Daytona nurse goes on mission trip to help diabetes patients in Honduras

Clayton Park, Daytona Beach News-Journal
·2 min read
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DAYTONA BEACH ― Christine Goodreau is a registered nurse who educates those here who suffering from Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes by teaching them how to thrive by managing their medical condition.

Now she hopes to do it in one of the world's most impoverished countries.

The certified diabetes educator with the Halifax Health Lohman Center for Diabetes & Endocrinology in Daytona Beach left on March 1 to take part in a 10-day mission trip to help those afflicted with the disease in Honduras.

Goodreau will return on March 11.

Christine Goodreau is a registered nurse who works as a certified diabetes educator at the Halifax Health Lohman Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology in Daytona Beach. She left March 1, 2024 on a volunteer mission trip to Honduras to educate those suffering from type 1 and type 2 diabetes on ways they can thrive while managing the disease. The trip was arranged by the Christian nonprofit Cornerstone Foundation.

Who is putting on the mission trip?

Goodreau is doing it as a volunteer with a Christian nonprofit called the Cornerstone Foundation. She isn't the first medical professional from Halifax Health to go on mission trips to the Central American country.

Dr. D. Scott Covington, a general surgeon and specialized wound care physician at Halifax Health, has gone on mission trips arranged by the Cornerstone Foundation.

Dr. D. Scott Covington is a general surgeon and specialized wound care physician at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach. He has volunteered his time and skills to take part in mission trips to Honduras to help those in need of medical assistance through a nonprofit Christian organization called the Cornerstone Foundation.
Dr. D. Scott Covington is a general surgeon and specialized wound care physician at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach. He has volunteered his time and skills to take part in mission trips to Honduras to help those in need of medical assistance through a nonprofit Christian organization called the Cornerstone Foundation.

What is the Cornerstone Foundation?

Formed in 1992, the charitable organization's mission is to aid hospital-based Christian outreach efforts in Honduras, which according to the World Bank is the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Its efforts include supporting Hospital Loma de Luz, a modern, 30,000-square-foot full-service hospital that opened in 2003, a Christian bilingual school called El Camino that began in 2004 as part of the Loma de Luz Ministries, and a Christian foster home called Sanctuary House Children's Center, which Loma de Luz Ministries opened in 2005.

What others say

"We are very proud of our wound care specialist Dr. Covington and diabetes educator Christine Goodreau for their commitment to improve the lives of people with diabetes throughout the world," said Nancy Lohman, an Ormond Beach philanthropist who with her husband Lowell donated $4 million in October 2020 to create the Halifax Health Lohman Center for Diabetes & Endocrinology. The center at 303 N. Clyde Morris Blvd. in Daytona Beach, opened in November 2021.

Lowell Lohman has suffered from Type 1 diabetes for most of his life, as has his brother Victor.

Lowell and Nancy Lohman are pictured on Oct. 1, 2020 when the Ormond Beach couple presented a $4 million donation to create the Halifax Health Lohman Center for Diabetes & Endocrinology in Daytona Beach. Lowell Lohman has suffered from type 1 diabetes for most of his life. He and his wife are big believers in educating those suffering from the disease on how to live and even thrive despite it by managing their condition.

Nancy Lohman said efforts to educate those suffering diabetes can greatly improve their quality of life through proper diet, exercise and "understanding the warning signs for additional complications."

Nancy Lohman added that Goodreau stands to benefit from the mission trip by "growing as a healthcare professional while helping others."

Lohman hailed the mission trip as a "life-changing experience" that will help those who participate "continue to serve our community with even greater compassion and empathy."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona nurse volunteers to help diabetes patients in Honduras