Medical Missions Foundation

Reflections on San Lucas 20111

With the roosters crowing in the background at 5:30am, the MMF San Lucas team of nearly 40 people rolled suitcases down rock paths to the truck, grabbed boxed breakfasts and hopped into three vans for the 4-hour drive back from San Lucas to the airport in Guatemala City. It was a glorious sunny morning and we could see smoke rising from three different Lake Atitlan area volcanoes.

Flights back were incredibly smooth, the navigation through customs equally painless and we all arrived back in our respective cities (mostly KC) around midnight Sunday night.

Throughout the day Sunday, each of us began to reflect on the San Lucas mission trip, sharing our thoughts with one another here and there.

Hearing all of the different perspectives and remembering the variety of roles and talents included in the trip reminded me of the “Bones Song”. Remember it? “With the leg bone connected to the knee bone, and the knee bone connected to the thigh bone, and the thigh bone connected to the hip bone…”

It took an incredible amount of coordination, collaboration diversity of talents and willingness to loan them to the cause to make this trip as successful and productive as it was. The OR team performed 86 surgical procedures. The clinic team saw roughly 600 patients throughout the week. The dental team saw more than 100 patients, and provided dental health education to hundreds more, most of them children and moms. The clinic team had the opportunity to share with San Lucas families about proper hydration, proper nutrition and other important health education topics. The art team made nearly a dozen different art projects with the children and played games until we were all totally worn out, building relationships with San Lucas children and their families.

During the trip one of the translators, Erin, a Minnesota native college student who is staying and serving at the San Lucas Mission for a year, commented on what she was learning during her week translating for MMF at the Parish clinic, “I hadn’t had any previous medical team exposure,” Erin said. “It’s so complex, and you all have to have tremendous trust in one another that each person is going to do their individual job to the best of their ability. Because none of you can afford to take your attention off what you’re doing to pick up the slack for someone else. I’m amazed that it works as smoothly as it does. It’s incredible to watch.”

Erin summed up my own sentiments, as a non-medical person serving on my first MMF trip. The MMF team working together to be the hands and feet serving the global community includes all of our in-country partners who continue to care for patients long after we board the plane to go home. It also includes you who serve from your offices and homes in the US. Without the support and focused dedication of our MMF staff, MMF board, donors, families, friends and other supporters throughout the US and the world, MMF could not possibly accomplish what it did this past week, or on any other mission.

The San Lucas trip concludes. The work continues, is just beginning really, and will go on and on for as long as we have our team of “bones” to make it happen. Thank you for being a critical part of the team to make it happen. 

Some pictures from our busy week

Patients waiting in line for a clinic visit.  The MMF team was seeing up to 140 patients a day!  The art team helps to keep the children occupied during their wait.  Some of the projects this week included masks and tissue paper flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to providing medical care, the invaluable team of Mike, Mike, and Kevin worked with our hosts to build a new wall to house the hospital's new autoclave. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our OR team was also busy!  We would catch them occasionally between surgeries

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to our local hosts, our team was provided with tasty local cuisine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great team making a difference!  Thanks to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In-Country Partnerships are Key for MMF

Wherever MMF travels on its medical missions, in-country partnerships are a vital and essential aspect of ensuring the success of the mission. Not only do in-country partners have an understanding of the need to be met, and they best understand how to accomplish it. And they are working to meet the needs of the people in the community before, during and after the MMF team is there.

Our trip to San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala is no different. We have our “team on the ground” that comes from, understands, lives in and is invested in the San Lucas community. Without their help, we could not do what we do. The San Lucas trip would not be possible without a number of key partners in Guatemala, and one significant partner is the San Lucas Mission.

The San Lucas Parish mission has had a presence and has developed credibility and trust among the people of San Lucas for nearly 50 years. We operate out of their facility and they coordinate patient schedules ahead of our visit. They continue caring for San Lucas families during the 51 weeks out of the year that MMF is not here. We appreciate their support.

Guatemalan history is fraught with unequal land ownership. The Parish has a program to buy back land and redistribute the Mayan natives to promote food security.  Farming families also need fair prices for their produce. The Mission has The Juan Ana Coffee Program to provide fair, consistent wages for more than 650 coffee farmers, who In turn provide the highest quality gourmet coffee.

Other programs provide sustainable assistance in education, employment and housing for San Lucas families. Working all together, along with Healthcare programs, the San Lucas Mission ensures that we can continue to work toward the ultimate goal of helping the people of San Lucas to be healthy, happy and self-sustaining.

"Mike the Molar" and "Cody the Dental Dog"

While the MMF Operating Room and Clinic in San Lucas have been hopping with patients, the MMF San Lucas Dental Team has been on the go non-stop. 

MMF Mission veterans, Mike and Cindy, encouraged their son Paul and his wife Lisa, a dentist, to join this MMF mission to San Lucas to help meet dental care needs here. Paul and Lisa really sunk their teeth into the task. (Sorry, couldn’t help a few dental puns). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa has conducted full days of exams in nearby villages Salcaja and San Juan, and has provided much-needed services including extractions and fillings. 

Lisa described the dental health situation in rural Guatemala. There’s rampant early childhood caries, which pretty much means decay throughout all teeth. In the US, if the same situation was detected, the affected child would be put under general anesthesia to have fillings, extractions and all necessary restorative treatment  all at once. Here, the child would most likely live in pain until the teeth simply break or fall out. Here, it is often assumed that it is just normal that you will eventually lose your teeth. MMF and other medical missions are working along with local dental professionals to help change that myth.  

According to Dr. Lisa, many adults and children also have chronic infections and acute swellings in their mouths, which can then spread to other parts of the body. The majority of children have at least two teeth that are hurting at any one time. Many of the parents report to Lisa during the child’s exam that their child is unwilling to eat, or will only chew on one side of their mouth. 

As she cares for the children and adult patients, in most cases, Lisa’s making the decision about which tooth is (or few teeth are) the worst and need to be pulled or deciding if certain can be saved. Although the constant struggle is that much more “could be done” than we can ever manage to do with the time and limited resources we have available, there is no doubt that each time a patient leaves Lisa’s chair, they’re leaving grateful and relieved to have their pain alleviated and to be able to eat, talk, play and work well once again. 

On Tuesday, the Dental Team traveled with Dr. Will to nearby Opal House Mission, where Will and his wife Diane care for and teach many local children. Paul and Lisa, along with “Mike the Molar” as we’ve started to call him, provided much-needed dental education to children and their mothers. They emphasized the need to brush their teeth twice a day and make good choices about what to eat and drink. In addition to lack of adequate dental health care, nutrition is a major contributor to poor dental health in rural Guatemala. Cody the Dental Dog joined in the fun and served as a visual way to show the children how to brush their teeth and tongue.

 Children and their families received tooth brushes and tooth paste to take home, along with coloring books about the importance of taking good care of your teeth. Lisa provided dental exams for all children in attendance, and diagnosed 12 that will be seen today in San Lucas for additional dental care. 

Needless to say, it was a day full of smiles for the team and the people they served.

 

 

Bringing much needed relief

Marta, age 66, came to the clinic today for an ultrasound at the recommendation of Dr. Tune. Marta learned about the MMF team visiting San Lucas Toliman from her husband, who drives an ambulance for the hospital, as well as from Dr. Tune, who felt that the specialists with the MMF team could help Marta understand the source of her abdominal pain and swelling. She said that she didn’t feel scared about her visit, because “The MMF team is a group that saves lives” so she feels comfortable in their care.

Andres, age 47, was scheduled for a hernia operation today with the MMF team. As a result of the severe pain he’s been experiencing for a long time due to the hernia, it is very difficult for Andres to work. His job, a contributing source of his hernia, is cutting wood. As you drive along the mountainous, winding roads surrounding Lake Atitlan, it is common to see men, women and even young children carrying heavy bundles of wood or other goods on their heads or backs. Not being able to work is a significant concern for Andres, who has 11 children ranging in age from 6-18 to provide for, including 3 sets of twins. He hopes to get a different job, in a store or other business, so that he doesn’t have such difficult physical work. But for now, his primary goal is to have his pain alleviated, with help from the surgeons, nurses and the rest of the medical team from Medical Missions Foundation.

Overall, the team had a very busy and productive day running two beds in the Operating Room, and also saw many children and adults in the clinic, referring some patients for surgery when needed.

Maria, age 74, has been living with a neck mass nearly the size of her head. The mass would seem extremely large on any adult, but it was especially shocking to see such a large mass sitting atop Maria’s frail 70-pound body. Calmly and quietly, Maria waited as the pre-op team prepared her for a 4-hour surgery, where the MMF surgical team removed the 6-pound mass. Maria will spend the night tonight in the hospital in San Lucas until morning when the MMF doctors can check her progress. As of the end of day today, Maria was resting comfortably.

A busy Sunday

Sunday:  At 6:30am in San Lucas Toliman, if you have not yet heeded your cell phone alarm, the roosters will help wake you up.  Fabulous natural alarm here comprised of local birds and roosters!  When we stepped out of our hotel rooms, we were greeted by amazing views of the mountains surrounding Lake Atitlan and lush vegetation.  After a delicious breakfast of black beans, eggs, tortillas and oatmeal before packing up in two teams to head to two different children's homes in San Juan and Salcaja, roughly three hours away.  The goal was to perform well child checkups, as well as identify anyone who would need medical attention later in the week by our team, or perhaps even by the MMF team traveling to Antigua in June.  A third OR team remained in San Lucas to set up the hospital for work throughout the week.

At Salcaja, the team saw roughly 100 patients, nearly all children, for well child checkups.  This children's home is home to roughly 150 children who live in 10 different houses, overseen by one "house mom" each.  In addition to the roughly 150 full-time residents, this children's home serves breakfast each day to countless more children who otherwise would not get much food throughout the day. Physician's Assistant Ashley saw a number of children in need of having their tonsils removed.  With assistance from translator Katelyn, she helped patients understand that they could have these procedures performed by our Antigua team that's coming back to this general area in the coming weeks. While the medical team cared for patients, the art team traveled up the hill on foot to seek out playmates!  Nearly 20 children joined Riley and Susan for soccer, jump rope, bubbles and other games.

The San Juan team held a clinic that included well child checkups, adult checkups as well as dental care by our dental team made up of Dr. Lisa, Paul  Mike and Cindy.  Since they'd decided to wear Dr. Seuss-esque hats in rainbow colors and clown noses, we may just start calling them Rudolphs, the Red-Nosed Clinicians!  Dentist Lisa performed both fillings and extractions in both children and adults.  Lisa commented that many patients had advanced tooth decay as well as periodontal disease, causing teeth often to be loose in adults, as well as causing pain.  Patients were gracious and calm as they were cared for, and left the clinic no longer feeling the pain that they had come to accept as "normal".  Across the open courtyard filled with people waiting, as well as a few roaming town dogs here and there, the medical team performed roughly 70 exams and well child checkups, seeing a lot of runny noses, respiratory issues and skin conditions.  Mission trip coordinator Josie said that some of the respiratory issues the team saw is due to cooking and heating homes almost entirely with wood fires.  In small homes, often with corrugated tin ceilings, families cook over open wood fires, without the chimneys we use in the US.  The smell of wood smoke fills the air constantly in this area, and while it's welcoming and terribly charming, it's also hazardous to the health of those who experience it daily.

After a long day, the team consolidated gear and bodies into busses for the three-hour windy, bumpy ride back to San Lucas Toliman.  We stopped in Quetzaltenango, home town of Mission Coordinator Carmen, where we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the town square on a Sunday night and had a brief & delicious Cafe Enrique (coffee with cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices) before heading back.  Mike said he counted more than 400 speed bumps as we ka-bumped over them en route back.  We arrived back in San Lucas Toliman after 9pm, weary and hungry, but satiated from a long and productive day helping those in need.

Ready to rock it in San Lucas on Monday! The dental team and a few other medical gurus will be headed back to Salcaja to care for children there on Monday.