Guatemala Medical Mission
March 1-10, 2024
Dr Vicki Martinez 2024
Guatemala Medical Mission Day 1
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others” ~Albert Schweitzer
This is my 21st and Peter’s 15th year serving with Faith in Practice, giving medical care to the needy. We leave with 2 other doctors, one nurse and a paramedic from Marin on an overnight flight to join our Houston contingent in Guatemala tomorrow, where we will begin our medical mission trip to the Santa Rosa district of the country. FIP improves the health and wellness of underserved Guatemalans through weeklong surgical and medical clinic missions, community-based health initiatives, robust partnerships, and education. Guatemala has the 10th highest poverty in the world, has widespread malnutrition leading to birth defects, and stunted growth in kids, a high number of untreated or inadequately treated traumatic injuries from the labor community and limited number of local doctors and surgeons. This is the 30th anniversary of FIP who began bringing US volunteers to Guatemala on annual, week-long medical mission trips. Through the generous commitment of more than 2,500 US, Canadian and UK-based volunteers, and a network of more than300 Guatemalan volunteers and non-profits, FIP provides year-round care to the most vulnerable Guatemalans.
Please follow us along with our mission trip!!
Guatemala mission Day 2
"Patience is not simply the ability to wait-it's how we behave while we are waiting"
Last evening at 7 pm, 6 medical missionaries including myself, Peter Gruhl, Brian Nishinaga, Gloria Silva, Chip Kaplove and John Parker departed for SFO Airport. Pouring rain and a medical emergency onboard seriously delayed our first leg to El Salvador.
Our connecting flight to Guatemala City left without us. We were rerouted to Bogota, Columbia before another flight to Guatemala city. By the time we were transported to our destination in Antigua Guatemala, 24 hours have passed! I never guessed that we would've had to travel from North America to Central America to South America and back to Central America to meet up with our team!
We are safely in Guatemala and ready to head out first thing in the morning! Pray for sleep and a little rest for us!!
Guatemala Medical Mission Day 3
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal” – Marin Luther King, Jr
Today will be our travel day to the region of Santa Rosa, central west Guatemala, 3 hours by bus from Antigua where the team assembled last night. Old team members and newbies celebrate the gifts of Faith in Practice brings to the needy. Our team consists of 32 Americans and 30 Guatemalan volunteers.
The region we will be working is known for coffee and livestock, and ethnically is mostly ladino (Spanish and Mayan heritage), although a small population of indigenous live here. We travel through mostly rural, dry country and hillsides, as the rainy season is our summertime. Repeated droughts, followed by tropical cyclones have decimated many crops here, keeping many in the grips of poverty. Evidence of poverty is everywhere. We drove by marginal houses that remind me of bad camping, most without potable water or flush toilets. Today, I saw a woman with an infant in arms, standing in the center of a 2-lane road, selling trinkets. Nowhere in the US would I have seen such acts of desperation to feed a child. I am always so grateful for the life I live, never worrying about my next meal, or having clean water to drink.
This week we will be in an open-air pavilion. All hands were on deck unloading the trucks of medicines, and equipment, boxes of wheelchairs to be assembled, and a wide assortment of everything needed for our comprehensive clinics. We expect to see about 300 people per day. We were thanked by the local liaisons, who have helped to ID all the local people who will receive our care. 40% of our team consists of locals.
All the months of preparation are complete! Tomorrow let the work begin!
Guatemala Medical Mission Day 4
“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”- William Shakespeare
Lots of stray dogs in Guatemala. Your heart would break if you were a dog lover in this country. They must fend for themselves in a world where the people may not themselves have enough to eat. We nearly struck a dog with our bus enroute to the clinic this am. Dogs are largely unvaccinated, and a bite will buy you a full rabies series of shots. An elderly patient had a sweet, thin, flea-bitten dog at my feet. Tomorrow I will make sure there are leftovers in my bag.
Our Houston based team is a well-oiled machine with a solid core of folks that volunteer yearly. The remainder are individuals who for a variety of life reasons may join us intermittently or for a single trip. Our Guatemalan team contingency has grown in numbers, taking on more responsibility for running the team. Byron, a paraplegic in a wheelchair can be seen running the mobility clinic, supervising construction of the 100+ wheelchairs we will custom build this week for the many disabled in this country. Managing the teams’ transportation, meals, accommodations, and the clinic flow belong to 3 very capable Guatemalan women, Tagni , Marie and Julia.
This year my wonderful Novato Presbyterian church, Rotary and friends donated 300+ reading glasses and beautifully hand sewn glass cases. Others brought sunglasses for a well-stocked optical set up. The intense near equator sun causes premature cataracts, skin growths over the cornea. Sunglasses help protect the many field workers prevent cataract blindness later. The middle-aged people are desperate for reading glasses for wares and work. Bobby, a retired United Pilot has become the resident eyeglass fitter on our team. People love him!
A medical crisis unfolded this afternoon as the clinic was in full swing at 3pm. We give albendazole to everyone for parasites living in nearly every digestive tract in the rural population. One of our “Red Hats”, the locals volunteers who wear red baseball caps, collapsed with an anaphylactic reaction to the albendazole. She could not breathe! As team doctor, I am responsible for the emergency kit going back and forth from the hotel to clinic and being readily accessible. It was a blessing to have 4 ER doctors and 2 ER nurses to resuscitate this poor woman. Epi-pen and multiple drugs slowed this near fatal reaction. Clinic ground to a temporary halt. Thank God for a good outcome! I am committed to reviewing protocols for future teams that are not as well represented by emergency medical personnel. I will tell you about memorable patients tomorrow!
Guatemala Mission Day 5
“Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” – Plato
Life is difficult in Guatemala. In the US, we expect so much; prompt Amazon deliveries, any food any time, a rich social welfare system, security enabling casual expectancy that we will not be robbed at gunpoint or need to live behind walls. So many of our patients thank us profusely for bringing medical care to them. Their own country does not provide even the basics of clean water, sewer, electricity, free education, or basic medical care. Education is free only if parents provide books and uniforms. Adding lack of jobs and poverty, it is no wonder that Guatemalans make the dangerous and arduous journey hundreds of miles to the US border.
The phrase “it takes a village” is true in Guatemala. The cohort of elderly, disabled and frail are lovingly cared for by children, parents, distant relatives and neighbors. I am amazed how some people with such few resources can survive. Common chronic diseases here include diabetes and hypertension, but rarely do I see people with heart disease. It is not unusual to see people in their 80’s and 90’s living alone with the help of family or neighbors. The thinnest 92-year-old I had ever seen weighing 65 pounds was brought in by a relative.
My favorite patient of the day was an 81-year-old handsome red shirted cowboy, with square shoulders still working on the ranch! This example of clean living and exercise should be an example to all! His only request was for reading glasses!
Many sad cases present. There are many women who struggle to raise their children after their husbands make the trek across the border into the US. Their life is uncertain, never knowing if their husbands will ever return. Money is sent home, and they communicate by phone. I am told husbands stray and set up a second life in the US indefinitely. The life left behind is not great. I feel so blessed!
Guatemala Medical Mission Day 6
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give”-Winston Churchill
Today is the final clinic day of our mission trip. We have the most comprehensive clinic services of any of the teams, including general medicine, pediatrics, ENT, orthopedics, Gynecology, VIA/CRYO, Mobility (wheelchairs and more), Audiology, Lab, Pharmacy and Optometry (reading and sunglasses).
Faith in Practice has had a long-term vision to move from paper charts to electronic records. This laudable goal is to improve coordination of care between the village teams that identify surgical conditions, the surgical teams and follow-up. This huge endeavor is easier said than done. Barriers to implementation include unreliable internet, electricity, computer tablets, software, and expectation that a disparate group of people can quickly learn and use the system. One earlier team last November tried but was unsuccessful due to connectivity issues. We were the guinea pigs! Quite frankly, it was like building an airplane while flying it! I won’t bore you with the struggles we had this week. Thus, the electronic medical record remains a hopeful work in progress.
Many of the Guatemalan women have very typical complaints; headaches, back pain, “gastritis”, leg, and foot pain. In other words, not much that doesn’t hurt. My 52-year-old patient had all of these. I asked her details of her life and found she had no running water, carried non purified water into her house, chopped the wood and carried it to the house where she cooked on an open stove and heated the house, made the tortillas from scratch, washed the clothes by hand and took care of all the children. I think we are the only ones that give these women recognition they deserve for their hard lives. I never complain any more after seeing the way they live.
Guatemala Mission Day 7
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”-Lewis Smedes
Final day of clinics. Most years when I come to Guatemala, I spend part of time assisting in the mobility clinic and the rest in the general clinic seeing a wide variety of medical conditions. Several years ago, FIP partnered with an organization that provides us with boxes of wheelchairs needing assembly, for the price of shipping. Each year since, a dedicated physical therapist evaluates patients to determine if a wheelchair, crutches, or walker is the best mobility device for the patient. Very common conditions include cerebral palsy due to anoxic brain damage from home births gone bad, industrial accidents and strokes. It is so amazing how a device as low tech as a wheelchair can change the life of a patient and their families. It is truly beautiful to watch the love with which patients are cared for by their families. Nursing homes don’t exist here, and patients would die without their family or friends. We are so lucky in the US!
The day was very long yet we managed to master our new electronic tablets today. Final hours, final day…the week has flown by. Our beautiful team has helped hundreds of patients. So many, tenderly touch my shoulder and whisper “Va con Dios” or “Go with God”. Again, I have been blessed to serve!
A beautiful final farewell ceremony took place in the gym with the FIP and local volunteers. Until next year we meet again.
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one” – Mother Theresa
Thank You Guatemala Mission Team!!
People often tell me how good it is that we volunteer in Guatemala. Nearly all the beautiful patients would touch my shoulder and whisper ‘via con Dios’, or ‘go with God’ as they left. The truth is, I receive more than I give!
Team Stats
- Aproximately1500 patient clinic visits, adults and children
- 275 patients referred and scheduled for surgeries
- 121 patients can hear with their new hearing aids
- Multiple women screened for cervical cancer and treated with cryotherapy
- Dozens of custom wheelchairs built and dispensed, plus canes and walkers
- Over 100 arthritic joints injected with cortisone
- Over 275 reading glasses fitted
THANK YOU, FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND COLLEAGUES, FOR YOUR UNWAVERING SUPPORT! YOU ARE ALL PART OF OUR TEAM AND WE COULD NOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU!
Vicki Martinez MD and Peter Gruhl
https://donate.faithinpractice.org/Dr-Martinez