Our January trip was an excellent week of providing health care. We had providers from Colorado and Pennsylvania meet in Camotan for a joint effort with our clinic staff. Many hundreds of patients were seen. Jessica Meyers, NP journaled for this trip below. Enjoy her writing and the pics!!
Dr. Joel Strohecker, Jennifer Parsons PA, and Jessica Meyers CPNP left sub zero temperatures in Denver very early on 1/14 and smoothly traveled to Guatemala where we met up with David Neisch (public health PhD professor and veteran Guatemalan team member). David flew from Pennsylvania. Despite lost suitcases, we made it to Camotan and had our usual team dinner on Sunday night with some of our wonderful clinic staff. It was a lovely meal full of laughter that set the tone for the rest of the week.
Monday we got organized in the clinic and met up with Deisy; one of our Guatemalan nurses along with our translators Amy and Mario. Samy our ever faithful driver and handyman was there as well. Samy is one of our team favorites and regulars: he seemingly can fix almost anything, drive a truck up any road and always creates laughter and joy. Our first day was in a remote mountain village: El Chute. We identified numerous patients with chronic conditions who needed ongoing followup at Camotan Clinic. Others received acute medications on an as needed basis.
On Tuesday we traveled to Muyurco, Las Cruces y El Chorro a community that was exceedingly poor and had no reliable access to clean water. We identified 7 patients with severe, uncontrolled hypertension. One patient had such a severe case that we sent her down to the clinic for full evaluation and workup. Our resident Dr. Jeffrey Meija and Dr. Strohecker checked an EKG and did some labs to ensure she was not having an hypertensive emergency. Dr. Toledo joined the team on Wednesday (after taking the 3am bus from Guatemala City—the bus then caught fire and she had to take another bus!!). Dr. Toledo spent the days Wednesday and Thursday seeing patients in the clinic who had dental needs.
Our team went to 2 other villages on Wednesday and Thursday while Dr. Toledo saw dental patients in the clinic and Dr. Meija saw medical patients. The villages of El Talco and Tisipe each had about 150 patients who needed to be seen on Wednesday and Thursday. Each day we worked late into the day. El Talco was particularly poor, and almost all families and children had parasites that needed treatment. The community leader explained that the water source for this village at one point had a filter but it no longer functioned. Most patients required a 7 day course of albendazole (a medicine that kills the parasites). Access to clean water is complicated and unique from village to village. The majority of villages have poor water quality and contaminated water is the root of so many health problems we see. By Thursday we literally ran out of many of our meds we had so much need. Many families had over 6 children. More patients with chronic medical issues like hypertension and diabetes were identified for ongoing care in Camotan Clinic.
Thursday night our team had dinner with another large medical team that had come from the US. We stay at a local missionary facility when we are in Camotan: Servant ministries. Servant ministries has been in Guatemala for 30 years helping the people around Camotan. As we have often noted here, collaboration is a vital and necessary part of all we do. Without the resources and living facility that Servant ministries provides in Camotan, we would have to travel an hour in the morning and in the evening to the closest town with a hotel. We are grateful to work with them. One of the medical teams had dinner with us the last night at Servant ministries. They will use Camotan Clinic as their referral clinic for patients. There is much more need in this part of the world than any one team can tackle.
Every trip provides new opportunities for us to reach new villages, help more people. We feel grateful to be here and it is a joy to have our US teams work alongside our Guatemalan staff. When we see each other at the beginning of each trip; many hugs, smiles and laughter ensue. Our weeks are full of hard work but much joy as well. We work together to bridge the cultural gaps and refine the processes that are slowly creating sustainable healthcare in these mountains….
Thank you for reading!!