{"id":286,"date":"2012-12-02T21:38:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T04:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/50.87.217.193\/blog\/guatemala-city-assessment-day-at-the-hospital"},"modified":"2021-04-03T23:16:53","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T05:16:53","slug":"guatemala-city-assessment-day-at-the-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/guatemala-city-assessment-day-at-the-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Guatemala City – Assessment Day at the Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"
Guatemala City:<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guatemala_City<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Today was one of those days where there was SO much packed
\ninto one day, by the end of the day it felt like "this morning" was
\nyesterday!<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Last night we had an organizational meeting and met the
\ndoctors and helpers for the surgery. I was so exhausted by the time I went to
\nbed, I hit the bed and slept til my alarm went off at 6 am. We had a group
\nbreakfast and then got on the bus at 7:15 am, driving through town to the
\nhospital. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
If you saw the hospital from the outside, you'd never know it
\nwas there. It is in a poor neighborhood and the buildings are a patchwork of
\nconcrete and tin roofs. It is not the kind of neighborhood I'd want to wander
\naround in.. at night or during the day.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
We entered the hospital and came into the assessment room. In
\nthe next room there were dozens of families from all over Guatemala… parents
\nhoping that their child would be chosen for surgery. There were a few older
\nchildren, and one beautiful teen girl who had terrible scarring all over her
\nleg. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I appointed myself the official family photographer. While the
\nsurgeon's assistants took the technical photos and took notes on the cleft
\npalates and cleft lips, I took photos of the human side of the
\nstory:<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The hopeful mother who tried to understand as the doctor's
\ndiagnosis was translated.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The loving father who tenderly lifted his son onto the
\nexamination table.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The teenage boy who burst into the most incredibly
\nheartbreaking smile as he left the exam, after being told he would receive the
\ncorrective surgery.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\n\"QuiltBoy1_W\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
As the exams continued through the morning, we went out to the
\nmany families waiting outside, and started handing out gifts to the mothers and
\nthe children. First we gave them all a fabric tote bag. Then we gave each child
\na handmade quilt. These quilts were donated by friends of Mission of Love in
\nOhio. We had *just enough* quilts so that every child could receive one – whew!
\nWe had 2 left over, and then there were one or two families that came later in
\nthe day. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Then we began to distribute clothing and toys to the families,
\nand they put everything in the fabric tote bags. These people come from near and
\nfar, and they have very little money or possessions, so these gifts were a
\ntreasure beyond belief. The humble grateful smiles cannot be described with
\nwords.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I should mention that when the C5 huge plane landed in
\nGuatemala City yesterday, it was stuffed with 10' x 10' huge paletts of relief
\nsupplies, medical supplies, and clothing for the children. Much of this went on
\ntrucks to a warehouse before distribution, but also much of it came to the
\nhospital. There were medical supplies not only for these surgeries, but also in
\ngeneral to supply this community hospital.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\n\"C5Unloading_W\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
So as we distributed all these goodies to the children and
\nfamilies, we took photos of all the children and the families. When I am able to
\npost these photos, you will understand why this team of doctors and helpers are
\nmoved to come and volunteer their time to help these children. Everyone pays
\ntheir way to get here, pays for their own hotel, and contributes time and money
\nto this Mission of Love. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The assessment process had 2 teams of 2 doctors and several
\nassistants. To say it was intense would be an understatement. At one point I
\nsuddenly felt completely exhausted, and I could have sworn it was noon. I was
\nshocked when I looked at my watch and saw that it had only been 2 hours since we
\nstarted! (8 to 10 am)  We all seemed to come to the same place at the same time
\n– and fortunately they were just finishing up with the last few
\nassessments.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Then the team went up stairs and had coffee and a snack. The
\nmedical teams sat down to discuss their evaluations, and make the surgery
\nschedule for the week. It was interesting to hear them work out who would
\nreceive which surgery on which day. This went on for quite a long time, then we
\nhad a beautiful homemade lunch by the hospital's cook. The doctors had decided
\nto do 2 relatively simple surgeries for the afternoon, and our host took us out
\nto the Central Market downtown by the cathedral. On the way to the center of the
\ncity, we passed shantytowns densely packed on the sides of the hills.
\n<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
We also caught glimpses of the volcano that towers over the
\ncity. Volcan de Fuego (volcano of fire) regularly seeps trickles of lava, which
\ncan often be seen at night here. During the day there is often a cloud obscuring
\npart of the mountain, and I am hoping to get a good photo before I leave
\nWeds.<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Volc%C3%A1n_de_Fuego<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The market was also very intense. It is 3 floors of densely
\npacked booths, selling crafts, food, and almost anything you can imagine. There
\nwere many children working there. Our host told me that the government only
\nsupplies free education through 6th grade, but many drop out by 2nd grade to
\nhelp with the family business. We saw babies, children and teens throughout the
\nmarket. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Then we went outside and walked around to the huge historic
\ncathedral.<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cathedral_of_Guatemala_City<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 (The market is underground, behind the cathedral.) We went
\ninside and spent about a half hour. I lit a candle for Hanna (as I always do
\nwhen I visit cathedrals around the world) and we watched all the women wearing
\nbeautiful handwoven ikat skirts.  <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
The cathedral was facing a huge plaza with a fountain, and the
\nPresident's House is across the plaza. However the plaza was full of people and
\na festival, and there was a huge line stretching around the plaza, full of
\npeople waiting to ice skate!  The sides of the plaza were lined with more vendor
\nbooths selling all kinds of beautiful Guatemala handmade products and textiles.
\nWe walked through the crowd clutching our bags – there are many pickpockets and
\ngangs here, we were told.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\n\"Ikats1_W\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
We drove back to the hospital, and found that the surgeries
\nwere not complete yet. After 1 1\/2 hours of waiting, we were told that the 2nd
\nsurgery had just been successfully completed. I was able to go into the
\noperating room and see the 11 year old girl who had just had a golf-ball sized
\ntumor removed from her upper lip. She was still unconscious from the general
\nanesthetic. She was just a beautiful girl with a band-aid on her lip at that
\npoint. What a miracle!<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I am learning about what it takes to correct a severe cleft
\npalate. In the case where there is a huge hole in the top of the mouth, they
\nhave to harvest bone from the edge of the hipbone, and put a bone graft in the
\nroof of the mouth. Aha, so that's how they do it!  The cleft palate is not
\nalways apparent when you look at the face of the child. As I listened to the
\ndoctors discussing their diagnosis and surgery plan, I also learned that many of
\nthe children have fistulas too. The cleft lips are snipped open and then
\nstitched together. I am just trying to comprehend the whole thing.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\n\"CleftBaby1_W\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
Another thing I realized quickly is that these trips are an
\nopportunity for the doctors to work on problems that they would hardly ever see
\nin the US. It is kind of like how a battefield surgeon is best equipped to work
\nin an emergency room – because afterwards they've seen it all. Every time these
\ndocs come here, they see things they've never dealt with before. They put their
\nheads together until they agree on a diagnosis and a surgery plan. It is really
\nsomething.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
So tomorrow I've been invited to come into the operating room
\nand witness a surgery first hand. Actually they offered to let me scrub up and
\nhold the retractors, but I don't think I can handle that. They said I can watch
\nas much or as little as I want, and that I can watch more than one surgery.
\nAnyway tomorrow 8 surgeries are going to happen – 8 children's lives are going
\nto be changed forever due to the unconditional love and generosity of this
\namazing group of people.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I am curious if I can watch without passing out. We'll
\nsee.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Tomorrow night we've been invited to attend the ballet recital
\nof the head doctor's daughter. Dr. Edgar runs this community hospital as a
\ncommunity service. He is clearly there to serve the indigent people. The Mayans
\nare treated like 2nd class citizens here, and their children with cleft palates
\nare treated as outcasts. So it really takes awhile to comprehend the enormity of
\nwhat it means for this many people to come from the US to make this happen.
\nThere are 13 people who have come from the US on this trip. The next Mission of
\nLove trip in February is for the Way-Bi Children's Hospice, and there are 23
\npeople signed up for that trip.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The one-woman Force of Nature named Kathy Price simply cannot
\nnot be described. She brings all of these people together, gets the Air Force to
\nairlift massive tons of aid for free, and manages to hug and kiss and personally
\ninteract with everyone who crosses her path. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Several families could not make it to the hospital for
\nassessment today, because there was a terrible earthquake in their area (several
\nhours away) a few weeks ago.  <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The doctors said that cleft palate and cleft lip is
\nstatistically and genetically more prevalent in Latin America and Asia, and less
\ncommon in Europe and Africa. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Tonight at dinner I saw next to a 6 year old girl, (our bus
\ndriver's daughter) and  I taught her songs in English, including the Itsy Bitsy
\nSpider, complete with hand gestures. She pressed me to "Play! Play! Play"" and
\nteach her more and more songs until she passed out at 9 pm.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I took over 900 photos today, so it will take me a little
\nwhile to sort through them all.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Tomorrow the big surgeries begin. It is going to be a big
\nday.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Tuesday we are going out to the countryside so they can show
\nme the school for the blind children, and the site where the Children's Hospice
\nis being built on a mountaintop.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nShare Post:<\/strong>
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Guatemala City: http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guatemala_City     Today was one of those days where there was SO much packed into one day, by the end of the day it felt like "this morning" was yesterday!   Last night we had an organizational … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charity","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1311,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions\/1311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}