Today started like every day with our morning devotional led by Laura at 6:00am. She asked us if there were any personal stories from the clinic that really showed why so many volunteers return year after year. Dr. Hilary Bartels, who is currently serving on her 13th Faith in Practice medical mission, asked to share a story about a young woman named Selia.
Selia, who is 34, came to the clinic yesterday. Dr. Hilary initially thought Selia’s symptoms indicated she might have had a stroke. But she dug into Selia’s story and quickly found out that she had a cardiac birth defect. Sometime in the past Selia had a blood clot that passed from one side of her heart to the other, bypassing her lungs which then allowed the clot to travel to her head. The symptoms of this stroke were an inability to speak, known as aphasia. She has since recovered from the aphasia and is able to work, but she still has some numbness in the right side of her body.
When Dr. Hilary examined Selia, she heard the loudest heart murmur of her 30+ year medical career. This led to initiating a referral to a cardiologist for an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of her heart. Selia told Dr. Hilary that she visited a hospital six years ago and was told she only had three months to live!
Enter Carmen, Hilary’s interpreter for the past three medical missions. Carmen, who is on the Guatemalan staff, has many doctors in her family and worked with our Referral Department to get Selia a referral to a cardiac hospital in Guatemala City.
But, like so much in life, it takes a village. Which brings us to our superstar local clinic coordinator, Armando! It turns out, Selia and Armando live in the same local village and know each other. Without hesitation, Armando said he will accompany Selia to the cardiac hospital for her upcoming appointment.
While all the coordination was taking place, our nurse Katherine who works in the triage department overheard Dr. Hilary and Armando speaking and she shared with them how Selia’s story moved her when she first triaged the patient earlier in the day. Dr. Hilary and Katherine are committed to making sure that Selia receives the care she needs and are willing to support Selia with the needed medical care in whatever way they can.
It’s stories such as this one that remind us all how we can work together to make another person’s life better. And sometimes, we can even save a life! It’s because of this that so many volunteers keep coming back to serve with Faith in Practice in Guatemala.
-Ruth Lacey
