An Eye Opener view: Residents help impoverished Belizean villages, learn life lessons

Fallon Simmons — pictured during a recent mission with Belizean children — helped 16 North Okaloosa volunteers provide health care to people in seven impoverished villages. “After getting (to) see the poverty these people lived in, all I wanted to do was help them out even more," the registered nurse said.

A recent health care mission in Belize was eye opening for several North Okaloosa residents.  

Seventeen volunteers spent a week in the Central American country providing clinical treatments, supplies and health education to people in seven impoverished villages.

Although several volunteers, including organizer Dr. Joseph Peters, were already aware of the area's health care needs, a number of first-time participants — who arrived Aug. 27 and returned last week — said the experience was memorable. 

“After getting (to) see the poverty these people lived in, all I wanted to do was help them out even more,” Fallon Simmons, a Crestview registered nurse, said in an email.

Volunteers evaluated and administered physicals to adults and children, and physicians prescribed any necessary medications, Simmons said.

“The thing I enjoyed most from this trip was seeing just how appreciative these people were that we came to help them,” she stated. “They all were so kind and polite at all times. They are willing to walk for miles away just to be seen for an hour by some doctors and nurses.”

Sharlene Cox, who said she helped register nearly 650 people for health screenings, noticed the change in culture.