|
|||||
|
Thank you to Ray Maddox of Faith in Practice, and Joanne Wessels (their in-country coordinator) for taking care of this case. COTA has a 75 yr old gentleman who is in urgent need of inguinal hernia repair. His hernia is not strangulated, but he experiences frequent bouts of incapacitating pain. He is located in Retalhuleu. If anyone knows of a team traveling to this region in the near future, please contact Jody Greenlee at green71957@aol.com. Health for Humanity’s surgical team is preparing for two upcoming surgery trips:
Patients need to be registered with and assessed by the respective hospitals first. Contact information@healthforhumanity.org for more information.
Rotaplast is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides free multidisciplinary care for cleft lip and palate and other conditions requiring reconstructive surgery. They promote self-sufficiency in the countries where they work by training local physicians, counseling families, and collaborating with health officials on the development of sustainable cleft lip and palate programs. What is a Rotaplast Mission? Clefts of the lip and palate are among the most common of all birth defects. However, in some areas of the world treatment is not common. Untreated, these children are ridiculed, rejected from society, and often deprived of an education. They are prone to serious upper respiratory problems, hearing loss, speech and dental problems. Rotaplast works locally to educate families and communities and to provide free operations and therapeutic follow-up care for patients. Multi-disciplinary surgical teams International partnerships Volunteers In Guatemala, Rotaplast will be in Retalhuleu, from May 16-31, 2010. The team will be returning to Guatemala in 2011, from April 3-16. During their trip, the group will post updates and photos on their blog. To learn more about Rotaplast International, please visit their website. To learn more about the sponsoring Rotary Group from Sarasota, FL, please click here.
Currently, their medical teams travel to the most remote and poorest parts of Guatemala, setting up makeshift clinics in rural villages. Working side by side Guatemalan volunteers, their medical teams provide general care and make referrals to Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro (The Obras), now a hospital that houses four state-of-the art operating rooms thanks to Faith In Practice supporters, and to four additional smaller hospitals throughout Guatemala. Patients now have a safe and pleasant place to stay at their guesthouse, the Casa de Fe, while awaiting and recovering from surgery in Antigua. Their public health initiative has seen the development of the VIA/Cryo Program designed to train Guatemalans to identify and treat pre-cancerous cervical cells. They are currently developing a Preventative and Restorative Dental Program. Through these programs, their more than 800 dedicated volunteers served more than 17,000 patients in 2008. FIP Mission Teams (click here to see 2010 calendar of trips): Surgical Teams: Faith In Practice medical and dental teams travel to Antigua, Guatemala which is the base for all the teams. All teams volunteer their services for a week, usually traveling from the US on a Saturday and returning on the following Saturday. Teams are divided into a group of health providers who work at the hospital in Antigua and a group which travels to sites and villages in the countryside to provide family practice medicine and dentistry. Medical and dental professionals working at the Hermano Pedro Hospital and Orphanage for the poor bring all the supplies they expect to use for performing surgery and post operative care. On Sunday, all surgery candidates are seen and reviewed; and a surgical schedule is prepared. The remainder of the week is spent in surgery at the hospital. Village Teams: Family practice teams bring trunks of medicines and supplies as well and in the course of treating acute illnesses in the villages often encounter people who need surgical care. These patients are referred to the surgical teams working at the hospital. Often the teams are met with busloads of people hoping to receive medical help. Dental Teams: Dental professionals accompany both the surgical teams and the family practice teams. There is a well-equipped dental clinic at the Hermano Pedro Hospital where general dentistry and extractions are performed and oral hygiene instructions given. Dental professionals who accompany the family practice teams to rural sites concentrate their efforts on pain relief (extractions) and oral hygiene instruction. Professional Relationships: The professional relationships that develop between U.S. medical and dental personnel and Guatemalan professionals is an added positive impact of the work Faith In Practice is doing. Every year, Faith In Practice endeavors to present post-graduate type learning experiences to the Guatemalan medical community in Antigua and in Guatemala City. Topics have included Ear Infections, Cancer Pain Control, Ovarian Cancer, Knee Surgery, and Hip Replacement Surgery. Guatemalan surgeons are also invited to the OR in Antigua to learn the latest surgical techniques. Faith In Practice believes developing mutual learning and understanding makes sustainable change possible. Cooperative Efforts: Faith In Practice makes concerted efforts to keep in touch with sister organizations who are working to improve the life and health of the poor in Central America. Much of the needed change that goes beyond any one organization’s scope can come about by combining resources, time, knowledge and energy. To learn more about Faith in Practice, please visit their website, Facebook page, Twitter page, or blog.
Their cooperative works according to the principles of Direct Democracy and currently boasts within its organizational structure a Women’s Committee, an Education Committee, and a Board of Directors dedicated to ensuring that all workers have equal rights. Since receiving legal title in late 2004, they have initiated many projects to generate income to pay off the outstanding debt for their land and to improve the health, education, and living conditions within the community.
Volunteering: Volunteers are welcomed and appreciated at Nueva Alianza. There is no minimum time period to volunteer or minimum level of Spanish, though some Spanish ability is helpful. Volunteering in Nueva Alianza gives you the opportunity to learn about the everyday life of Guatemalan agricultural workers. To learn more about Nueva Alianza, please visit their website.
The difficulty of working in a developing country, especially in the most rural parts, requires volunteers with special characteristics. Spanish proficiency, or a plan that involves intensive study before the volunteer experience, is critical. Experience travelling in the developing world, or at least a willingness to brave foreign cultural norms and a few weeks of adjusting to the food are also essential. Experience in agriculture, sustainable development, or community projects are also very helpful. But, the traits that we seek most in our volunteers are a passion for social and environmental issues, self-motivation, open communication, and a sensitivity to the needs of others. To learn more about Semilla Nueva’s volunteer opportunities, please send an email to contact@semillanueva.org, and ask for their detailed volunteer packet.
Semilla Nueva is an organization unified around a shared vision for an equitable and environmentally responsible society where people live in peace with dignity. Their mission is to help empower agricultural communities in Guatemala by jointly developing and implementing strategies that facilitate the achievement of community-defined objectives for natural resource conservation, economic prosperity, and social equality. They begin with agricultural and environmental management techniques that are easy to incorporate, and serve as a strong entry point for education about sustainable growing and environmental management. Through the process of rebuilding the health of agroecosystems and working with communities to understand and collectively manage their environmental resources, they hope to provide the resources to ensure long-term livelihood and food security while also fostering informed and democratic decision-making. Semilla Nueva will work closely with promotores (local volunteers who act as leaders in a given area of development such as health, education, or agriculture) in order to increase the capacity of rural communities to practice sustainable farming. In September 2009, Guatemala’s President declared a “state of public calamity” due to severe droughts, soil degradation, and an attendant famine that has claimed the lives of nearly 500 people and put over 400,000 families at risk of “food insecurity”. Rural residents are intimately dependent on their surrounding ecosystems, and are thus particularly affected by environmental degradation. With 77% of rural subsistence farmers existing on areas smaller than 7 hectares, the need for resilient, productive, and efficient agroecosystems is clear. In response to these challenges, they have developed a plan to cultivate sustainable agricultural practices in rural communities that emphasize longevity. Semilla Nueva’s programs attempt to enable on-going community collaboration, organization, and mobilization. Inspiring these actions from communities closely correlates with successful implementation of sustainable agricultural systems, which in turn could sequester up to 9% of Guatemala’s CO2 emissions, rejuvenate agroecosystems, and provide safe non-toxic alternatives to agrochemicals. Semilla Nueva’s work hinges on community participation, mobilization, and collaboration. Their past experience living, working, and learning within Central America has created long lasting relationships with the communities where they’ve worked. This connection with Central American culture has not only been a source of inspiration; it also enables them to effectively relate and maintain a positive community presence. Promotores will serve as both hosts to their volunteers as well as the primary interface to the community. They will work collaboratively with promotores to develop and implement projects to enable sustainable farming and encourage greater community participation and awareness. By developing robust communication, supporting local innovation, and invigorating active leadership they will help to install the infrastructure needed to secure the longevity of sustainable systems. Ultimately, it is the communities that are responsible for the continuation of any projects or methods that they help implement. To learn more about Semilla Nueva, please visit their website.
Over 1,400 women and children were seen in our medical clinic and all patients received donated pharmaceuticals from the COTA pharmacy. In addition to the above services, the orthotic and prosthetic team distributed walkers, wheelchairs and crutches to patients who were screened for these particular needs. The COTA dental team cared for 134 patients during our visit. One hundred volunteer medical and support staff members traveled from 16 different cities in the U.S. to travel with Children of the Americas for the 2010 team. To learn more about this group, please visit their website. Here is a sampling of photos from their trip:
Click here to view a trip report from their 2010 visit to Retalhuleu. 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. To find out more about Children of the Americas, visit their website, or blog. Children of the Americas, Inc., is an all-volunteer organization. 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). |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2010 Link for Health - All Rights Log in |
|||||
Semilla Nueva
Children of the Americas
Recent Comments