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Iowa MOST is a Rotary District 6000 initiative, which provides surgical repair for cleft lip and palate to individuals living in the western highlands of Guatemala. Without Iowa MOST, they would not be given this opportunity. District 6000 Rotarians have cultivated a strong collaborative partnership with their friends in the Rotary Club of Huehuetenango, Guatemala to carry out the mission.
IOWA MOST FACTS:
- The first surgical mission took place in February/March of 2006.
- The mission team consisted of 26 medical and non-medical personnel from the U.S. and 2 Guatemalan doctors.
- The MOST team performed cleft lip repairs, myringotomies, ear tube placements, fistula repairs, a frenulectomy, and tooth extractions, and began a database of patients for the next mission.
- Equipment and supplies were generously donated for the mission from many sources and with the help of FAMSCO.
- Mission equipment and supplies valued at $20,000 were donated to the Hospital Nacional in Huehuetenango.
- Iowa MOST now serves two communities in Guatemala–Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango.
- In 2010, Iowa MOST performed its 5th mission in Guatemala with its Rotary parners in Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela.
To learn more about Iowa MOST, please visit their website or blog.

The Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation (GHHF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality and availability of health care in Guatemala through education, surgery, and therapy. Specializing in the treatment of congenital and hand injuries, they aim to reach Guatemalan children and adults through medical missions led by a team of specialized and skilled surgeons, therapists, and volunteers.
GHHF offers physicians, therapists, nurses, students, and volunteers the opportunity to take part in a cross cultural educational experience. GHHF aims to both educate the local medical providers and supply specialized care for the needed hands of this poor country. They hold a two day, bilingual conference; the purpose of which is to provide education that will, overtime, help the Guatemalan people to be able to care for their own with the latest medical techniques.
GHHF sends qualified professionals to Guatemala to train the local healthcare providers in hand surgery and hand therapy. These highly skilled volunteers come from across the globe to participate in GHHF. GHHF also welcomes volunteers of all ages and backgrounds who are looking for a multicultural educational experience and wish to lend a hand in a country that greatly needs their help.
On their 2009 trip, GHHF screened 174 patients, operated on 68, evaluated 190 therapy patients, fabricated 168 splints, and followed up on past patients.
Since the establishment of GHHF in 2004, their teams of dedicated volunteers have successfully:
- Evaluated 597 patients for hand surgery and therapy (at screening day);
- Completed surgery on 263 patients;
- Fabricated 622 splints;
- Brought one child to New Mexico to receive extensive hand surgery;
- Brought one child to Shriners for microsurgery; and
- Conducted workshops and conferences for over 1,875 people (doctors, therapists, and students).
To learn more about this group, please visit their website.
Global Dental Relief brings free dental care to impoverished children of Nepal, northern India, Vietnam and Guatemala in partnership with local organizations. Volunteer dentists, hygienists, assistants and non-medical volunteers deliver treatment and preventive care in dental clinics that serve children in schools, orphanages and remote villages.
Travel and logistics for volunteers are coordinated by Global Dental Expeditions, dedicated to humanitarian journeys to serve children in need.
Since 2001, Global Dental has hosted over 600 dedicated dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and non-medical volunteers. Volunteers have treated over 44,000 children with first time and ongoing dental care. Global Dental recalls each population of children every two years to deliver continuous care. After ten years, they see children returning for their third or fourth visits. The results are clear –extractions are rare, restorations small, and children are aware of the importance of diet and consistent oral hygiene. This is the sustainable legacy they strive to leave with every child they treat.
In Guatemala, the group works in conjunction with Behrhorst Partners for Development in Chimaltenango.
This year, the group will host clinics beginning July 23 and November 19. To learn more about Global Dental, please visit their website.
The Cascade Medical Team (CMT) is a 501 (c) (3) organization headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. Since 2002, in conjunction with its parent organization, HELPS International, as well as PeaceHealth, and McKenzie Willamette Hospital, CMT has provided free medical care to the Mayan people of the highlands of Guatemala.
Once a year, CMT takes a team of volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, allied health professionals and support staff to Guatemala to perform general surgery, gynecological procedures, eye and dental care. CMT also takes a construction team that installs efficient ONIL wood burning stoves in Guatemalan homes. As of 2009, the construction team is also installing HELPS Gravity Water Filters, an inexpensive in-home purification system.
CMT’s yearly mission is housed at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Altiplano, located just outside the city of Solola. This college campus provides the team with facilities for a small hospital and clinic, dormitories for men and women and a gymnasium that is used for meals and general meetings. While the setting is beautifully situated on a plateau overlooking Lake Atitlan in the highlands of central-western Guatemala, it is a region of extreme poverty. During each year’s week-long medical mission, people come from many miles around, usually by bus or on foot, seeking medical attention.
Members of the CMT team pay their own way to and from Guatemala, including expenses for food, lodging and transportation. However, CMT must raise the funds for all costs associated with the medical supplies and equipment.
CMT’s ninth Guatemalan mission begins on Saturday, February 20, 2010 and ends on Wednesday, March 3, 2010.
To learn more about CMT, please visit their website.
Dentistry For All is a non-profit, 100% volunteer-run and supported organization whose members are dedicated to providing dental education, preventative, surgical and restorative care to the poor in numerous developing communities around the world. All dental volunteers cover the cost of their own travel, while fundraising assists in purchase of necessary equipment and supplies, volunteer sponsorships and other expenses related to the trip.
Over the years, DFA has formed relationships and partnerships with regional development organizations, local NGOs, dental organizations, university programs and countless dental equipment and supply companies, in order to continue to maintain and provide the highest quality of care to those whom they provide dental treatment to.
Dentistry For All recruits and requires volunteers from all walks of life – their efforts are focused on providing the much needed dental care in the poor regions of Guatemala and Nicaragua. However, it takes more than just dentists to form a successful team. A successful mission involves efforts made on many levels – and crosses countless skill sets. Several areas, behind the scenes and along the trip itself, require volunteers to put all the pieces together.
Over the past 15 years, Dentistry For All has seen over 12,000 patients. On February 18th they will be leaving for Guatemala for five weeks and working in four different communities: Comitancillo (San Marcos), Pastores (Sacatepéquez), areas around Guatemala City, and El Remate (El Peten). The Guatemala trip will involve groups averaging 16 people per week – comprised of dentists, assistants, sterilizers and other support volunteers.
To learn more about Dentistry For All, please visit their website (still under development).
A Shalom Foundation General Surgery Team from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital will travel to Guatemala City February 6-13, 2010 to provide surgical care to children through the Pediatric Foundation Hospital. We seek to provide surgical procedures for poor children who would not otherwise receive treatment. Currently Shalom Foundation works through a network of doctors and advisors in Guatemala to identify pediatric candidates for surgery, to provide parents/guardians with the information they need to attend a screening clinic in Guatemala City and receive these surgical procedures. A list of procedures to be performed are listed below. When The Moore Center for Children Health is opened in 2010 surgical teams will work out of this facility.
General Surgery Trip, Guatemala City, February 6-13, 2010: Open to all children living in poverty, without other options for care.
In-country organizations and US organizations working in Guatemala can contact Allison Bender at abender@theshalomfoundation.org to seek additional information and stream their children into this surgical process.
Proposed case list for pediatric general surgery trip to Guatemala, Feb 2010.
By body region (not all-inclusive):
- Skin, scalp, soft tissue
- Large nevi
- Subcutaneous masses
- Vascular malformations
- Wounds
- Masses
- Head and neck
- Branchial cleft cysts/sinuses/fistulae
- Thyroid masses (cysts, nodules, tumors)
- Thyroglossal duct cysts
- Lymphadenitis
- Breast
- Airway & esophagus
- Trachea: stenosis, malacia
- Esophagus: caustic injury/stricture/stenosis/atresia/duplications/achalasia/reflux
- Chest
- Mediastinal masses
- Empyema
- Lung lesions
- Patent ductus
- Diaphragm
- GI tract
- Gallbladder: stones, infection
- Stomach: foreign bodies, ulcers, tumors, obstruction, feeding access
- Intestine: stenosis, atresia, malrotation, intraluminal, anorectal malformation
- Liver & pancreas: stones, tumors, cysts
- Spleen: cysts, tumors, enlargement, sickle cell sequestration
- Abdominal wall
- Inguinal, ventral,umbilical, & incisional hernias
Beyond the Walls is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit corporation dedicated to making substantial long-term impact in the lives of the poor and disadvantaged through focused opportunities in their community, their country and their world. They believe meaningful impact is achieved by focusing on the physical, relational and spiritual needs of those they serve. This holistic approach addresses a variety of needs: education, food, housing, medical care, micro-enterprise, job training, and mentoring. Additionally, Beyond-the-Walls exists to encourage, empower and inspire volunteers “to whom much is given” to be the agents of change in these under-resourced communities by connecting them to relational, hands-on service.
In Guatemala City, the group builds homes, pours floors in homes to replace dirt floors, builds community streets, sponsors the education of two classes of elementary children, performs medical check-ups for 250 students and teachers, organizes and runs sports clinics for boys and girls, organizes and runs children’s day-camp programs, provides and distributes food, clothing and school supplies, trains teachers and improves school facilities.
The group will be working in Guatemala City from July 24 thru August 6, 2010. A medical group will accompany them during either the first or second week of that trip. To learn more about Beyond the Walls, please visit their website.
Health for Humanity is a Canadian-based volunteer organization that provides quality medical care, equipment and supplies to the poor of Guatemala and other developing countries. Health for Humanity currently sends multidisciplinary teams of volunteer health care professionals to Guatemala and the Philippines. In addition to the surgical program, Health for Humanity works with local NGOs in Guatemala to support various other health care initiatives. All donations are used to pay for hospital costs, medical equipment, medications and operating room supplies. They have no paid staff and minimal administrative costs. Volunteers pay for their own travel and accommodation.
Their first surgical mission spent 2 weeks in Guatemala in November 2002 and since then they have sent five more surgical teams to Guatemala. More recently, they have also sent two surgical teams to the Philippines. Their teams have now completed more than a 1,000 surgeries and supplied much needed equipment to the hospitals they work in. They work in cooperation with local healthcare professionals and provide education when they can. In addition, they have provided immunization services to the residents and staff of the hospital in Guatemala.
Health for Humanity will:
- Organize multidisciplinary teams of volunteer healthcare professionals and support staff to travel to developing countries to provide needed healthcare services.
- Collect the funds, medical equipment and supplies to provide these services and arrange their transport to developing countries.
- Provide surgical services at hospitals in developing countries in collaboration with the local hospital staff.
- Provide funding and other support to their partner NGOs in the countries they visit.
- Empower the people and healthcare workers of the countries they visit to meet their own healthcare needs through education and training.
- Work in collaboration with the local Canadian Embassy Staff, Governmental, other non-governmental organizations and the local healthcare community to identify other healthcare projects for which Health for Humanity volunteers can provide assistance.
- Remain non-political.
- Interact with clients in a respectful and non-judgmental manner.
Health for Humanity’s next trip to Guatemala will take place from November 7 – November 21. To learn more about the group, please visit their website.
HELPS International is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that partners with individuals, businesses, corporations, local and national governments to alleviate poverty in Latin America. HELPS integrated programs include: medical care, education, community and economic development, and agricultural innovations in order to improve the quality of life for the indigenous people of Latin America.
HELPS International was founded in 1984 as a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation in the tradition of service to others. HELPS programs extend a helping hand to people who then learn to become self-sufficient, giving them hope for a better life for them and a future for their children. HELPS offers its programs to all people regardless of ethnicity, social standing, political involvement, or religious belief.
HELPS believes in a world of liberty, stability, and personal opportunity. To achieve these goals, HELPS integrates its programs into the areas of healthcare, education, economic development, environmental protection and other special projects. HELPS works together with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private enterprise, and cooperates with local and national governments to promote sustainability of its programs.
HELPS strives for permanent change in communities through its programs, and promotes mutual respect, responsibility, and partnership with local infrastructure. This integrated approach ensures cohesiveness in cultural, medical, spiritual and economic affairs of the rural population.
- MEDICAL: HELPS has been said to be one of the largest medical relief efforts in the history of Central America. Since 1988, over 140 medical/surgical teams have gone to Guatemala. Each team composed of approximately seventy people provides over one million dollars in direct medical aid to Guatemala. These teams come from all over the US and travel to the remotest areas to provide US standard healthcare to those who have none. This year, HELPS will bring over 1,100 volunteers from the US and Canada who will provide over $11,000,000 in direct medical aid.
- EDUCATION: HELPS International believes that education is essential to the future of Guatemala, and has worked since the early 1980’s with Mayan (indigenous) women and children in the development of literacy and education. Today, the HELPS Education Program has developed into a system of K through Sixth grade education, with scholarship assistance for those seeking secondary education. HELPS continues to make a strong commitment to long-term literacy and education. HELPS School in Santa Avelina and its teacher training and other educational systems are a pattern for the region. This year, HELPS will educate 125 children.
- COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: The cornerstone of HELPS International’s development philosophy is the belief in an integrated approach with a variety of HELPS programs in order to assist communities in the developing world. HELPS recruits volunteer groups to implement such projects as the ONIL stove installations, school construction, potable water systems, and concrete floors for homes.
- THE ONIL STOVE: For centuries the indigenous population, the Mayan, have cooked their meals using open flame three-stone fires on the floors of their one room homes. This traditional method of cooking is the cause of rampant medical and environmental problems throughout rural Guatemala. After an investigation of the cultural and technological factors surrounding three-stone fires, HELPS International developed the “ONIL” Stove: a durable stove that minimizes smoke and burns, and reduces wood use by 70%. To date 60,000 stoves have been implemented in Guatemala and 10,000 in Mexico. Due to the wood savings, women have two extra days a week in time that are freed up by not having to gather wood. HELPS will run three stove factories with factory personnel and stove technicians for training and inspections.
- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: HELPS International believes economic changes are essential in order for Guatemala to have real and permanent growth; HELPS, therefore, supports economic efforts that promote opportunity and individual initiative. HELPS programs include: micro-credit loans, and the creation of marketing outlets for the products of Guatemala.
- COFFEE PROGRAM: Guatemala is a place of great beauty and a place that grows simply the best tasting coffee in the world. In an effort to provide economic assistance to the country, HELPS International is now offering its own private labeled Guatemalan coffee. In addition to the great taste, this coffee offers a great benefit: all the profits from the sale of HELPS coffee go to programs specifically designed to improve the lives of the Guatemalan people.
- CORN PROGRAM: HELPS believes that increased yields in the cultivation of corn is key to alleviating poverty because improving corn production equals improving the economy of Guatemala. HELPS, in cooperation with its partner DISAGRO, implemented a corn program in the rural highlands that resulted in increased production and promises to bring real economic change to the region. This year 1,100 families in the corn program will add $400,000 in annual income to the region.
- WATER FILTER PROGRAM: The HELPS Gravity Water Filter is a practical solution to the need for safe drinking water every day in rural communities, and during emergency relief efforts. Safe drinking water is often very scarce, or available at great expense. The gravity water filter uses two containers: a person simply pours the water into the top container where it then filters to the lower container through a ceramic purification element, providing up to 10 gallons of safe drinking water every four hours. The initial assembly is easy and the setup time is about 15 minutes.
Check out their website to read more about HELPS projects; and check out the site links for volunteer opportunities, success stories, the needs of families in Guatemala and Mexico, videos and ways to donate.
HELPING HANDS Medical Missions provide short-term trips by medical personnel to poor areas throughout the developing world to provide medical attention in the fullness of the Catholic tradition. Services provided include: surgeries, dental care, physical therapy, consultations, distribution of medications, house calls, and Natural Family Planning courses.
Our HELPING HANDS Medical Missionaries also take part in the mission’s spiritual program of daily prayer, Mass, meditation, classes on the Church’s teachings in the field of bio-ethics, and door-to-door evangelization visits.
The group plans to send a team to Santa María de Jesús in Sacatepéquez from October 23-31, 2009. From March 19-27, 2010, the group will be in Escuintla.
On the group’s last medical mission to Guatemala, there were 36 individuals on the medical team, serving 2,100 patients. They performed 74 surgeries, and saw 418 dental cases. A variety of surgeries were performed, including gall bladder, inguinal and abdominal hernias, tonsillectomies, septal deviations and a variety of cysts were removed from patients.
For more information about Helping Hands, please click here.
Pura Vida is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization working to promote health and education in the Quiché department of Guatemala. They are currently focusing on rural villages in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. “Travel with a purpose” is a good way to describe what an international work trip is all about. The emphasis of these trips is on developing relationships with local communities and sharing time and resources with those who are in need.
Long Term Projects
Pura Vida allows the local indigenous communities to identify the needs. And once projects are started, Pura Vida sees them through to the end. They are deeply involved in the local community as well, and always hire local labor to teach and work alongside their teams. Teams typically work on church and community related construction projects. Their teams interact with the local population in ways that tourists simply cannot, taking advantage of relationships with local leadership built over the last few years.
Guatemala Surgical Mission – September 2009
(St. Luke’s UMC, Highlands Ranch, CO)
There is a huge need for basic surgery in rural Guatemala. Especially needed are hysterectomies, hernia, and cleft palate repairs. Many local residents have no access to surgical care whatsoever, and teams such as these are the only opportunity they may have. They will be based in the village of Camanchaj the Quiche department in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. They will be working with the Guatemalan Methodist Church and a local missionary organization, Salud y Paz.
Guatemala Dental Mission – May 2010
(Rocky Mountain Conference Volunteers in Mission)
Access to dental care in the rural areas of Guatemala is almost non-existent. The need is great – Pura Vida noticed that during their previous medical missions, their dentists were always the busiest members of the team. In May, 2010 they are sending a group focused solely on dental care. Their goal is to remove as much pain and infection as possible during their 5-day work week. Each dentist expects to see between 15 and 30 patients per day.
They will be based in the village of Chichicastenango in the Quiche department in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. They will be working with the Guatemalan Methodist Church and Salud y Paz.
To learn more about this group, please visit their website.
The International Eye Institute, Inc. (IEI) is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt corporation (final approval pending from the Internal Revenue Service). Their purpose is to provide adult and pediatric eye care and surgery to people of impoverished regions around the globe.
The team typically visits Nuevo Progreso, in the San Marcos department of Guatemala, several times each year. While there, IEI works with Hospital de la Familia to provide eye screenings, examinations, and surgeries. The types of surgeries they provide include but are not limited to glaucoma, strabismus, cataracts, and plastic surgery.
Future missions are planned for other Central American countries, including Nicaragua. For more information about this group, please visit their website.

Each January, Children of the Americas, Inc. sends a volunteer medical/surgical team to work in a different area of Guatemala. The duration of the trip is one week, and generally takes place in the second half of January.
Click here to view a trip report from their 2010 visit to Retalhuleu.
To find out more about Children of the Americas, visit their website, or blog. Children of the Americas, Inc., is an all-volunteer organization.
Children of the Americas, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing necessary medical and surgical services to indigent children and their families in Guatemala. This goal is accomplished through annual surgical trips to the outlying regions of Guatemala, as well as by networking donated surgical care in the United States for Guatemalan children who are in need of critical surgery that is not available to them in Central America.
Since 1987 the corporation has identified specific medical needs of patients through volunteer medical/surgical mission teams and by referrals from other agencies. The teams of volunteer staff provide medical services and surgeries on-site in Central America within the realm of our surgical, medical and dental expertise. We also provide donations of ambulatory aids, prosthetics, and orthotics.
Since incorporation, more than 300 children have come to the United States for medical treatment that they could not or were not receiving in Guatemala. In addition, over 5,000 women and children have been helped abroad through the medical-surgical teams and the delivery of supplies. This includes children with craniofacial deformities, heart problems, burn scars, lymphademas, hemangiomas, and complicated orthopedic problems.
Here is one of the many precious children whose life and health was improved by the dedicated volunteers at COTA:
Alex, upon his arrival in the US (5/08), and upon his return to Guatemala (12/08).
 

For 10 days in July, a group representing the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota works with local Episcopal partners, Padre Dr. Roberto and the members of San Marcos Parish (St. Mark’s) in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala.
The team provides basic medical and dental care and leaves money with Padre Roberto (a physician) for follow-up testing and treatment of more difficult situations. On a recent trip they found a baby with a loud heart murmur. The child was further evaluated and found to have a life threatening congenital heart problem. He had successful heart surgery and on our last visit was a healthy, happy, growing child. Financial assistance from the mission team made the survival of this miracle baby possible.
For more information about this group, please visit their website.
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