Late March 2012 Speroway was blessed to have a group of volunteers go down and help continue the construction of a medical clinic we are partnering to build in Parramos, Guatemala.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so please enjoy this report.

I just thought I should update the blog one last time and let you all know the final totals from our week of Medical/Dental Clinics in Guatemala.  Over five, 1 day clinics, the Medical team saw and treated 4,198 patients, while the Dental team total was an astonishing 710.  That’s an average of over 980 patients a day.  Extraordinary.

Many of the patients we saw were children.  These are just some of the faces we’ll never forget.

We spent our final clinic day in a Guatemala City slum called La Paz – it’s home to 1,500 families who need but can’t afford primary medical care.  Walking through La Paz, like every other Central American slum we’ve seen, is a jarring and heart-wrenching experience.  No matter how many times we’ve come to places like this, it’s still a shock to the senses, hard to accept and hard to forget.  Which, I suppose, is why Speroway teams continue to return to this part of the world.

Again, we found ourselves in a school supported by a group of committed local volunteers.  Once we were set up, the gates were opened and the hundreds of people who had been patiently waiting since 6:30 am, began filing in.  I watched a 48 year old man named Fred sitting in Medical talking to Melanie, a nurse on her second Speroway trip (and, coincidentally, also my wife).  He used crutches and in minutes it was clear why.  He suffered an ant bite on his left ankle seven years ago which, when combined with poor circulation in his extremities, led to chronic ulcers that have rendered his foot a painful mess and has kept him on crutches and out of work ever since.  His current condition is called Venous Stasis and he’s got a long road to recovery ahead of him.  After a thorough cleaning, his leg ulcers were redressed with he was given instructions to change the dressings every day, not his typical seven day cycle. A tensor bandage was then applied to facilitate his circulation.

I followed Fred to Pharmacy/Optical where he picked up his prescriptions and a new pair of reading glasses.  Team Leader, Chris Ritskes and his crew work with a quiet efficiency that boggles the mind.  Their pace and productivity are remarkable – they deliver every day, in every way.  And Marie-Andrée Meloche’s leadership in Optical won’t soon be forgotten as she sharpened the vision of over 650 people during the past week.

Then it was off to Dental where he had three painful teeth extracted.   Finally, he stopped off at Distribution for food and clothing including several donated T-shirts.   Fred gratefully told us that this was the best day he’s had in a long time.  That felt pretty good.

Speaking of Distribution, things were hopping there as usual and team leaders, Sonia Brown and and Janice Gilmour, had the place running like a well-oiled machine.  With a staff of nine today, they were working at top efficiency. Suddenly, I’d hear one of them shout: “OK, I’ve got a family of seven, Mom, Dad, three boys, ages 4, 5 and  8 and two girls, ages 18 months and 12.  Then the team sprang into action piling relevant-sized clothing and shoes, shelf-stable food, toys and a fully-inflated soccer ball into a big plastic bag!  The entire process took no more than three minutes and was repeated hundreds of times throughout the day.

Back in Dental, I was introduced to Alejandra, a confident 8 year old girl who arrived by herself to be seen.  Team Dentist Rick Caldwell assisted by Ryan Gilmour, set to work and, within 15 minutes, had completed two fillings and two extractions.  Alejandra lay bravely in the chair and didn’t flinch or complain once – a real tribute to both her and the team.
Across the room, Team Leader Jack Cottrell had just started work on Patricia, a vibrant 15 year-old with decay in her two front teeth so advanced that it had formed a large hole smack dab in the center of her beautiful smile.  In just ten minutes, Jack weaved his magic leaving Patricia with two perfect front teeth and a boost to her self-esteem that was obvious as she left.Special thanks to the awesome team of student translators – we’d have been lost without them.  And we all owe a debt of gratitude to Rebecca Thomson from Speroway who put her heart and soul into this trip, before, during and, no doubt, after.  Here’s to many more trips with her in the future.

I could go on – the stories are endless and we all have our favourites.  But to me, the biggest story is this Speroway team.  Nearly 50 folks coming together under the motivating leadership of Ken Dick and Dr. Tony Brown, in one week, is an experience we’ll never forget.  Let me tell you, these are very special people, connected now, for life. And we also feel connected in some small way to the people we met and helped in Guatemala.  I know that, in the end, we gained as much as we gave.

Stay tuned – there are already plans for the next Medical/Dental trip back to Central America. In the meantime, we’re heading home but leaving a part of us here.  Thanks for following along.

Tim Fallis

Today, we mounted the fourth of our five clinics in the town of Parramos about an hour outside Guatemala City.  Once again we were welcomed with open arms by the community and within 20 minutes, we were set up in the village school, ready to go.  Today, Dental, Pharmacy, Distribution and the Children’s Centre were each in their own classrooms.  Medical took over two classrooms.  There was lots of space for line-ups with all our stations nicely spaced out.  We saw many young children and babies today and more than our fair share of older folks as well.  We’ve noticed that the further away from Guatemala City we go, the more prevalent the traditional Guatemalan dress becomes. The women make these colourful clothes and wear them proudly – another part of the rich culture here.

We’ve focused a fair bit on some of the unusual and challenging medical cases in the blog posts to date.  Today, I thought we’d turn our attention to Dental, under the committed leadership of Dr. Jack Cottrell.  As usual, the Dental team arrived early to set up their room to be ready when the rest of the group arrived.  And once again, this hard-working group of dentists, dental assistants and support personnel toiled non-stop, all day long, without breaks performing wide-ranging procedures like extractions, restorative work and root canals.  This is the kind of treatment that can really bring lasting change to the lives of the people we see – many of whom are in constant pain from tooth decay or infection.  Jack’s “no patient is turned away” policy means this department is always busy and today was no exception.

Because soft drinks are actually cheaper than water here in Central America, kids are drinking Coke daily from an early age.  This leads to dramatic decay, pain and suffering for children.  These are the cases our team treats all day long.  Often the damage is so severe that a child must be sedated before such significant work can be done.  This falls to the Medical team.  Dr. Mike Gilmour is handling all the paediatric sedations this trip and today he was busy medicating seven children requiring major dental work.

After weighing the child, Mike calculates the appropriate dose and administers it in liquid form.  The child then sits in his mother’s arms, while the medication takes effect – usually about 30 minutes.  Then the child is carried to Dental so the work can be done.  Once completed, the child is carried back to Medical so Mike can monitor the recovery for approximately 90 minutes.  His discharge policy is “If he can’t walk or talk, he’s not ready to go.”  Today, it was “Sedation Central” in Mike’s room as a steady stream of challenging cases passed through his doors and then on to Jack in Dental.  Great teamwork to address a chronic third world problem here in Guatemala.

At noon, I took a side trip up the road to the site of a permanent Medical Clinic that Speroway is helping to build.  A twelve person construction team will come down in March to complete phase one, erecting the outside and inside walls.  Ultimately, it will be staffed by local doctors but will also be a base for visiting physicians from Speroway and other organizations.  A natural extension of our mobile clinic program, this is how Speroway can bring lasting and positive change to a community in need.

Tomorrow, we’ll wind up our week of clinics, back in the slums of Guatemala City – this one called La Paz.  The poverty here is shocking and heart-breaking.  We often wonder how much impact we can possibly have on such a monumental tragedy.  Yet we know we’re making a difference in the lives of those we reach.  So, how else can we effect change if not one child at a time?  May our last day be our best.  I’ll post one more update tomorrow night as we prepare to return home after an incredible week.

Tonight, a departure – a photos-only blog post.  May this bring a little more visibility to the incredible people on this team.  Tomorrow, we’re setting up shop in Parramos for another busy clinic day.  The week is winding down but we still aim to see 2,000 more patients before heading home.  Stay tuned right here for ongoing updates.  And thanks for all your support of this meaningful work.

Well, a simple blog post will hardly do justice to the day we just had. Frankly, I don’t even know where to begin! Today, we got out of Guatemala City and trekked across country to the town of Santa Rosa. The local Speroway ground team had spread the word and we were expecting a busy day in a part of the region with very limited medical and dental care. But nothing could have prepared us for what we found upon arrival at the local school to set up.

There, in the courtyard beside the school, patiently waiting for us, were upwards of 800 people!  And as we organized our rooms – one for Dental, two for Medical and one each for Pharmacy/Optical, Distribution and Children’s Center – they just kept coming!  We’ve never seen such line-ups and we all “shifted into high gear” to accommodate the masses in a venue clearly not designed for this.  But as always, things just have a way of working out.  Soon, chaos was transformed into order and by midday we had hit our stride.

Again, there was no shortage of interesting cases and lots of opportunities to improve the lives of folks who have so little.  We took care of young and old and everyone in between.  José Louis, 74 showed a painful ear to Channy, our dermatologist, who immediately recognized squamous cell carcinoma – more serious than the common basal cell cancer.  After discussing the situation with both José and Medical team leaders, we set up a makeshift operating table in Distribution and Channy went to work excising the affected area and sewing the ear back together.

At the other end of the age spectrum, two year old Camelia was brought in by her mother, who was concerned about a flu bug her daughter has been battling.  Camelia was listless and lethargic and had been vomiting.  After a quick check, Mike, one of our veteran docs, saw that she was in serious condition.  She was severely dehydrated and needed IV fluids immediately.  Grant, one of our paramedics and a superstar in the art of starting IV’s in young children, got a line in on the first attempt. Camelia was so sick, she didn’t even notice the needle entering her arm.  An anti-nauseant was added to the IV and after an hour, she was markedly better.  One canonly imagine what might have happened to Camelia had we not been open for business today.

And so it went – stroke victims, eye issues, ear infections, hypertension, a broken arm, IV fluids cases, diabetes, root canals, extractions – the list is endless and so were the line-ups!  But the team performed admirably and we got it done – seeing nearly a thousand patients!

But the highlight came later in the afternoon and it was miles from Santa Rosa.  A few of us were honoured to be invited to travel inland to the small rural village of Los Chilitos to provide food and clothing to the 160 families who live there.  We veered off the highway and took a small dirt road into the mountains.  Now this is no ordinary road.  In fact, at times, I wondered if “road” was actually the right word.

Steep inclines, rocks and boulders, river crossings, with and without bridges and dust and dirt to beat the band – it felt as if we were travelling to the ends of the earth. We arrived at their tiny school which overlooks a breathtaking valley.  We met the teacher there who walks two hours in and two hours out every day!  She was teaching women to read and write when we arrived but soon all remaining classes were cancelled so we could all gather together for a short ceremony.

Ken Dick, Speroway President, spoke to the families and then distributed food and clothing including very popular wide-brimmed hats.  The Speroway plan is to renovate the school over time adding a new classroom at one end of the building. These families live in primitive huts, with no hydro and no running water, yet they seem happy and content.  There may be a lesson for us all somewhere there!

Tomorrow is our much needed day off – a time to recharge and reconnect.  We’ve reach the halfway point and this team has been drawing closer with each day of challenging work.  We’ll be ready to tackle two more tough clinics on Friday and Saturday before flying home on Sunday.  Keep an eye out for a photoblog post Thursday night – no words, just pics. Through a collection of shots, I’ll try to convey all that’s gone on since we arrived and show you more of this amazing team. Until then…

Today we landed in El Limon, another Guatemala City slum – and, like yesterday, it was on a steep hill.  It was populated by squatters in 1976 after an earthquake.  Today, it’s home to over 50,000 people, trying their best to survive.  Once again, our bus couldn’t make it all the way down to the school so we grabbed all our gear and walked the rest of the way.  Once set up, our day began and it was a day filled with compelling stories.  And, like yesterday, I thought I’d recount a few to give you a flavour of what goes on during these powerful but unpredictable experiences.

Odalmis

I thought I’d start my day in Dental, always on the hunt for something interesting to feature in the daily blog post.  I was not disappointed.  Dentist and Dental Assistant team, Jerry and Odalmis were ready to go and had just welcomed 22 year old local resident, Vilma, to the chair.  From the swelling in her face, Jerry quickly diagnosed a serious infection in one of her lower molars.  A quick extraction was the plan.  But Vilma was absolutely terrified.  She was shaking, agitated and clearly petrified.  That’s when Oldamis went to work.

Fluent in Spanish and a veteran of four previous Central American trips, Odalmis comforted Vilma and, while chatting her up, learned that three years earlier, she’d had a child but the C-section had gone badly.  Needless to say, Vilma has been terrified of doctors and any type of “procedure” ever since.  Well, Odalmis coached Vilma through a difficult extraction with genuine caring and support – but mostly simply by holding her hand and telling her it would be alright.  She also made a trip next door to Distribution to pack a special bag of food and clothing and gave it to Vilma herself.  Odalmis, your compassion is an example to us all.

Guy

Guy and his wife Marie-Andrée are relative newcomers to Speroway, but you’d never know it.  You won’t find two more “take charge” and caring folks anywhere!  Marie-Andrée manages the eyeglasses station while Guy is our resident traffic manager.  He stands guard at the entrance to the Medical area and ushers patients in whenever a station becomes available.  It’s a tough and thankless job and it never changes all day long.  Without Guy, it would be a chaotic free-for-all and very little would get done.  Guy’s passion and commitment to the cause, not to mention his tireless work “on the door” at Medical make him a true unsung hero.  We’re glad you’re with us, Guy – we’d be lost without your leadership every day.

Kirsten

Kirsten is the daughter of Speroway veterans, Mike and Janice.  She and her brother Ryan have joined the trip this time and are already making tremendous contributions.  Today, Kirsten “scrubbed in” with Channy and assisted in the surgical removal of a patch of basal cell carcinoma on the upper lip of an El Limon resident.  She prepped the incision site, assisted in the procedure and helped close by tying off the sutures – all under Channy’s encouragement and supervision.  You can see the excitement and dedication in Kirsten’s eyes – she’s definitely Speroway material.

All team members use their hands – perhaps to excise a cyst,  perform a root canal, take a blood pressure, write a prescription, fit eyeglasses or pass out food and clothing.  But it doesn’t end there.  Hands can also comfort a frightened patient.  Or direct traffic in a fast-paced Medical clinic.  And young hands can learn from leaders in their field adding immeasurably to an incredibly rewarding experience.   To Odalmis, Guy and Kirsten, we’re glad you’re here – and so are the people we serve.

Tomorrow we travel into the interior spending the day at a small rural village called Santa Rosa.  This will be altogether different again – looking forward to it.

Today was our first clinic, not far from downtown Guatemala City in a “squatters” village known as Valle de Nazareth.  It’s a rambling collection of crude dwellings clinging to the side of a massive hill – so massive that our bus couldn’t get down the rough dirt roads to the school where we were to set up.  So we walked – amid the swirling dust, the rocks and refuse, and the 500 families who live in abject poverty there.  We felt the eyes of many on us as we made our way down the big hill.  It’s always a bit uncomfortable entering this kind of world – a world dominated by violent gangs and drug runners.  That’s why we’re always accompanied by armed guards and are under strict orders not to venture away from the clinic site.

We were invited to conduct a clinic here by Pastor Jorgé, who ministers to this desperate community.  His commitment to improving the lives of his flock is extraordinary.  In fact, he moved his entire family right into Valle de Nazareth feeling that the most meaningful way to work with these people is to live among them.

The Speroway team took over the school for the Medical, Pharmacy, Distribution and Eyeglasses teams, while Dental set up across the street in a different building.  Rebecca inaugurated the Speroway Children’s program under tents in a playing field of nothing but dirt and dust.  The clinic rooms were small but, as always, we made it work.  And work is exactly what we did!  By the end of the day, Medical had seen well over 800 patients, while Dental treated over 115 including extractions, root canals and all kinds of restorative work.  While these are impressive first clinic numbers, it’s the stories behind the numbers that, time and time again, remind us all why we’re here.  I’ll share a few.

Jerson

I was called into Medical Room 3 by Dr. Bert Lauwers.  He introduced me to Jerson, a handsome eight year old boy in a bright red shirt – quiet and mild-mannered with a beautiful smile.  But something was up and Bert wanted to know what.  Upon examination, he found that Jerson literally had a large “dent” in his head.  It seems that, six years ago, at age two, Jerson was hit in the head by a stray bullet during a clash of gangs.  The only lingering deficit is a lack of control over his right arm.  One is never safe living in a place like this.

Juan and Philippe

Paramedic, Glen Canavan, a Speroway Medical team veteran, was surprised when Juan, 6, confidently led his three year old brother, Philippe,  into the clinic with all the required paperwork but no adult in sight.  This is nothing new for Juan, for he looks after Philippe every day while his mother is at work.  He takes him to school and attends to his needs – a challenge for many adults, let alone a six year old.  Pretty amazing.

José

Several months ago, 9 year-old José had a mass removed from under his chin.  The surgery cost $428 – about two months salary for his parents.  But the wound clearly hadn’t healed properly and dermatologist Dr. Channy Muhn felt that something wasn’t right.  After hauling  a table into an empty classroom and administering local anaesthetic, Channy expertly removed what was left of the growth, not to mention one of the original stitches that likely caused the infected wound in the first place.  José was brave, clutching his new tennis ball from Distribution throughout the procedure.

These are but three examples of what we see at every Speroway Medical/Dental Clinic.  Bert, Glen and Channy are experts in their respective fields and it’s that expertise and their commitment to the cause, that make a difference in the lives of so many.  We’re off to El Limon first thing in the morning where we’ll do it all over again.  I’ll update you all tomorrow night.