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Mission to Guatemala Fall 2008

We arrived safely in Antigua and took a short walking tour. This is the Arco Santa Catalina.

Friday November 14th. This is our breakfast stop. Becky and Betty went to Common Hope by themselves while I got a tour of the new surgical facilities.

Becky goofing around in the street. The city of Antigua is a United Nations World Heritage Site. As a result, the architecture has stayed constant. The paint schemes have to use the same colors as were present over 400 years ago. The streets are still cobblestone.

These are the clinic facilities we visited. The facilities are owned by a Fundacion (Foundation) which is a charitable organization based in Guatemala City. Our Perham Rotary sent a team a month ago to set up the O.R. there. The funds for the equipment came from our Rotary Club in Perham, a club in McLean Virginia, both of our districts and Rotary International (to the tune of $48,000).

This is Rodrigo. He is a general practitioner who has practiced in the rural areas until two years ago when he joined the faculty at Centro de Salud Barbara. He gave us a tour of the facilities. We talked on the side for a bit and he told me that he treats the physical body but he really tries to bring his patients to know love.

This is the operating room that Rotary furnished. The lights were over 200 lbs I hear. I didn't realize what I got them into but they did a great job.

They had to break through a wall to install the autoclave (on the left). I can't imagine how heavy this was. The team went above and beyond the call of duty.

Saturday November 15. We left Antigua in the morning to head to the more remote area where the clinic is.

First stop was the hostel where we would be staying.

We then got to the task of triaging the patients. This means that we verify that they have the problem they were sent for and that they understand the risks of surgery.

Next, they go to the scheduler who decides what day and time they will have their surgery. Some will wait the whole week before we get to them.

This is the type of hernias we see - large and neglected.

A typical skin problem. Not life threatening but the surgery will be life changing as she is ostracized for being different.

Sunday November 16. I was busy all day doing 10 surgeries. We raced back and forth between two ORs. This large mass on the finger was only one of many challenges of the day. It came out nicely.

Here is the after picture from a day later.

More Guatemala
Andrew and Kendra Engagement