El Rosario is a medium-sized agricultural community located in the municipality of Talanga in the department of Francisco Morazán in central Honduras. Corn and beans are the primary crops cultivated in El Rosario. Some community members work in the lumber industry cutting wood. The community has a kindergarten with one teacher overseeing about 13 students and a primary school with 2 teachers covering about 45 students. There is a health center in the nearest municipality, about 15 kilometers away, where residents also have to travel to get to local markets and access to high school education.
Municipality: Talanga
Department: Francisco Morazán
The community members of El Rosario do not have access to their own health center, so they travel nearly one hour on foot to get health care in the nearby community of Talanga. In Talanga, the health center is called a CESAMO which is a larger scale health center where doctors and occasionally dentists are on staff. The most common illnesses are the flu, cough, diarrhea, chikungunya, diabetes, and parasites.
Volunteers
Patient Consultations
Vision Screenings Provided
Health Education Workshops
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS:El Rosario has a total of 7 Community Health Workers who were trained in 2017. CHWs were trained as part of a larger area that includes two communities, El Rosario and Los Charcos. Therefore, the nine CHWs cover both of these communities. During their training, CHWs learned how to treat common illnesses as well as learned about other health topics such as first aid, caring for pregnancies, and first response in emergency situations. With these skills, the CHWs help to relieve some of the patient load for the staff in the health center by teaching preventative health.
BRIGADE INFORMATION:Medical Brigades use the school as their brigade site. The school has 4 rooms and the kindergarten has 1 extra, all where the various medical stations are conducted. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and we can provide 12 educational charlas a day.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drexel University Medical Brigade & Dublin City University Medical Brigade | June 2015 | 36 | Washington University in St. Louis Medical Brigade | January 2016 | 32 |
| Emory University Medical Brigade | May 2016 | 38 | College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Medical Brigade & East Carolina University Medical Brigade | May 2018 | 41 |
| University of Southern California Medical Brigade | December 2018 | 24 | University of Michigan – Dearborn Medical Brigade | April 2019 | 21 |
| Boston University Medical Brigade | January 2020 | 23 | Open Enrollment Medical Brigade | August 2020 | 28 |
| Marquette University Medical TeleBrigade | December 2020 | 40 | Boston College Medical TeleBrigade | January 2021 | 18 |
| Cypress-Fairbanks High School Health Telesquad | January 2021 | 92 | Roosevelt High School Health TeleSquad | February 2021 | 9 |
| Glenelg High School Key Club | April 2021 | 20 | Florida Gulf Coast University Medical TeleBrigade | May 2021 | 26 |
| University of San Diego California Medical Brigade | July 2021 | 14 | Louisiana State University Medical Brigade | May 2022 | 27 |
| North Park University & Rutgers University Medical Brigade | March 2023 | 24 | Eli Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad | November 2023 | 13 |
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 a dentist within a reasonable distance.
Patient Consultations
Number of Extractions
Fillings Performed
Dental Education Workshops
DENTAL BRIGADE INFORMATION:Medical and Dental brigades use the school as their brigade site. The school has 4 rooms and the kindergarten has 1 extra, all where the various medical stations are conducted. Doctors spend an average of 10 minutes with each patient and we are able to provide 12 educational charlas a day.
| Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers | Chapter | Date | # Of Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drexel University Medical Brigade & Dublin City University Medical Brigade | June 2015 | 36 | Washington University in St. Louis Medical Brigade | January 2016 | 32 |
| Emory University Medical Brigade | May 2016 | 38 | College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Medical Brigade & East Carolina University Medical Brigade | May 2018 | 41 |
| University of Southern California Medical Brigade | December 2018 | 24 | University of Michigan – Dearborn Medical Brigade | April 2019 | 21 |
| Boston University Medical Brigade | January 2020 | 23 | Open Enrollment Medical Brigade | August 2020 | 28 |
| Marquette University Medical TeleBrigade | December 2020 | 40 | Boston College Medical TeleBrigade | January 2021 | 18 |
| Cypress-Fairbanks High School Health Telesquad | January 2021 | 92 | Roosevelt High School Health TeleSquad | February 2021 | 9 |
| Glenelg High School Key Club | April 2021 | 20 | Florida Gulf Coast University Medical TeleBrigade | May 2021 | 26 |
| University of San Diego California Medical Brigade | July 2021 | 14 | Louisiana State University Medical Brigade | May 2022 | 27 |
| North Park University & Rutgers University Medical Brigade | March 2023 | 24 | Eli Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad | November 2023 | 13 |
Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in El Rosario but has not yet begun with the Engineering Brigades program. Now in the planning phase, the design of a water system for the community will start as soon as feasible.
Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in El Rosario but has not yet begun with the Water Brigades program. Now in the planning phase, construction of a water system will start as soon as feasible.
The majority of community members in El Rosario work in agriculture. This primarily consists of subsistence farming, although excess crops are sometimes sold. Most agricultural workers make about 100 lempiras (approximately US $4.25) a day during the rainy season. Regardless of occupation, most families earn around 4,000 lempiras per month (approximately US $170). Almost all household income is used to purchase food for consumption.
Volunteers
Loans Disbursed
Savings Accounts Opened
Capital Invested
EL ROSARIO’S MICRO-FINANCE SOLUTION:In 2018, Global Brigades worked alongside El Rosario to establish a community bank. The bank has 8 female and 4 male shareholders, and the members meet in the bank’s own structure every month. They are able to offer loans and savings accounts to community members so that families can plan and stabilize their finances. This is especially beneficial for farmers, who can take out loans to invest in their agricultural production and pay them back after the harvest. Loans allow many subsistence farmers to not only consume the crops they harvest but also earn an income from selling their excess.
Global Brigades is working on the implementation of the Holistic Model in El Rosario 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.