Medicine International (MI) physician, Dr. Mark Stinson led the Hurricane Mitch Disaster Relief
Team Medical Team Leader for the International Medical Corps. The team arrived in Honduras in the weeks after the largest disaster affecting Central America in over a decade. More than 11,000 lives were lost in Honduras and the surrounding countries due to additional trauma from flooding and subsequent disease. Dr. Stinson's team was charged with performing rapid assessments and reporting information to the U.S. State Department, local relief organizations, and international groups working in the area. During the assessment process a team of doctors and nurses provided medical care to disaster relief victims and staffed mobile/fixed clinics on the edge of the Eastern Honduras rainforest. Fellow Medicine International colleagues joining in the effort included Dr. Suzan Goodman and Dr. Stuart Forman. Many of the villages visited were completely cutoff from any outside help. They received invaluable medical care, medications, equipment, and training of local health providers. The medical team was completely self-sufficient utilizing high clearance 4-wheel-drive vehicles to cross-rivers and streams otherwise.
