Faith In Practice Mission Trip Log - 2022

Faith In Practice Mission Trip Log - 2022

Guatemala Medical Mission Day 1

“The purpose in life is to contribute in some way to making things better” Robert F. Kennedy

Peter and I made it safely to Antigua, Guatemala! It is not so easy to get here. We departed our house in Novato at 6 PM last night, checked in for an overnight flight through Mexico City and arrived in Guatemala City this morning at 9:30 AM. Most of the Houston team arrived later in the day and other Californians were on a different flights. Our driver delivered us to our hotel in Antigua by 11:30 AM. Team members from California and Houston, Texas all had arrived by 3pm so we could organize for tomorrow’s travel. We are headed for El Progresso area where we have been told to prepare for heat and occasional thunderstorms. On our bus ride there tomorrow, I will share info on the mission players and what we will be doing for the week. I snapped a couple of photos in Antigua. Check out the sleeping dogs beneath the bus! PS Peter says to let sleeping dogs lie!

Day 2 Guatemala medical mission

“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion in the world to help others.“ Albert Schweitzer

21 American doctors, a pharmacist, an RNs, 2 Texas medical students, a pastor, numerous translators and various support staff are joining an equal number of Guatemalan volunteers to make our mighty team of 44. We have arrived in the region of El Progreso, a hot, arid region of central Guatemala. First, a state of the country and fallout from Covid; Healthcare is nonexistent for the poor, 3/4 of the countries children are malnourished and 3/4 of the indigenous population is impoverished. The schools have been completely physically shut down for two years and learning from home has been a disaster. It is estimated that the children are permanently intellectually delayed because of Covids’ policies. Consider that many parents do not read or write and you will understand how homeschooling for the past two years was an unmitigated disaster. The government provides no social welfare services such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and the people are hurting for healthcare.

We traveled with the team, two buses, and a transport bus to deliver all of our supplies to a huge local school which will be open for the very first time in two years to host our clinic.

Our clinics will see approximately 250 people per day in the pediatric, general medicine, ENT, gynecological and mobility clinics. Sadly, the government will not allow us to hold dental clinics until the Covid restrictions have been lifted. Many people continue to suffer with terrible tooth decay, obesity and diabetes from the excessive sugar pushed on them by the soda and snack companies.

Tomorrow we will arrive with big hearts, compassion, medication and treatments, wheelchairs, hearing aids, anti-parasitic medicines and the scheduling of surgeries with the teams that follow us.

Day 3 Guatemala medical mission

“Always forgive your enemies– nothing annoys them so much” Oscar Wilde

First clinic day: up early, on the bus and ready for our patients by 8 AM at our school converted to a clinic. Patients have been up for hours, waiting for our arrival. Community leaders have been working closely with their people to identify those most in need. Those chosen will receive an invitation and assistance in traveling to our clinic. Today I work in the mobility clinic where the disabled are built custom wheelchairs and given devices like walkers and crutches. By 8:15 disabled patients brought in by bus were carefully carried off the bus by volunteers to us. My role in this clinic is to take care of all of their medical conditions while the wheel chair assemblers and physical therapists fine tune their maximum mobility. There are so many disabled people in this country with a variety of conditions. Today I saw people who could not walk due to strokes, leg amputations from diabetic infections, children with cerebral palsy and spina bífida ( a condition with leg paralysis due to lack of spine development), age related weakness in the elderly, Downs’ Syndrome, traumatic injuries and more. Uniformly, these patients are lovingly and selflessly cared for by friends, neighbors and family members. When patients receive a wheelchair, a “village” is liberated. Just imagine yourself having to take care of a loved one 24/7 without a wheelchair and carry them on your back or in a wheel barrel everywhere they need to go.

A most memorable patient was a 50 year old man brought in by his brother who was his sole caregiver. He had a condition called hydrocephalus, where fluid that normally bathes the brain and spinal cord gets obstructed and causes increased brain pressure which caused leg paralysis in this patient. He had devastating medical conditions including a colostomy, a Foley catheter and a massive ulcer on his lower back and buttocks from sitting in a chair while paralyzed. His brother was unfazed by his complex care needs. Poor Guatemalans can only rely on themselves since there is no social welfare system from the government to help them with their sick family.

We built 33 wheelchairs and I saw each one of the patients with smiles on their faces when they received them. Tomorrow I will have the honor to care for more of these brave souls.

Day 4 Guatemala mission trip

“Love and compassion or necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. “ Dalai Lama

Today was my second day working in the mobility clinic. I saw expressions of love beyond what I typically see in the United States. I will give you two examples. The first, was a woman who brought her son with cerebral palsy to receive a wheelchair. He has been unable to walk since birth. She came to our Faith In Practice clinic hoping for a miracle. When I told her her son would never walk, she began to cry, as did he. She had been carrying him around without a wheelchair for years without any complaint.

A woman in her 50s brought in her 75-year-old mother who had had both of her legs amputated due to gangrene from diabetic complications. She sheepishly asked me if she could please use my table to change her mother’s diapers. She expertly lifted her mother out of her new wheelchair, transferred her to the bed and completed the task with respect and great love for her mother. The Guatemalan people are beautiful and love their families with great humility.

Two nursing home workers arrived with 14 patients on a bus, all requiring wheelchairs. They were all clean, clearly lovingly cared for, and their stories expertly told to me. One by one, we reviewed history, devised medication plans, and built custom wheel chairs for each. I work with many patients that are brought in from American nursing homes and none have this type of individualized and loving care.

Many families come requesting simple assistance. Could we provide diapers? Could we provide urinary catheters?

People’s lives are very hard here. There’s no option for hard work week followed by a night out on the town. Every time I come to Guatemala, I am reminded of how good my life is.

Day 5 Guatemala Medical Mission

“Whenever possible, choose peace.” Donna Goddard

This is the 3rd clinic day in this hot and arid region called El Progresso. It has been challenging to stay hydrated when working with full PPE in 90+ degree heat. We have permission by the government to work only if we abide by their protocols.

Today I worked in the medical clinic, seeing patients of all types. In Guatemala, there are local clinics available to the poor. Medically unsophisticated patients are treated far below US standards of care. They must pay for labs, X-rays and medications, so they often are not treated until too late for good outcomes.

Diabetes is widespread here. Woe is you if you contract a diabetic foot ulcer. Instead of an incremental foot amputation, surgeons perform Kamakazi surgery first off and amputate the entire leg close to the groin. I saw countless patients like this who will confined to a wheelchair forever since now ineligible for a prosthesis. Patients are grateful for any care, good or bad as they don’t know the difference.

First patient of the day was a sad case. The government would not operate on her recurrent thyroid cancer and it was slowly oozing blood. She begged for surgery because she needed to care for her invalid husband. After consulting with our ENT specialist, it was determined the pts’ tumor was inoperable and we could not cure her. She cried and begged to God when I told her the news. I felt utterly helpless.

Many people we are able to help though, with medications, medical treatments, surgeries, wheelchairs, cortisone shots to worn out joints, referrals to partner organizations and more. Grateful to be part of this great organization!

Day 6 Guatemala Medical Mission

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed” Maya Angelou

Today is our final clinic day.

FIP has supported a remarkable, low tech solution for identifying cervical cancer in women. Pap smears are not universally available here. This country does not vaccinate young girls for human papilloma virus, the cause a cervical cancer, as we do in the United States.

Therefore, Guatemalan women have a higher incidence of cervical cancer. Instead of Pap smears, an acid solution is swabbed onto the cervix. If this is abnormal, a procedure called cryo-where the top layer of cervical cells is frozen is done on the spot. This essentially illuminates early cervical cancer. Patti, our local gynecologist has taught the swabbing and ID process across the country to hundreds of mid level practitioners, who refer to our village clinics for the cryo-treatments. Cancer has been prevented in hundreds of women through this method.

For many years I have collected new reading glasses from friends, Rotary and church to distribute to our patients. For the past two years, we have had a dedicated person to assist patients with eyeglass selection sorted by intensity. The middle-aged population is thrilled to be able to read or continue crafts not possible without readers. I think we distributed at least 175 pairs of glasses this year! What is a minor issue to most Americans makes a huge difference to those here in Guatemala.

I have had a wonderful experience having an American medical student from Texas as my translator this week. It was incredible to me to be able to teach her physical exam and diagnosis of conditions that she will likely never see in the United States.

The day ends, the trunks are packed and loaded. Our team and network partners circled up in the school center for a blessing and thanks to the work we have done this week. How incredible it is to be part of this mission trip. I am thankful for another week to help those in need.

  Final Comments

Thank you for reading this log.  As you can see, Faith In Practice Mission is truly a mission of servicing God to serve others in need.

For further information, please contact Vicki Martinez at .