Team of CHRISTUS Spohn associates travel to Nicaragua

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A group of Coastal Bend medical professionals are spending their spring break nearly 2,000 miles away in a small village in Nicaragua ministering to the very sick, the poor, and the young. The children, especially, touch their hearts.

Eleven missionaries including nurses, and physicians from CHRISTUS Spohn, leave Friday morning, March 9, for Juigalpa in central Nicaragua.

“There’s a picture of one little girl that I took while last in Nicaragua that continues to motivate me in my missionary work,” Maggie Rivera, a Registered Nurse at CHRISTUS Spohn South’s NICU said. “I feel extremely blessed, so it is my obligation to give back to others by extending CHRISTUS Spohn’s healing ministry. I’ve made sure to pack religious literature written in Spanish.”

Joining Rivera will be several Corpus Christi physicians, including CHRISTUS Spohn South’s Chief of Pediatrics Dr. Ernesto Lira, pediatrician Dr. Luisa Lira, Dr. Wilson Velazquez, a pain management physician who performs surgeries at CHRISTUS Spohn South and Olga Wondra, a registered nurse who works at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Alice. They plan to put their Corpus Christi medical careers on hold for a week.

A relaxing vacation? Maybe not, but many of these medical professionals have participated in these types of missions before, and are ready to do it again. The participants held fundraising events to cover the costs of medicine and medical supplies. They’ve paid their own way to Nicaragua so to help a poverty stricken population.