While the site is being designed and built, feel free to browse the information here, and learn more about who’s working hard already in Guatemala.
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Welcome to the Link for Health blog. We are a 501(c)(3), non profit organization (IRS Determination Letter), whose central activity is to create a free website devoted to improving the health potential of Guatemala. The site will contain bilingual tools to help traveling medical missions, Guatemala based charities, and development groups to work better, together.
Health Talents International (www.healthtalents.org) has a surgical team coming to Guatemala next week, September 4. In the past two weeks, they have had three RNs drop off of their team. Please spread the word that HTI has a need for 2-3 RN’s who can work that week. They will begin surgery on Sunday afternoon and conclude surgery on Thursday, then travel to Antigua on Friday morning, September 10.
If anyone is interested or able, please comment here, contact Rick Harper on Facebook or my e-mail Rick at HTIRick@aol.com We have a woman with breast problems who needs to have a mammogram read, and be examined by a breast specialist. If you have any leads, please let us know.  **Update/Follow Up: If anyone has contacts with Baxter (www.baxter.com), either in the US (Deerfield, IL), or in Latin America, could you please comment below, or email me at Laura@Cliniclink.org? We have a lead that Baxter-Guatemala sometimes donates dialysis to needy patients, and we would like to follow up on that.Rina (age 32) is a single mom in great pain for her son. She works as a house cleaner, and washes clothes, making about $51 per month.
Her son, Dilson was born December 28th, 1997. He would have been in 7th grade if he was able to study. He studied hard in 6th grade as an athletic, smart, successful student, playing soccer every recess and every free moment he had. In 2008, his skin started changing colors, becoming paler and paler, and he started vomitting violently, repeatedly. He was taken by a fever in April 2010 and he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. He currently needs dialysis, which would cost $1215 per month in Guatemala City. He will eventually need a transplanted kidney from his mother. We are trying to secure Dilson some donated dialysis. If you have any leads at all, please contact us at Exchange@ClinicLink.org, or comment below.
Anyone game? The test will be run in English – but the tool, when it is ready, will be available in Spanish. Email me at Laura@ClinicLink.org if you would like to help, I will just need to know your cell phone number, and service provider (Claro, Tigo or MoviStar).
The following video is a presentation by Ushahidi advisory board member Patrick Meier, describing Ushahidi and CrowdMap. I would love to form a small group to explore this product, and to discuss its possible uses for Guatemala. If you are interested, please leave a comment below, or contact me at Exchange@ClinicLink.org. Discussion would most likely take place in English and Spanish on an internet discussion forum such as Google groups. For more information about the company and product, visit the Ushahidi or Crowdmap websites. Efecto Mariposa, founded by Joanne Wessels in February 2010, is a consultancy and logistics business dedicated to assisting non-profit organizations in their efforts to help impoverished Guatemalans. Wessels, a Dutch citizen, launched Efecto Mariposa after four years of working with non-profits in Guatemala. After earning her degrees in Public Administration & Public Policy, Wessels was a policy maker for a local Dutch government. In 2006, Wessels moved to Guatemala to volunteer for Constru Casa a Dutch non-profit, which builds homes for Guatemalans. From 2007 to 2010, Wessels was the Director of Programs & External Relations for Partner for Surgery (“PfS”). PfS is a U.S. non-profit that provides Guatemalans with sustainable access to medical and surgical care. Wessels chose the name Efecto Mariposa (Spanish for “Butterfly Effect”) after the physics metaphor. The Butterfly Effect is the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely that small changes at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. Wessels hopes that the “small” activities of Efecto Mariposa will lead to significant changes in the living conditions of Guatemala’s impoverished people. Efecto Mariposa provides services in the following areas: Non Profit Consulting Services include: project management, grant writing, preparation of site inspection trips for medical & surgical teams, and registration of a foreign non profit in Guatemala. In-country Logistics for Medical & Surgical Teams Services include: arranging for team living accommodations, food & transportation, clinic support, additional support, coordination of patient recruitment, and mission participation. Customs Paperwork for Medical & Surgical Teams Services included: assistance in preparing lists of items to be brought into Guatemala; translation of lists into Spanish; coordination with a Guatemalan expeditor. For more information, please contact in Guatemala: Efecto Mariposa – Joanne Wessels tel. (00502) 5996 7254 Email joannewessels@hotmail.com. Blog: http://joanne-efectomariposa.blogspot.com (under construction)
One of the most important goals of Pop Wuj’s Medical Spanish Program is to increase students’ cultural competency in addition to their Spanish language skills. To deliver healthcare in a compassionate way, with the knowledge of the culture and history of the population one works with, is an essential value to Pop Wuj’s vision of the Medical Spanish Program. This special program is offered all year round, beginning the first and third Monday of most months (check website for exact dates) and continues for at least four weeks. There are five core components to their program:
For more information, please visit the Pop-Wuj website, or Pop-Wuj Clinic Facebook page. The following excerpt is from an August 24, 2010 article published by the Latin American Herald Tribune. To read the article in its entirety, please click here. GUATEMALA CITY – Heavy rains caused by a tropical wave in Guatemala affected at least 600 people and damaged 116 homes while leaving millions in agricultural losses and several rivers overflowing their banks, officials said. The Conred emergency management office said in its latest report on the rains that most of the 585 people affected live in the southern province of Escuintla. On Guatemala’s southern coast, the torrential rains flooded at least three communities around the port of San Jose and damaged 26 homes. At the same time in the municipality of Nueva Concepcion, Escuintla, another 18 communities were flooded by the overflowing Coyolate River… Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about this year’s rainy season. The following excerpt is from an August 24, 2010 article published by The Latin American Herald Tribune. To read the article in its entirety, please click here. GUATEMALA CITY – Four children have died in Guatemala over the past few hours as a result of the torrential rains falling across the Central American country, authorities said Tuesday. The first death was registered in Puerto de San Jose, 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of the capital, where a boy of 9 was swept away by the current in a canal. The youngster’s body was found on Monday by emergency workers on the bank of the Chiquimulilla canal, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) away. Firefighters also reported the death Monday night of three sisters in the community of La Reforma, about 270 kilometers (167 miles) west of the capital. The girls, ages 6, 8 and 9, were crushed by a wall that fell onto their house… Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about this year’s rainy season.
After Tropical Storm Agatha collided with Guatemala this summer, its aftermath created scenes of villages destroyed and families swept away. With a psychological toll as heavy as its physical effects, the storm remained long after the skies cleared. There to help pick up the pieces was Wuku’ Kawoq, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 partly by two alumnae, Emily Tummons and Anne Kraemer Diaz, and annually aided by University students. Disaster relief immediately became a priority in addition to the organization’s pre-existing summer plans of providing medical services to Guatemalans in their indigenous Mayan language, Kaqchikel. Tummons, board chair of Wuku’ Kawoq and an instructor of Kaqchikel at the University, said that among the organization’s undertakings are child malnutrition projects in poor coastal communities, water projects in rural communities and diabetes projects near Guatemala City… Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles about our profile subjects.
LONGVIEW, TX – Good Shepherd Medical Center, Longview Orthopaedic physician, Dr. Jordan Stanley, and Refuge International make the dreams of an 18-year-old boy come true through pro bono surgery. Alejandro Ixim was born with bilateral club feet in a remote area of Guatemala, and never received treatment for this very curable condition. In the United States, children with this condition begin treatment at birth and most children with club feet can be ‘cured’ with braces, according to Deborah Bell, president of Refuge International. Alejandro never had access to such care, and had never seen a doctor or a nurse until he was a teenager. As a young adult, having bilateral club feet is crippling. Alejandro grew up learning to walk on the sides of his feet, not the soles, and he could only walk short distances… Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles about our profile subjects.
Guatemala Project: FHG has been providing funding and supplies for medical care and ongoing education for the native Mayan Indian people in Chichicastenango, El Quiche through the ASELSI ministry. This ministry, which originates from the Columbia, MO region has been running a Milk Program and Medical Clinic for over 5 years in the most impoverished area of Guatemala (81% of the population lives below the poverty level). The number of families that have received care (nutitional, pharmaceutical, eye care and physical therapy) through the Father’s Heart Clinic numbers in the thousands. Currently, they have 2700 families enrolled in the clinic, which is 1200 sq. ft. in size. The need for a new, larger medical facility is huge. The Foundation for the Higher Good’s efforts in this project is to raise funds that will allow this building to not only be built quickly, but to acquire the necessary medical equipment necessary to serve the hundreds of Mayans who so desperately need better health care. To learn more about The Foundation, please visit their website.
A health-care ministry training local Mayans in pharmacy, physical therapy, eye care, nutrition, milk program and prayerful evangelism; Connecting medical, construction, teaching and evangelical teams from the United States with Guatemala; and Transforming communities for the Glory of God. To learn more about ASELSI, please visit their website at ASELSI.org. or Skype at john.harveysr1. This annoucement is from Safe Passage. Click here to read the annoucement in its entirety.
In late June 2010, Sharing the Dream hosted a group that spent 10 days in Sololá studying fair trade and sustainability. The group visited numerous artisan cooperatives including the women of Flor de Campo who create beautiful weavings, and ARTESA, craftsmen that make three dimensional wooden carvings with small drawers hidden inside. To read more about their trip, read the group’s travel journals at Sharing the Dream’s website. An announcement from Safe Passage:
The following excerpt is from Roots & Wings’ latest newsletter. To read the newletter in its entirety, please click here.
They are trying to secure medication (including narcotics). They will need to either bring them from the States or find a supply to purchase them in Guatemala City. If anyone has leads or advice for them, please contact michael.mallahan @ gmail . com (remove spaces), or comment below.
They are in need of volunteer interpreters. HTC could pay for room and board and possibly a small stipend. If you have any leads, please comment below, or email Mike at michael.mallahan @ gmail . com (remove spaces). The following excerpt is from an August 11, 2010 article published by the Latin American Herald Tribune. To read the article in its entirety, please click here. GUATEMALA CITY – At least five people died and another 252 were evacuated after several mudslides were caused by torrential rains, Guatemalan authorities said Monday. The country’s emergency management agency, Conred, made the announcement Monday in its latest report on the rain situation, noting that three mudslides occurred on Sunday in the southern province of Suchitepequez. A family of four died in the village of Shecutzan when an mudslide buried their home. Meanwhile, in San Carlos Nahualate, another mudslide buried a house, killing a woman, Conred said… Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about Tropical Storm Agatha & its aftermath. The following excerpt is from an August 10, 2010 article published by The New York Times. To read the article in its entirety, please click here. The sound made by two women’s hands simultaneously patting corn dough into tortillas bears a strong resemblance to the sound of scattered raindrops falling on a bare roof: staccato thwacks that mean a storm – or a meal – is imminent. Last Friday evening, in a remote town in Guatemala, I was settling into an 8-by-8-foot concrete block bedroom with Jesus posters on the wall when I heard the thwacks. I glanced outside, past the ripe pomegranates hanging from the branches of a nearby tree, and out to the green hills that towered over Lake Atitlán. The sky was clear, and thus I deduced that dinner preparations were underway… Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about Guatemalan culture and events. |
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Healing the Children
