Help Olvin Breathe: Continuing a Legacy of Compassion

The Cost of a Breath: Why Olvin Needs You

A Legacy of Mercy: From Santo Hermano Pedro to Olvin

In the 1600s, a young man from the Canary Islands arrived in Guatemala with dreams of making his fortune. Pedro de San José de Betancur came seeking wealth, but what he found instead changed the course of his life and the lives of countless others.

Walking the streets of Antigua, Pedro encountered the sick, the dying, and the destitute who had nowhere to turn. The hospitals of his day served only those who could pay. The poor suffered and died in the streets. Pedro couldn't look away. He gave up his dreams of wealth and devoted his life to founding a hospital where the poorest of the poor could receive care with dignity.

Santo Hermano Pedro, as he came to be known, didn't just build a building. He built a legacy of radical mercy that would echo across centuries and borders.

A Franciscan's Vision in Olancho

Centuries later, another man caught that same vision. Bishop Maurus Muldoon, a Franciscan missionary and Irish Bostonian, looked at the people of Olancho, Honduras and saw what Hermano Pedro had seen: beloved children of God who needed a place where they could receive care regardless of their ability to pay.

Bishop Muldoon founded Hospital Santo Hermano Pedro Betancourt in Catacamas, naming it after the saint who understood that healthcare is not a privilege for the wealthy but a fundamental expression of human dignity. A missionary through and through, Bishop Muldoon loved the people of Olancho, and they loved him in return. He passed away in June 2024, but his vision lives on in every patient who walks through those hospital doors.

The hospital's president, Dr. Alberto Valladares, carries forward that servant leadership. Before leading the hospital, he served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Juticalpa. He has devoted his life to the people of Olancho. Now he works tirelessly, seven days a week, to provide what he can for the hospital. But the dollars cannot stretch far enough. They are short staffed. Sometimes the lack of medical supplies has dire consequences.

Meet Olvin

Seven-year-old Olvin Emanuel Betancourt lives in a village about half an hour from the hospital with his father and stepmother. When he started having attacks at home, his father didn't know what was happening. He didn't know his son had asthma.

Now Olvin is spending three days in the hospital because he doesn't have a nebulizer at home. The medical staff are treating him, teaching his family about asthma, doing everything they can to help. But when Olvin goes home, the attacks will come again. His family doesn't have enough money to purchase a nebulizer. And the hospital doesn't have enough nebulizers to send one home with every child who needs one.

This is the reality that Santo Hermano Pedro devoted his life to changing. This is the vision that Bishop Muldoon carried to Olancho. This is the work that Dr. Valladares continues every single day.

And this is where you come in.

The Legacy Continues

Healing Hearts Honduras was dedicated to Bishop Muldoon's memory and to the continuation of his vision. We exist to bridge the gap between what the hospital needs and what it can afford. We exist to ensure that children like Olvin can breathe freely, not just in a hospital bed for three days, but at home in their villages.

A nebulizer costs a fraction of what we spend on healthcare in the United States. But for a family in rural Olancho, it might as well cost a million dollars. For the hospital, stretched beyond capacity and understaffed, purchasing enough nebulizers for all the children with asthma and pneumonia who need them is an impossible dream.

Unless we help make it possible.

Santo Hermano Pedro didn't wait for someone else to care for the dying in the streets of Antigua. He rolled up his sleeves and built a hospital. Bishop Muldoon didn't wait for ideal circumstances to bring healthcare to Olancho. He founded a hospital in one of the poorest regions of Honduras. Dr. Valladares doesn't wait for seven-day work weeks to become sustainable. He shows up every single day.

The question is: Will you join this legacy of mercy?

How You Can Help

Hospital Santo Hermano Pedro Betancourt urgently needs nebulizers for children like Olvin who are fighting asthma and pneumonia. Your donation can:

1. Provide nebulizers for children to use at home
2. Equip the hospital with additional nebulizers for treatment
3. Ensure that no child has to stay in the hospital for days simply because they lack equipment at home
4. Continue the legacy of Santo Hermano Pedro, Bishop Muldoon, and all who have said yes to serving the vulnerable

When you give, you're not just purchasing medical equipment. You're becoming part of a story that began in the 1600s and continues today. You're joining Santo Hermano Pedro in his mission. You're honoring Bishop Muldoon's vision. You're supporting Dr. Valladares in his tireless work. And you're giving Olvin the gift of breathing freely at home with his family.

That's a legacy worth being part of.