Erica Rogers, founder of Braveheart Foundation, helps a malnourished child in a medical clinic in Uganda.

LAPLACE — LaPlace native Erica Rogers had recently divorced and moved back from Houston when a medical mission trip to Uganda broadened her perspective.

The year was 2014, and the dire medical and sanitation needs she saw among the children and adults in Africa inspired her to start a global medical mission.

While in Houston, she had started Braveheart Foundation as a group for cancer patients, birthed out of her relationship with a cancer patient who changed her life. After visiting Uganga, Braveheart Foundation took on a worldwide scale.

Each year, Rogers assembles a team of volunteers that include nurses, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, podiatrists and other medical professionals. The group sets up pop-up clinics in remote villages to “reach the unreachable” with essential medical treatments and preventive education.

Malaria treatment and prevention is the big push for this year, and Rogers anticipates reaching roughly 700 to 1,000 villagers during the sixth annual medical mission trip scheduled for July 14-21. She and her team will focus efforts on the villages of Gayaza, Mateete and Kyantale in Uganda.

“We typically do two-week trips, but this year we are going to do seven days because we really want to focus on malaria prevention,” Rogers said. “This year, we will go to three different villages that are most underserved that are typically about 50 miles away from any type of heath care.”

Each person who comes to the clinic and tests positive for malaria will be treated, and all patients will receive preventive mosquito nets to cut down the occurrence of malaria.

This year’s mission will also focus on women’s health, according to Rogers.

“We are going to be focusing a lot on family planning,” Rogers said. “We will teach them about condom use and oral contraceptives donated to us by public health clinics. We will be able to advocate for women there who are faced with the burden of childbirth at such a young age.”

Braveheart Foundation pop-up clinics also include dental examinations, extractions and impressions for dentures. A vision clinic allows villagers to receive free eyeglasses, if needed. Braveheart also partners with dental and nursing schools in the area to become community advocates.

Water sanitation will continue to be a focus for the next several years, Rogers said.

Mission trips involve a lot of mass drug administration, especially when it comes to deworming.

“We deworm every single person that comes in the clinic,” Rogers said. “Because of the sanitation and the poor health habits, about 50 to 75 percent of their population suffers from intestinal worms. The medication that we give them rids their body of the intestinal worms for a six to eight month period.”

Doctors must intervene in severe cases where worms have entered through the foot and infiltrated the bloodstream, a condition that could potentially lead to the amputation of limbs.

A majority of the population is barefoot, according to Rogers. People in the River Parishes can help the villagers by participating in a year-round shoe drive.

“Last year, we brought 300 pairs of shoes for the villagers there,” Rogers said. “That is a really big initiative that people here can participate in.”

Locals can also help by donating vitamins. Prenatal vitamins are especially important for expectant mothers and can prevent birth defects.

Of course, locals can also be part of the experience firsthand as a volunteer for the July 14-21 mission.

Rogers has posted the link to an application survey on the Braveheart Foundation Facebook page and at mybraveheart.org.

“We go through intense orientation getting them prepared to go from first world to third world,” Rogers said. “They can fill out the screening survey to get an idea of if they would be a good fit.”

The deadline for the survey is Dec. 31. On Jan.14/15, Rogers will conduct video calls with all individuals who have filled out a survey, and the 2020 team will be decided around Jan. 31.

ICU nurse Brittany Roig Paige has made two medical trips to Uganda with the Braveheart Foundation. She became interested in the mission after hearing her coworkers talk about the experience, and she took the first trip on a leap of faith.

“It was definitely the most humbling experience I’ve ever had,” Paige said. “It definitely changed my life the first time. In general, going to Africa gave me more strength in my personal life than I could have ever imagined. It made me realize the world is much bigger than Louisiana.”

In the first trip, she told Rogers that Braveheart could make a bigger impact by deworming every person who visited the clinic, since not everyone who had worms was able to describe their symptoms.

“Our goal is to treat things that are bothering them on a daily basis, an acute illness that they can’t shake unless they get some antibiotics or treatment to recover,” Paige said.

She was surprised to see the poor conditions did not stop the Ugandan people from working hard day and night to make a living.

For more information, visit mybraveheart.org or email info@mybraveheart.org.

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