay the Water Council for water treatment, maintenance costs, and system sustainability.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DePaul University Water Brigade & University of Chicago Water Brigade | December 2016 | 11 | University of Missouri Water Brigade & University of Rochester Water Brigade | January 2017 | 13 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Brigade | January 2017 | 37 | Mount Allison University Water Brigade | February 2017 | 15 |
Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in El Censo but has not yet begun with the Business Brigades program. Now in the planning phase, a market study and the establishment of a community business will start as soon as feasible.
Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in El Censo but has not yet begun with the Public Health Brigades program. Now in the planning phase, the delivery and installation of household health products will start as soon as feasible.