Our August trip was a tremendous week of collaboration and teaching. A large medical team from Denver, Colorado came to Camotan to work alongside our full time staff. We were fortunate to have several old and some new physicians and providers working together. Each day we visited villages and saw 75-150 patients in each remote setting. As we have blogged about before, we drive many miles on treacherous roads to do our remote work. It is a way for us to have a large impact in a single day and to find patients who need more complex care at Camotan Clinic.
Dr. Linda Jimenez (R) a hospitalist physician from Denver, teaches Daphne Rosales (L) one of our medical residents how to use ultrasound. This is in a rural school house where K-4 education takes place (if families desire further education, children have to be sent to a larger town or city).
Of course we have the clinic fully staffed each day in Camotan as well. But our remote mountain visits provide an opportunity to expand our reach and find those who could not afford the drive to Camotan. Some villages are far back in the mountains. We will drive up to an hour to set up a clinic and help those in need. We are often very remote, situated on a mountainside in a school house or sometimes in a small government clinic (staffed by nurses only). A huge line of people is often waiting for us as we arrive. We carry many supplies. We keep some paperwork on each patient and find those who need more care and some are sent down that day to Camotan if they are sick. Others are told to come to the clinic to follow up on chronic issues like blood pressure or diabetes: all free of charge. If some cannot come to Camotan, we do return for follow up visits several times a year. For those of you who donate to Camotan Clinic, this is where your money goes: directly to improving the lives of the people we help. None of it goes to us or to cover our trip expenses: we all cover our expenses to get to Guatemala our expenses while there. Your money goes directly to medicines, equipment, supplies and to our Guatemalan staff’s salaries. So Thank You!
In one remote mountain clinic, our medical residents–shown above– help us see up to 200 patients a day. This clinic is a small government clinic that is run by only nurses. It sits on the side of a mountain 16 miles and 2,000 feet above Camotan
Jessica Meyers, NP from Denver applies a bandage to a patient in a remote mountain setting. Everything we give to patients is possible because of donations from people like you. All donations to Camotan Clinic go directly to patient care. All of us in the US are volunteers and pay for our trips. So, many thanks to all of you who give!
As we have so often written about, it is the teamwork and camaraderie that makes a week in Guatemala so wonderful for those who come. The conditions are hot, the travel can be long and the work is hard. But we love doing it. Providers from the US and Guatemala get to work side by side helping some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere. We love it because we are making a difference. And we love it because we get to laugh, share ideas and be with each other. It is what keeps so many of us from the US returning. Mealtime is always a highlight as we share stories from the day, troubleshoot how to get care for a complex patient or just dream about future goals.
Team dinner time
Thank you for reading! And thanks to all of you who support us with time, energy, thoughts and prayers and donations. Know that you are making a difference. Thank you.