Guatemala Arrival 1.15-16.2006
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Jim and I arrived in Guatemala City on Sunday nite around 8:30 on schedule. Jim’s bags arrived on time and we met his friend Steve Osborne whom I had met at my home a few weekends back when Jim and Daniel were there working on their ’61 Corvair. The plan was to spend the nite at Steve’s crib, then head to the Guatemala City Marriott in the AM to meet Jim’s buddy, and HELPS International Chairman, Steve Miller to ride to San Cristobal.
Steve Osborne is quite an interesting character, he has lived with his wife and young son in Guatemala for the past 9 years. His original plan was to help manage an existing orphanage and use this as the medium with which to perform God’s work. After a few hiccups that involved some mismanagement he decided to simply house kids who had difficult medical conditions like cerebral palsy and cleft palate in his home which he’s been doing for the past several years. Steve, Jim and I stayed up for a bit chatting about various topics from health care, the US and it’s current/historical role in Central America, and of course religion. Jim bailed after a bit and Steve and I ended up rappin’ until around 2:30am, in retrospect I am more than a bit surprised we didn’t really debate anything which on occasion can bore me but Steve is one of those dudes that forces you to think about your positions even when you seem to agree. I like him and plan on keeping in touch as I continue on my own journey.
Monday, January 16, 2006
I awoke this MLK day just outside of Guatemala City and looked forward to our drive into the city. We met Steve Miller, HELPS International Chairman, at the Marriott for breakfast along with a few other HELPS folks and Steve’s friends. One of them was an archeologist who helped discover the “Central American Sistine Chapel” about five years ago. This dude seemed real cool and indicated he was in January’s National Geographic. I plan on looking this up when I return.
We left the Marriott around 8:30 and headed for San Cristobal. We picked up Joleen Schweitzer, wife of the US Ambassador to Guatemala who had an interest in HELPS Missions. Joleen is a very engaging and down to earth lady who has a substantial career in her own right as a consulate.
During our journey I had the chance to really take in the picturesque country of 12 million. The 4 hour journey featured seemingly continuous winding hills that seemed to rollercoaster through the substantial hills of the country side. We only saw 1 accident, yes only one, which involved a large truck turning over on its side. I got a pretty good pic of this.. We also saw a large herd of cows stop down traffic a bit. They were headed in the opposite direction and didn’t have a problem blocking the road, or hustling out of the way when their ‘shepard’ gave them the command.
The San Cristobal Hospital is quite a facility. It reminded me of my experiences in Sri Lanka and New Delhi last summer as these facilities seem to provide so many with quality care in the midst of some very primitive conditions. We got the standard tour, I caught some pretty good shots, which of course included a substantial crowd queued up waiting to be seen. The workers at the hospital indicated that some folks would walk for as many as 2 days to get seen. There are no appointments and they have a numbering system much like a deli. Each person gets a number and after some very high level triage they are given an appointment to see a GP or a specialist, depending on their ailment. Of course the more serious cases are seen right away but the wait can range anywhere from 4 hours to 2 days. If someone has traveled a substantial distance, the hospital has good relationships with area churches to house patients until they can be seen. This excellent policy prevents those waiting to be seen to have to travel all they way home, then back. These churches also house patients after procedures if they need to recover before their journey home. No patients are charged for the services given, this includes access to meds.
From about 2pm on Jim and I saw patients in one of the examination rooms. Strangely this seemed very similar to what we do at the Central Dallas Clinic. We of course needed a translator and folks came in with problems like abdominal pain to knee pain to pain in the foot. I also had the chance to see my first hernia, I won’t go into the details here on what this is but I’m sure this 20 year old is looking forward to his surgery tomorrow, a surgery I am hoping I can eavesdrop on. Several of the patients we saw traveled for over 8 hours to be seen, among them included a 60 year woman who was experiencing some slight lower left leg edema and some arthritis in the hip. The patients here, much like the patients in East Dallas are very cooperative and appreciative of the care they are receiving. I look forward to hanging out with them some tomorrow.
Jim and I arrived in Guatemala City on Sunday nite around 8:30 on schedule. Jim’s bags arrived on time and we met his friend Steve Osborne whom I had met at my home a few weekends back when Jim and Daniel were there working on their ’61 Corvair. The plan was to spend the nite at Steve’s crib, then head to the Guatemala City Marriott in the AM to meet Jim’s buddy, and HELPS International Chairman, Steve Miller to ride to San Cristobal.
Steve Osborne is quite an interesting character, he has lived with his wife and young son in Guatemala for the past 9 years. His original plan was to help manage an existing orphanage and use this as the medium with which to perform God’s work. After a few hiccups that involved some mismanagement he decided to simply house kids who had difficult medical conditions like cerebral palsy and cleft palate in his home which he’s been doing for the past several years. Steve, Jim and I stayed up for a bit chatting about various topics from health care, the US and it’s current/historical role in Central America, and of course religion. Jim bailed after a bit and Steve and I ended up rappin’ until around 2:30am, in retrospect I am more than a bit surprised we didn’t really debate anything which on occasion can bore me but Steve is one of those dudes that forces you to think about your positions even when you seem to agree. I like him and plan on keeping in touch as I continue on my own journey.
Monday, January 16, 2006
I awoke this MLK day just outside of Guatemala City and looked forward to our drive into the city. We met Steve Miller, HELPS International Chairman, at the Marriott for breakfast along with a few other HELPS folks and Steve’s friends. One of them was an archeologist who helped discover the “Central American Sistine Chapel” about five years ago. This dude seemed real cool and indicated he was in January’s National Geographic. I plan on looking this up when I return.
We left the Marriott around 8:30 and headed for San Cristobal. We picked up Joleen Schweitzer, wife of the US Ambassador to Guatemala who had an interest in HELPS Missions. Joleen is a very engaging and down to earth lady who has a substantial career in her own right as a consulate.
During our journey I had the chance to really take in the picturesque country of 12 million. The 4 hour journey featured seemingly continuous winding hills that seemed to rollercoaster through the substantial hills of the country side. We only saw 1 accident, yes only one, which involved a large truck turning over on its side. I got a pretty good pic of this.. We also saw a large herd of cows stop down traffic a bit. They were headed in the opposite direction and didn’t have a problem blocking the road, or hustling out of the way when their ‘shepard’ gave them the command.
The San Cristobal Hospital is quite a facility. It reminded me of my experiences in Sri Lanka and New Delhi last summer as these facilities seem to provide so many with quality care in the midst of some very primitive conditions. We got the standard tour, I caught some pretty good shots, which of course included a substantial crowd queued up waiting to be seen. The workers at the hospital indicated that some folks would walk for as many as 2 days to get seen. There are no appointments and they have a numbering system much like a deli. Each person gets a number and after some very high level triage they are given an appointment to see a GP or a specialist, depending on their ailment. Of course the more serious cases are seen right away but the wait can range anywhere from 4 hours to 2 days. If someone has traveled a substantial distance, the hospital has good relationships with area churches to house patients until they can be seen. This excellent policy prevents those waiting to be seen to have to travel all they way home, then back. These churches also house patients after procedures if they need to recover before their journey home. No patients are charged for the services given, this includes access to meds.
From about 2pm on Jim and I saw patients in one of the examination rooms. Strangely this seemed very similar to what we do at the Central Dallas Clinic. We of course needed a translator and folks came in with problems like abdominal pain to knee pain to pain in the foot. I also had the chance to see my first hernia, I won’t go into the details here on what this is but I’m sure this 20 year old is looking forward to his surgery tomorrow, a surgery I am hoping I can eavesdrop on. Several of the patients we saw traveled for over 8 hours to be seen, among them included a 60 year woman who was experiencing some slight lower left leg edema and some arthritis in the hip. The patients here, much like the patients in East Dallas are very cooperative and appreciative of the care they are receiving. I look forward to hanging out with them some tomorrow.
posted by Charles Senteio at
5:29 PM
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