Clinica Esperanza

Clinica Esperanza serves as a much needed medical facility in Sandy Bay, Roatan, Honduras. We provide low-cost/no-cost care to this resource poor community. Our services include, adult, gynecology, pediatrics, dentistry, pharmacy and laboratory. 

For those who may not know me, my name is Loany Ramirez, owner of Meet Roatan, a Travel Design company based in Roatan.

I am a Honduran citizen that for years traveled the world. Even from afar, Honduras was still my country and now that I’m here living on this beautiful island, my main goal is to show everyone how lovely this piece of heaven is. As a Travel design company, I needed to show not only how to take care of this island, by being as Eco-friendly as possible, but also how to embrace our island community.

I saw Clinica Esperanza’s post and my friend, Andrea, and I spoke about this. I decided to organize a small fundraiser to gather enough money to buy small face masks for our kids here.

The idea grew and now we are a group of entrepreneurs working very hard sharing and spreading the word. We collected 880 masks by the end of the month, not only did we collect enough for 880 face masks, but we gave work to a lovely lady, Jeannette, who created these cute masks for our kids.

Without all of the entrepreneurs and people who supported this idea, we couldn’t have achieved that big number: @freshcaferoatan @lalasclothingco @papergeekhn @majo.photography
@roatanevents @tuetitioslovers @primavera.floreria @cupcakesgardenhn @pharmacytogo
@aspaintings @islandfindsroatan @puertaazulroatan @opticaboniche @gabbycmoreira
@sweat_roatan @glamourstudyo @giuliabohemian   & ORDECID

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CEPUAnGhJJF/

To all of them I am very grateful, thank you so for trusting me. Thanks to all of you, 880 kids will be protected from this virus, in a very Eco-friendly way!

Loany Ramírez

Loany Ramirez is a honduran entrepreneur, founder of Meet Roatan a Travel Design company that seeks not only to bring people from abroad to get to know the island but to offer them a unique experience while creating awareness on how to take care of this beautiful island.

In these difficult times, the only word that comes to mind for me is grateful. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given to live on a beautiful island with many wonderful people.  I am grateful for our remarkable staff at Clinica Esperanza.  There are twenty-four people working at the clinic and they have 60+ family members that depend on their paychecks.  Who would have thought this 20 years ago?  The staff and their families are all grateful that we are able to continue to support them during this pandemic. We have reduced our hours to Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8-5 in order to limit our exposure and to conserve our resources.

The clinic was awarded a “Bless the Nations” grant for medications by Blessings International in February, and we were able to place a large order for medications that will be a true blessing to our patients.  Many people on the Island, that had not used Clinica Esperanza previously, are asking for medications that their pharmacies are out of presently or they cannot afford to buy.  Their gratitude is evident and those who are able, have been generous with their donations, as we do not charge for medications.

Direct Relief has donated over $2,000,000 in medications for our clinic and for other clinics that we assist in acquiring medications. We just received a timely shipment that will be shared with others, on and off the Island, as many are currently in great need. Our diabetes program, that currently serves 742 patients, would not be possible without the help of Direct Relief. It is a true blessing to be able to provide these medications as a diabetic/hypertensive patient receives well over $500 in medications monthly. That is over $400,000 a month for just this one program.  Our patients and others we assist are very grateful!

The people of Roatan, Guanaja, and Utila are extremely grateful that there are no confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the Bay Islands. The local and central Honduran government began taking steps early to close our borders and to limit exposure with a 12 hour curfew and to only allow shopping for essentials such as food, medications and gasoline, one designated day per family, per week. Hopefully this will keep the islands free of this disease and will continue to keep the cases on the mainland to a minimum as well.

With many workers depending on the now non-existent tourist trade, gratitude abounds as organizations and individuals are reaching out to help their neighbors by contributing financially and by helping to distribute food to those in need.  We at Clinica Esperanza are grateful that we received 3,500 pounds of beans and rice from ‘CEPUDO’, a Honduran based, non-government, ecumenical organization whose objective is to serve the poorest communities of Honduras. They work closely with ‘Food For The Poor’, a U.S. charity based in Florida.  This was all divided into two-pound bags and distributed through several churches and other organizations.  850+ families received these bags along with other staples. We were also able to give assistance to the taxi and bus drivers by providing L500($20) food vouchers and L100($4) each.

Nic and Adrian VanZee, our volunteer apartment managers and owners of two restaurants on the Island, initiated a feeding program to assist the elderly and others who don’t have the ability to shop and cook for themselves. Others have joined the efforts and are helping to deliver the food directly into the communities. There are many grateful people who are elated to receive a cooked meal during this crisis. Currently over 1500 meals are being served weekly.

Every business owner I have spoken with is helping their workers that have been laid off.  This is especially hard on them as they have no income either and are trying hard to hold on themselves.  My heart is grateful for their efforts to support their employees in the midst of their own struggles.

I am especially grateful for all of you here on Roatan that have offered your services to help with these programs and for you at home who have contributed generously so we can continue to assist our neighbors and patients in need.  If you would like to be a part of our efforts, you can donate through PayPal friends and family to peggy@clinicaesperanza.org  Unfortunately, even without the virus here, the tourist industry will be slow to recover leaving a large percentage of our population without income. I am especially grateful to the organizations and individuals who entrust Clinica Esperanza with their gifts. This is an honor and a responsibility that I do not take lightly.

Most of all I am grateful for your prayers.  I pray that you also have many reasons to be grateful during these difficult times.

Please write to info@clinicaesperanza.org If you have any questions, as we are here to help.

Blessings to all,

Peggy

Peggy Stranges

Ms. Peggy Stranges, RN, is founder and president of Clinica Esperanza. She has served the clinic and it’s community faithfully since moving to the island in 2001 and has been instrumental in improving the healthcare of the people of Roatan. Her efforts have extended to assisting others in getting advanced medical care that is not available on the island. She is also instrumental in helping other clinics obtain much needed medications and supplies through various organizations she has partnered with throughout the years.