Our COVID-19 Response
The global pandemic forced changes in FOB programming but our commitment to our Partner Communities remained strong. Although we were unable to send Mountain Medical Teams to Honduras during 2020 and 2021, we continued to offer our support to community members through remote education, video training, and regular check-ins.
Four key programmatic components allowed FOB to continue to provide care to those in need:
01
The Barnabas Medicine Box Project was designed to eliminate unnecessary suffering by providing free medication, training, and consultations to members of FOB partner communities during our temporary suspension of Mountain Medical Teams due to COVID-19.
03
Parent Volunteers were utilized to ensure that all Extended Care Program patients would receive their critical medications each month. These children with special needs had continuous medications throughout the entire pandemic due to the sacrifices of these special volunteers, who transported and distributed medications to patients in their geographic area. This approach was so incredibly successful that it has been integrated as a permanent service delivery method.
02
COVID-19 Hygiene Kits were distributed to each family in all of our partner communities. These kits included five reusable cloth face masks, a bottle of hand sanitizer, a bottle of disinfecting spray, and an educational sheet regarding preventative measures to protect families from COVID-19. More than 6,000 kits were distributed to families through this COVID-19 mitigation program.
04
Education was a fundamental piece of FOB’s programming during the pandemic. Our medical staff in Honduras provided weekly education via WhatsApp to our communities and parent families. Topics spanned various public health topics including COVID-19 prevention and how to make homemade face masks and hand sanitizer.
