Our December 2025 team was led by our Florida group of physicians led by Dr. Mark Speake a longtime leader in Camotan Clinic. Dr. Speake was joined by two Internal Medicine residents from University of Central Florida: Dr. Emanuel Ortiz and Dr. Brian Rodriquez. Once they landed in Guatemala, Jessica Meyers, pediatric NP from Denver joined them. 3 Guatemalan dentists including Dr. Jovita Tolido then joined in Guatemala City and headed to Camotan. After dinner together that night, the team had their first day in the rural village of Pinolito. However this was not a clinic day. The team went to celebrate Christmas. Dr. Speake’s team bought gifts for the whole village. Over 350 children who had never had Christmas received toys. The team also provided food for the village. The team would spend their day visiting, laughing, playing soccer and eating with the villagers (see below).
Hundreds gathered for Christmas in Pinolito
In April when the team was doing a medical clinic in Pinolito, Dr. Speake identified a newborn who needed gastrointestinal surgery and the infant was sent to a Children’s hospital and the clinic helped sponsor a corrective surgery. Dr. Speake was delighted to visit with the family and see the young boy doing well and thriving. It is this kind of follow up and connection to the villages we serve that makes our work special. When our groups are not in Guatemala, our clinic team still visits these remote mountain villages and checks on patients. Follow up and continuity are essential to what we do in Camotan Clinic.
Dentistry in the mountain village
The team soon got to work for the rest of the week. Roughly 150 patients were seen daily over the next few days in different mountain aldeas (villages). The team also was able to do some home visits which is a more personal way to connect with those who need care. Indeed, some families are in need of just food when we visit the villages. Malnutrition is often present where we go. Dr. Speake’s team was able to bring food to some to these families along with medical care.
Dr. Brian Rodriquez (L) applies ultrasound on a village resident suffering heart problems. Dr. Gisselle Espana (R) , Guatemalan medical resident watches and learns
Dr. Mark Speake watches over residents as they care for patients in a mountain village
On the last day the team visited an aldea that Camotan Clinic visits twice a year: Tesipe. It was in this village last year that Dr. Speake’s team identified a 11 year old girl with an infected (septic) knee. This girl (Delmy), now 12, was sent to Chiquimula where the public hospital is, by the medical team. She had a surgery that cleared the infection. Without the identification of the infection and the transportation to the hospital by the team, she may well have died. The team was able to visit with Delmy in Tesipe and were delighted to see how well she is doing.
Death is a common occurrence in the mountains around Camotan. The life expectancy in the mountains is roughly 50-55, well below that of the country of Guatemala’s. In fact in Tesipe, the team learned that a pregnant mother had died in childbirth along with her unborn child just a few months prior. Camotan Clinic has long recognized this problem. The clinic has a midwife (comadrona) educator that visits the villages 2 weeks of a month. This educator (Melina Rodriquez) teachs mothers and comadronas in the aldeas safe birthing practices. Our partnership with another Guatemalan non profit Casa Materna has made this possible. Although there is much to still be done, we continue to work hard and help everywhere we can.
All of this is possible because of the support from people who support Camotan Clinic. We are so grateful for those of you who give time, supplies, financial support, prayers and energy to the clinic. We could not do this without you.
Thank you for reading!