Our Guatemalan Volunteers are key to providing a continuity of care to those who live in the remotest areas and the areas with the least access to healthcare. These Guatemalan leaders become like family to the patients in their journeys to being healed. These dedicated volunteers take on the following responsibilities.

Identify and Recruit:

• Seek out patients in the greatest of need through their contacts among churches, municipalities, community healthcare workers, rural clinics, etc. In addition they respond to requests from those in their communities who see them as Faith In Practice representatives capable of assisting them with complex medical, surgical, dental or mobility needs.
• Invite individuals in need to a scheduled medical clinic, oftentimes arranging the transportation and travel logistics. Each clinic day averages 250-300 patients that are identified by through this process.

Manage Logistics:

• Work with local municipalities to secure clinic space in schools or multipurpose areas, organize patient flow and clinic spaces, obtain donations of tents, chairs, manage security, etc.
• Recruit, lead and manage an average of 50 local volunteers to work beside the U.S. volunteers each day of the clinic.
• Troubleshoot problems with the U.S. volunteers to ensure that the patient is served.

Accompany and Case Manage:

• Guatemalan Volunteers accompany all surgical and/or specialty referrals identified during a clinic to their surgical appointments at one of our partner hospitals, organizing and managing travel and food.
• Act as liaison throughout the patients’ stay at our patient guesthouse and hospital.
• Accompany the patient safely home and manage any required follow up or complication or additional care. For example, an amputee for whom Faith In Practice provides a limb requires months of prosthesis fittings, etc. that the Guatemalan volunteer manages along side Faith In Practice.

Because of our Guatemalan Volunteer Leaders’ commitment, Faith In Practice can keep the promises it makes to our patients and can safely and efficiently provide care to those in the greatest need.

More than this, these volunteers treat each patient with great love and faith, serving in response to God’s call to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

Our committed corps of approximately 100 leaders manage, on average, a total of 1,000 volunteers annually.