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The Work Goes On: March - May, 2010:
In the last three months PfS has had two medical missions and brought patients to ten surgical teams, including two at our surgical center, Clinica Barbara. We triaged over 600 patients on medical missions, gave access to surgery to over 400, and 188 received surgery. Thirty children are now in our nutrition program. Those are the statistics - here are the people and places. |
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Medical Missions: Always an Adventure!
The March team consisted of returning Drs. Paul Wengert, Peter Ulland and Nurses Teresa Borak and Patty Doherty. While they relaxed in the waters of Semuc Champey on our Cultural Day, getting across those rivers was not always easy! In May returning Drs. Lawrence Coleman, Khem Fatimi and Neal Shealy and Nurse-Practitioner Sharon Shealy dealt with a rockslide but all ended well with a successful mission and group picture.
Click on Image to enlarge. |
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Surgical Teams Provide Life Changing Surgery
During March - June PfS brought surgical patients to Project Hands and Medical Mission Group, both of whom volunteered for a full week at Clinica Barbara. Lives were transformed, and feedback about the team experience was excellent. PfS also worked with the Helps International team in several rural areas and with teams at Hermano Pedro in Antigua. |
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Our Patients: the Most Impoverished in Rural Guatemala
 Cleft patients make up only about fifteen percent of PfS patients, but are among the neediest by any measure.Without surgery, they are outcasts who spend most of their lives inside their homes. Romelia Macz had been living with her cleft lip for twenty years and rode in the back of a truck for hours to arrive at the PfS medical mission site. She had surgery April 23rd and is shown here recovering Romelia will now lead a normal life without the stigma of a disfigured face.
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The Nutrition Project: Saving Lives and Making Surgery Possible
Sara Maria Choc, born with a severe cleft lip, could not nurse and had lost two pounds of her birth weight when she arrived at our mission site. Her parents lacked money to buy formula and instead fed Sara a thin corn gruel lacking in vitamins and minerals for healthy development. Because of Sara' reduced weight and poverty, she has been added to the PfS nutrition project. The goal of the family and PfS is that Sara will be sufficiently healthy in July to have surgery by Faces of Hope. In the picture Myra shows Sara's parents how to prepare and give Sara her formula. Every two weeks, the local PfS manager will visit and weigh Sara, using the scale pictured here. With our Nutrition Project, we are saving lives - but it is expensive and we are struggling to meet the need of babies like Sara.
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Full-time Staff in Guatemala keep PfS Running Smoothly
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Three dedicated young people head our organization in Guatemala:
Felipe Sutantri, Director of Operations and External Relations, finished his Peace Corps service last year. He heads our Antigua office and is responsible for scheduling patients, working with our sister organization, CenS, and logistics at Clinica Barbara. |  |
Jessica Momberg is the Director of Rural Development and responsible for organizing and leading all of our rural medical missions. Jessica was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala's rural areas so knows the country well. | 
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Silvia Eugenia Macario is our Sub Director of Administration, an accountant and currently finishing her Law degree. Silvia works with scheduling patients on medical missions and is Felipe's needed right hand. |
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| Ending on a Happy Note
 A big thanks to the surgical team, Faces of Hope, and the California Rotarians they represent, for the gift of our new Ford pickup truck. This rugged, four wheel drive vehicle is vital to successfully navigating the frequent extremely tough roads we must use on our rural Medical Missions. We Need and Welcome Donations! Partner of Surgery would like to express deep appreciation to those of you who have financially supported our organization. Please continue to contribute and ask others to consider a gift by check or online at www.partnerforsurgery.org so that the work can keep going on..... |
