GUATEMALA PROGRAM Moving on now…

GUATEMALA PROGRAM

Moving on now….. As many of you know, I was interested in expanding our program since we have so many volunteers and many wanted to travel to places other than Bolivia. Guatemala seemed to be a logical choice, since it is closer, and also, we have so many Guatemalans living right here in our communities that have families that remain there. So, over Labor Day weekend, I embarked on MIMA’s newest adventure and went for a quick “scouting mission” to Guatemala with 7 volunteers.

The volunteers were Dr. David Kurtz, Janeen Hernan, Patty Reck, Carolina Soler, Jeanne Wasser, Estela Medina, Bill Wagner and myself. Joining us was Jeronimo, who is from the area that we visited, Aileen Josephs, an Immigration Attorney, Dan Moffett from the PB Post, his niece, Ruby Hernandez, and Jack Hairston. At the last minute, Roxany, another Guatemalan that lives in Jupiter and works with a radio station that broadcasts on Sunday, joined us. We traveled to Jacaltenengo, Guatemala, which is a village where many of the residents from Jupiter are from. Unfortunately, it took 10 hours by bus, which totally defeated the purpose of going to a closer location, but it was beautiful and a very good experience. Then, on to Antigua, where we met another friend, Dr. Tim Steigenga, a professor of Political Science at FAU Honor College in Jupiter, Florida, who has spent a lot of time in Guatemala and was also encouraging us to pursue this location. He introduced us to one of his friends, who is the director of another hospital, closer to Antiuga, which is only one hour from the International Airport.

On Tuesday morning, before returning to Florida, we decided to make a quick visit to the hospital in Chimaltenengo and to explore the possibilities there. We were delighted with the outcome, and have been invited to work there whenever we would like. They have a 100 bed hospital, 4 Operating Rooms, and seemingly a well run facility. They have very good General Surgeons, but no real specialists at this time. They were most interested in ENT, Gyne, Plastics and Urology, and are awaiting communication from us on our plans. My idea at this time is to offer a February trip with a small surgical team, including two specialists ( hopefully general surgery and urology) and to invite Dr.Norberto Benitez, who is a pediatrician from Jacksonville. At this time, it seems that this will be a location that is easy enough to get to so that we can schedule several trips per year on a rotating basis. We will need to work on the airlines, the transport of supplies, and find out about the availability of supplies that can be purchased there, as well as the prices.


								GUATEMALA PROGRAM Moving on now….. As many of you know, I was interested in expanding our program since we have so many volunteers and many wanted to travel to places other than Bolivia. Guatemala seemed to be a logical choice, since it is closer, and also, we have so many Guatemalans living right here in our communities that have families that remain there. So, over Labor Day weekend, I embarked on MIMA’s newest adventure and went for a quick “scouting mission” to Guatemala with 7 volunteers. The volunteers were Dr. David Kurtz, Janeen Hernan, Patty Reck, Carolina Soler, Jeanne Wasser, Estela Medina, Bill Wagner and myself. Joining us was Jeronimo, who is from the area that we visited, Aileen Josephs, an Immigration Attorney, Dan Moffett from the PB Post, his niece, Ruby Hernandez, and Jack Hairston. At the last minute, Roxany, another Guatemalan that lives in Jupiter and works with a radio station that broadcasts on Sunday, joined us. We traveled to Jacaltenengo, Guatemala, which is a village where many of the residents from Jupiter are from. Unfortunately, it took 10 hours by bus, which totally defeated the purpose of going to a closer location, but it was beautiful and a very good experience. Then, on to Antigua, where we met another friend, Dr. Tim Steigenga, a professor of Political Science at FAU Honor College in Jupiter, Florida, who has spent a lot of time in Guatemala and was also encouraging us to pursue this location. He introduced us to one of his friends, who is the director of another hospital, closer to Antiuga, which is only one hour from the International Airport. On Tuesday morning, before returning to Florida, we decided to make a quick visit to the hospital in Chimaltenengo and to explore the possibilities there. We were delighted with the outcome, and have been invited to work there whenever we would like. They have a 100 bed hospital, 4 Operating Rooms, and seemingly a well run facility. They have very good General Surgeons, but no real specialists at this time. They were most interested in ENT, Gyne, Plastics and Urology, and are awaiting communication from us on our plans. My idea at this time is to offer a February trip with a small surgical team, including two specialists ( hopefully general surgery and urology) and to invite Dr.Norberto Benitez, who is a pediatrician from Jacksonville. At this time, it seems that this will be a location that is easy enough to get to so that we can schedule several trips per year on a rotating basis. We will need to work on the airlines, the transport of supplies, and find out about the availability of supplies that can be purchased there, as well as the prices.