Action for Education | Medical Mission Trips

Service Trips

13,889 patients treated and 34,086 prescriptions filled on

eight medical service trips since 2016.

Upcoming Trip Dates:

August 15-23

All others cancelled due to COVID-19

Trip Cost

One Week: $1300 Two Weeks: $1880

Our Goals for Impact

1. Work directly with our Honduran partners and local health officials to identify medically underserved communities that would benefit from our clinics. This includes advising us on what supplies are needed and what health education topics our workshops should focus on.

2. Once a community partnership is established, send yearly or bi-yearly teams to establish continuity of care

3. Hire Honduran physicians, dentists, optometrists, translators, and other personnel to join our team. Students from our nursing school also join!

4. Establish a referral system with the nearest clinics/hospitals for long-term chronic disease management.

5. Disseminate important information on health hygiene and primary prevention practices through our health education workshops.

6. Reserve funds for each trip to aid in a needed community infrastructure project (wells, school bathrooms, athletic fields, etc.).

Future Aims

1. Currently finishing our evidence-based primary prevention curriculum for our health education workshops held at our clinics

2. Obtain an EMR system. Since we send yearly or bi-yearly teams to the same partner communities, this EMR system would help us longitudinally monitor a patient’s health.

3. An EMR system would also allow us to conduct research on disease prevalence and associated socioeconomic factors. A research plan has already been developed. The goal would be to provide this data to the Honduran Ministry of Health to help influence health policy, especially in the rural areas we often serve in where public health data is extremely scarce.

4. Work with the Honduran Ministry of Health to have eligible patients sign up for public health insurance at our clinics.

Expectations and Requirements of Volunteers

1. In addition to all the required forms and information that must be provided to AcE prior to the trip, we also require our volunteers to learn about socioeconomic, cultural sensitivity, and ethical issues in Honduras and inherent in short-term service trips. We do this through the completion of global health modules from reputable organizations such as Johns Hopkins University and Unite for Sight. Our aim is to educate our volunteers on our goals of capacity-building, in addition to direct service delivery and minimizing any potential harm. AcE reserves the right to prevent volunteers from attending our trips if these expectations are not met.

2. Undergraduate students and other general volunteers will be responsible for running our health education workshops, which will focus on an evidence-based primary prevention curriculum.

3. After completion of the trip, we expect all volunteers to fill out a brief post-trip survey on what was successful, what we could improve upon, and any other comments they may have about their experience on an AcE service trip.

Barriers Our Patients Still Face

AcE is committed to continuous improvement and enhancing the quality of our services, both in education and healthcare, to best assist our Honduran friends in building their communities the way they deem best. Our belief is that we can always do better and we welcome suggestions on how we can improve. In an effort to be transparent, we wanted to identify some current barriers that we are trying to address:

1. Many clinics/hospitals we work with often run out of medications, which greatly hinders long-term management of our patients. We often leave a large amount of our medications with these clinics to help, but due to inadequate funding/availability of medications in Honduras, these clinics can struggle to remain fully stocked.

2. Similar to many healthcare environments, communication barriers are a key issue to prevent negative outcomes and the misuse of medications, especially in the underserved communities AcE serves in. To help prevent any confusion on how to take their medications, we use pre-printed stickers with generic directions that can then be personalized for each patient according to the prescriber’s directions. We also encourage our providers to utilize the teach-back method with patients to help ensure they know how to take their prescriptions, and our health education workshops will also work to ensure patients know how to take their medications. In addition to stressing the importance of using the full course of medications such as antibiotics, our health education workshops will also emphasize how misuse of common over-the-counter medications such as NSAIDs and Tylenol can have negative health effects.

3. Our organization is young, having officially began in 2015 and consisting almost entirely of new professionals, graduate students, and undergraduate students. We believe in what we have accomplished and want to maintain student and volunteer-led initiatives moving forward. We also believe in the impact the people of Honduras have on us; all of our AcE members have been inspired by the strength and undying faith prevalent throughout Honduras. None of us would be the people we are today without the relationships we have made in Honduras. By providing a platform of unique leadership opportunities, we aim to empower our younger generations to create real sustainable change in their communities and beyond. But we are also excited for our resources and expertise to expand as our AcE team becomes filled with physicians, lawyers, nurses, physician assistants, accountants, and more.

See some of the photos from our trips!

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a service trip look like?

To get an idea of what the schedule is for an AcE service trip, download our sample trip itinerary.

How much does a service trip cost?

Trip fees range from $1000-$1440 per week (excluding airfare), subject to individual service plans, logistics, and other associated costs for each new participating group.

What goes into the trip cost?

The trip fee is used to pay for your housing, meals, transportation, and basic medical/emergency insurance. It is also used to cover the costs of running the program, including the cost of any Honduran workers. For example, for our medical service trips, we employ Honduran translators, doctors, dentists, cooks, nurses, and pastors. Although we wish we could offer a cheaper service trip experience, we have made our cost as low as possible given the logistical needs of our programs. Relative to most other service trip experiences (especially medical), our price is very competitive!

What costs am I responsible for outside of the trip fee?

You are responsible for booking and paying for your flight to and from Honduras. You are also responsible for any vaccinations, visa applications (where applicable), and baggage expenses.

Do I need to be pre-med to go on a medical service trip?

No! Although there are many pre-med students and medical professionals who are interested in our medical service trips, no prior medical experience is needed and people of any profession who have the desire to serve on this life-changing experience are encouraged and needed to join us on our service trip.

I have some safety concerns. How safe is it to go on a trip?

AcE works directly with local and national police to ensure the safety of our service trip participants while travelling and at the clinic. We are often escorted or taken to the clinic by the police, who we have a great relationship with, and we have never previously had any safety issues arise. We also book hotels and hostels that are as safe as can be, including having guards watch over the area throughout the night. AcE also purchases emergency evacuation and medical insurance for all trip participants. Safety for our AcE teams are of the utmost importance, and our number one priority.

I have already registered, but I didn't make my payment yet. Where can I do this?

Click here to go to the payment page. Payment can be made up to six weeks prior to departure.

I signed up for a trip but need to cancel -- what are my options?

Your $150 deposit is non-refundable and non-transferable, sorry! This is because we have used this money to begin preparations for your spot on the trip. If you have already made your payment and are canceling at least 45 days prior to the departure date, you can transfer the cost of the program (excluding the deposit) for use on a later program, within one year of the original program. If you are canceling less than 45 days prior to the departure date, the full cost of the program is neither refundable nor transferable.