Day 1: Sunday. Organizing our team for the village clinic
Our team met officially on Saturday (February 8th) at the Hotel Barceló in Guatemala City for dinner. Friendships were renewed and seasoned volunteers welcomed the nine new members of the team. The hotel was situated close to the airport, had two restaurants, a small gym, and even a pool (the last of the trip, alas). The weather was nice and cool, in the 70’s. After a short orientation, it was off to bed in preparation for our departure to our work site the next morning.
It’s suddenly Sunday morning. Our task today? Travel to the department of Santa Rosa, set up our clinic in the small town of Las Cabezas, and then drive to our hotel about an hour away where we will be staying for the next five nights. Breakfast consisted of fruit, assorted bread, and an omelet station inside Hotel Barcelo. We then headed to our buses and met our Guatemalan team of translators and the rest of our local team members who will travel and work with us this week. Some faces are familiar, and Julia and MarieCarmen will be leading us once again though the activities this week. Suddenly we have expanded from just twenty-six North Americans to a huge team of nearly eighty-six folks, all packed into two buses. It’s a two-hour trek to Las Cabezas from the capital on great roads and through the suburbs. With our armed security escort we knew we would arrive safe and sound at our destinations each day.
As we arrived in Las Cabezas, a few things became clear: This is a small and remote village, situated an hour from the border of El Salvador and a ways off the main highway through Guatemala. It is warm, humid, a bit dusty, but there are a few businesses, clinics, schools, and government buildings. Village folks were told about our plans to bring our clinic to town over a year ago, allowing word to spread to rural towns nearby and for our advance team to begin gathering names of individuals who would be candidates for clinic appointments. A huge undertaking, to be sure, and quite necessary, as many of the town folk have no access to healthcare in these remote and often forgotten parts of Guatemala.
Inside the massive community building at the center of town we were met by the locals of who had a hand in making our clinic possible. Translators, volunteers, town leaders, our own logistics team—they all joined us for a ceremony celebrating this extraordinary occasion. After introductions, welcoming comments, prayers, handshakes, and hugs, everyone formed lines at the entrance of the huge green clinic building to unload our trucks filled with supplies, boxes, fans, tables, medicines, food, and computer equipment. A couple dozen volunteers worked inside organizing the individual clinics: Gynecology, Cervical Cancer Screening, General Medicine, Ultrasound, Mobility, Pediatrics, Lab, Pharmacy, IT, and our Medical Referrals department (eventually, nearly a third of our patients will be referred off to other medical facilities for treatment or surgery in the coming weeks). Each clinic will rely on the others to deliver much needed medicine and aid to those who struggle with various infirmities, and for many who have never seen a doctor before this week. We’re there to provide health care, but a continuous parade of dozens of inquisitive eyes and folks on motorcycles, scooters, and tuk-tuks (a small red car with no doors) snake by the building all afternoon to peer in and see how things are going.
A quick lunch prepared and packed by Hector, our private cook for the week, marked the end of clinic setup. Hector’s beef sandwich, salad, and a chocolate dessert (along with lots of nice cold water and sodas) hit the spot, and we took our first group photo and headed to the hotel in the dusty but cooler town of Jutiapa, about an hour away (we’ll be doing two hours on the bus every day for the rest of our time in Guatemala). The Hotel Del Sol (painted bright yellow) beckons, and a chance to catch our breath for an hour gives us until the quietest time of the day.
For the first time ever, our team will be using computer tablets for managing patient intake, triage, sorting these folks into clinics, and tracking patient progress through treatment and referrals. The process is similar to what we all experience with medical care at home, but on a bit smaller and simpler scale. We have an hour to master the basics of computer use, patient flow though our clinic, record-keeping, and referral to area surgical clinics and hospitals. Our team of three IT folks will be our constant companions throughout the week. Distance travelled today: Nearly 100 miles. Let’s go!!
Julia and the local staff have a special treat for the North Americans: Coverage of the Super Bowl game broadcast on clear flat-screen TVs in the hotel’s main restaurant. We feasted on salad and toppings, steak, mashed potatoes, pasta, veggies, and lots of spicy hot sauce that us full and our mouths on fire. If you have never had Tres Leches (milk cake) for dessert, it’s time to make your own at home. We ate and chatted as we watched Kendrick Lamar perform the halftime show. Truly an epic day filled with wonderful memories. Not a bad way at all to end our first day.
Eleanor, Team Blogger
