Stateside Care « Link for Health

Profile: Refuge International

Refuge International (RI) is a compassionate 501(c)3 volunteer organization dedicated to improving the lives of families and individuals through the collaborative development of sustainable programs in areas where healthcare, adequate nutrition, clean water and education are lacking or non-existent. Refuge International also provides opportunities for mentoring of students who wish to become involved in humanitarian efforts.

RI believes that all of humanity is of equal worth and should have their essential needs met without regard to culture, ideology or religion. RI’s Guatemala program covers the following areas:

Education: Guatemala has the lowest literacy rate in Latin America. Through support of existing educational programs, their organization hopes to improve the level of education in Guatemala. Refuge currently supports 2 full-time teachers in Sarstun. The enrollment of children has more than tripled since the teachers have begun their work. A second school has been built on property owned by Refuge International. It has been exciting to see the growing commitment to education in Sarstun. There is a great need for all types of school supplies in Guatemala. Supplies are collected and shipped to schools in the areas where Refuge is currently working.
Water: Every 8 seconds a child dies from waterborne disease. Through the development of safe and adequate water supplies, RI hopes to improve the health of those affected. RI has two drills in the country and are working to establish a team of drillers to “punch holes” in the earth all over Guatemala.
Health Care: Refuge International works with local organizations to provide basic medical and surgical care where needed. In 2010, Refuge International will hold clinics in San Raymundo (February and October), Chocola (March, July and September), and Sarstun (March).
Deworming Program: Refuge International’s goal of deworming children will benefit the overall health of those treated. Intestinal worms flourish in malnourished children. Parasites prevent the absorption of nutrients. By ridding children of parasites, the food they are given can be more readily utilized to grow and fight off childhood illnesses.
Nutrition: Refuge International is seeking support for feeding programs in Guatemala. They distributed over 1 million meals to those who were affected by Hurricane Stan in 2005 with the help of USAID.

To learn more about Refuge International, please visit their website. To read about a recent Refuge International midwife education trip, please click here.

Profile: Guatemala Healing Hands Foundaiton

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.

Profile: The Shalom Foundation

The Shalom Foundation is dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance and financial support to underprivileged children and their families with a focus on Christian values and service. The Shalom Foundation is supported through contributions from private citizens, businesses, churches and foundations.

The Medical Program: The Medical Program is one of The Shalom Foundation’s most important outreach efforts serving children from across Guatemala and changing their lives forever. With the purchase and future opening of the Shalom Surgery Center - The Moore Center for Children’s Health — in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, The Shalom Foundation will impact thousands of lives through these efforts. A number of excellent organizations such as the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Batten & Shaw Inc., Project Cure, AmSurg, Rock City Mechanical, Vanderbilt University, Rotary International and Belmont University currently collaborate and support this program with their time, donation, talents and expertise.

The goal of Shalom’s Medical Program is to improve the lives of children through better health care, improved access to medical treatment and health education. The program includes facilitating surgical mission trips with doctors from varied specialty groups. Since 2005, The Shalom Foundation and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt have sent surgical teams to Guatemala City to serve the children there.

These specialized surgery teams will provide operations that are financially and socially out of reach for acutely poor children. Medical teams will also provide dental care and education for children and their families teaching communities how to better care for their on-going health needs. The Shalom Foundation will partner with other organizations with similar goals such as Children’s Hospitals across the United States, members of the medical community, humanitarian aid organizations, non-profit agencies, universities and other NGO’s

Housing: Shalom Foundation volunteers travel to Guatemala to provide construction assistance to families and children living in desperate conditions. Since 1996, generous individuals and organizations have helped build a school, a church and more than 70 safe, sound homes for dedicated Christian families suffering in devastating poverty. In 2009, Construction Initiative volunteers will travel to build new homes for families providing a light in their neighborhoods. Shalom volunteers will also assist with the renovation of their medical facility in Guatemala City.

Some housing volunteers will help build homes from the ground up, while others focus on much needed repairs and community outreach including health clinics and other community-building efforts. Opportunities are plentiful and impact families for generations.

The Housing Program is expanding to help provide for homeless children and their moms living in the Greater Nashville, TN area. This will also be a collaborative effort with Shalom working together with experienced service providers and the local church community.

Education: Sponsors make it possible for children to attend Shalom School and receive a quality education by providing tuition they otherwise could not afford. These children will develop necessary skills and important values which will enable them to become compassionate leaders in their communities. Volunteers traveling with Shalom Foundation to Guatemala City will visit the school and can meet the students sponsored by this important program.

Shalom School is a ministry of Shalom Church in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is accredited by the Guatemalan government through the Ministry of Education and teaches a Christian-based curriculum. It offers classes from pre-k through the senior level of high school. The ministries of Shalom Church and Shalom School are touching people in the local community, the country and around the world.

Nutrition: The Shalom Foundation has embarked on ambitious efforts to provide meals for students attending Shalom School. When as many as half of the children enrolled at Shalom School were diagnosed as malnourished and had difficulty learning under these adverse conditions, The Shalom Foundation created the “Food for Thought” Nutrition Program. Phase I of the Nutrition Program included the purchase and installation of commercial kitchen equipment at Shalom School providing the facilities required for daily food preparation. This goal was realized in October 2003 with the opening of the Food for Thought Commercial Kitchen. Phase II of the program included securing the necessary food items to provide daily meals for these children. This effort was immediately launched and continues to be a critical need throughout the school year.

Today, the Food for Thought Program feeds approximately 367 malnourished children. On average, 95% of the children in the program reach their normal height and weight within their first year in the program. This program will expand to include Clean Water projects in conjunction with Living Waters for the World and Rotary. This will bring clean water to thousands impacting more lives than ever before and helping alleviate water-related illness.

Shalom Foundation’s next surgery trip will be to Guatemala City in February of 2010. Click here for that trip’s details. To learn more about The Shalom Foundation, please visit their website.

Profile: Children of the Americas

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.

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).

Profile: Healing the Children

Healing the Children is a national, non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to providing medical care to needy children in our own community and around the world. Foreign children are treated by volunteer medical teams in their homeland and other children are flown to the United States for donated specialized care.

For general information about this group, please visit their website. For information about recent and upcoming trips, please visit the site of The Hearing and Balance Lab.

In Guatemala, the organization serves children with surgical and medical care for those with ear/hearing problems in Coban, Xela, Zacapa, Morales, Pt. Barrios, Poptun, Flores and Guatemala City.

The organization also provides health promoter training in Rio Dulce and Monterrico.

Link for Health

Profile: Refuge International

Profile: Guatemala Healing Hands Foundaiton

Profile: The Shalom Foundation

Profile: Children of the Americas

Profile: Healing the Children

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