-
Dr. Joel Strohecker, DO
President
Joel is the president of Camotan Clinic and co-founded the clinic with Gustavo Valdez who works with kairosministries. A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Strohecker attended Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He then completed a family medicine residency at University of Colorado in Denver, CO.
Since completing his residency, Dr. Strohecker has practiced as a hospitalist in Denver. He is board certified in family medicine and also completes board certifications in hospital medicine. Dr. Strohecker has always had an interest in mission work. He has been active mentoring underprivileged youth and has been involved in community outreach and environmental organizations for years.
His interest in Guatemala started with a mission trip in 2008 and annual trips followed each summer until 2016. At that time, he and Gustavo Valdez, along with Kairos Ministries, decided to set up Camotan Clinic. Dr. Strohecker is an avid outdoorsman and loves to ski, hike and trail run in the mountains of Colorado where he lives.
-
Dr. Jovita Toledo, DMD
Vice President
Jovita graduated from the faculty of Dentistry of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC). Specialized in Hospital Administration and Maintenance, she graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala.
In 2011 she won a recognition of the Faculty of Dentistry of the San Carlos University of Guatemala (USAC) as one of the three best EPS (supervised professional practice) performed in Los Macizos village, Chuquimulilla, Santa Rosa.
She currently works with Fundación Dr. Alfonso Ponce Archila as a dentist and in the department of the preventive oral health programs. This program is aimed at schoolchildren, employees of companies and vulnerable populations with high rates of diseases of the oral cavity. She participates in the preventive programs of Zero Caries for Certifications of Public and Private Schools in Guatemala. She coordinates dental clinics and offers her professional services in general dentistry to different institutions and collaborates through non-profit institutions in medical dentistries, aimed at communities without decent health services possibilities, creating better opportunities and facilitating access to them.
She also works in private clinical practice, performing general dentistry.
-
Jennifer Strohecker, Pharm D
Secretary
Jennifer is a pharmacist who completed her Bachelors degree at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science and her Doctorate of Pharmacy at the University of Florida.
For the duration of her 20-year professional career, Jennifer has worked with underprivileged patients, where she passionately strives to improve health outcomes and the delivery of care on an individual and system level. She is adjunct faculty; teaching and precepting doctoral students from the Colleges of Pharmacy at the University of Utah and Roseman University.
Jennifer became connected to the needs of the Camotan community through her twin brother Joel. She travels frequently to Guatemala and assists with clinic operations, medication ordering and is developing a chart system for all the residents of the mountain villages surrounding Camotan. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys summiting mountains and traversing landscapes on skis, by foot or by bike. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her three children.
-
Dr. Steve Stahl, MD
Treasurer
Dr. Stahl grew up in Chicago and did his family medicine residency in Utah. He had his first experience with overseas missions early in medical school when he worked in a hospital in Ecuador. Then at the end of medical school, he spent 3 months in India at a small rural hospital working with an Indian surgeon. These experiences shaped his passion for medicine in the third world. After his residency at the University of Utah, he has worked in private practice both in Utah and in Colorado. However, he has continued to volunteer his time. Dr. Stahl worked in free medical clinics in rural Mexico during the early years of his private practice. Now in the past few years he has become involved in Camotan Clinic and is committed to improving health for all inhabitants in this rural area of Guatemala.
Dr. Stahl developed a love of hiking, skiing and backpacking while living in Utah. These are some of his favorite activities when he has free time. He has three grown children (each of them amazing!) and he loves taking walks with his wife Claudia and their tiny dog.
He continues to work full time in family medicine which gives him many opportunities to listen, to care for patients and help them improve their health.
-
Jessica Meyers, NP
Executive Director, US Operations
Jessica Meyers, Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, grew up in Michigan and then attended college and graduate school in California and transplanted to Colorado in 2007. She first traveled to Guatemala on a service trip in 1996 and that trip was the start of her passion for the vulnerable and underserved. She knew that Guatemala was a place she would one day return. She spent the next 25+ years doing a variety of medical mission work in Jamaica, Mexico, and Haiti. Those trips provided invaluable lessons about service work. When she went on her first trip to the Camotan clinic she knew that this organization was the culmination of all her dreams for the developing world. There is a sustainable healthcare system developing in Camotan and the surrounding mountain villages. Patients and families are living healthier lives as a result of consistent access to healthcare.
Her career has been exclusively in Pediatrics and she has spent the majority of it in the Emergency Room at Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Jessica believes that treating the child is also treating the whole family. She is passionate about educating and empowering parents to help their children grow to be as healthy as possible.
Jessica along with her husband and two sons are happy to call Colorado home. They enjoy being outside exploring together.