Guatemala Medical Resources Partnership: A Wisconsin Rotary Project
Brian Jenson shared the following story about the results of our club’s ongoing support of the Guatemala Medical Resources Partnership (GMRP). To date, our Club has contributed talent and treasure through member service over many years and the direct contribution of $7,500 in funding. This outpouring of support certainly exemplifies the Rotary ideal as we apply this avenue of service in a very tangible manner.
One of the aims of any good aid project is to have local people take more ownership and responsibility for the projects. This is not a fast process, and it depends on the people who become involved both here in the States and in Guatemala.
Washington Island, WI, native Doug Hansen and his wife Pam went to Guatemala to visit their son Brian in the Peace Corps. They were so touched by the needs of the people there that Doug looked to his Rotary Club members in Mequon-Thiensville, WI, to see what they could do to help.
They put a call out to Guatemalan Rotary Clubs that was answered by Enrique Gandara (Kico) who also lived in the US at times. They began planning and fundraising in 2003 and held the first mission trip in 2005.
Kico was instrumental in arranging in-country transportation, security, food and getting all the medical equipment and medicine through customs, among other things.
Kico's ranch, where our teams stay for the five-day missions. Advance teams go three days early to set up.
The clinic takes place in an elementary school about a three-minute walk from Kico’s ranch.
After the first mission, a team of Rotarians went down and rewired the electrical system of the school.
Another team hooked the well up to a water tower that was there and flouridated and chlorinated the water. Dental and intestinal health were much improved!
Dental chairs and equipment, medical exam tables and various other items have been donated over the years, as well as a semi truck trailer to store them in.
People waiting to see our optometrist
The Guatemala Medical Resources Partnership’s (GMRP) five-day medical clinic project, which began in 2005, took a dramatic turn in 2014 when we finally found Guatamalan health care promoter Floridalma Quintanilla.
Prior to finding Flory in 2014, we would often leave Guatemala in tears, because we had no way to get surgeries for people with cataracts or hernias, etc.
She has vast experience with many hospitals, clinics, doctors and other medical missions, as well as an incredible understanding of where to find the best health resources for the lowest cost. For the past eight years, with Flory’s work and our funding, hundreds of people have had follow-up surgery and medical care after our clinics.
Amazing News: First Mini-Clinic Planned
At the end of February, Flory will host her first “mini-clinic” mission for the poor at her own recently built house / clinic. Flory and her son Jonatan have taken out a loan together and built a concrete house in Santa Rosa. Flory has running water but no wiring yet for lights. She has recently started staying in the house and uses candles to see at night.
The house has extra rooms that can serve as bedrooms or clinic rooms where Flory plans to host mini missions for those who cannot pay for medical help. Obras Hospital has donated around 100 of its old used chairs to her clinic project. Due to Covid spread, only a few people will sit here at the same time. The hospital has also donated old desks and examination tables.
A local hospital donated chairs, examination tables and other furniture to Flory's clinic.
Flory has been in close contact with nurse Magdalena from the Oliveros area. They are making a list of people who are desperate to see a doctor since this is the second year we haven’t been able to hold our clinic there. She has also arranged with the mayor of Chiquimulilla to pay for the bus transport to the clinic.
To be more efficient and because of Covid concerns, Flory and her helpers will give people advance invitation “tickets” to the clinic with days and times schedules on them, so there will be fewer people waiting there at one time. They are hoping to see about 300 people in the three-day clinic.
Flory has been talking with doctors and health care people for several years about volunteering to do a mini-mission like this one. She finally has ten professionals who have agreed to volunteer for the three days. (She has commented that volunteering is much more culturally the norm in the US, from what she can tell.)
One of Flory’s contacts is a pharmacist at Obras Hospital. He has ordered bulk medicines for the doctors to prescribe and distribute at the mini-mission. Flory, her sons and some friends will package the bulk medicines into plastic bags and label them with dosage instructions. She said they are used to doing this for the Faith in Practice missions. The cost is $4,000.
Bulk medicines for the clinic will be packed and labeled for correct dosage.
GMRP is hoping to be able to help many people with medical conditions through this mini-mission. It is our hope that those people who need surgery will be able to wait until the Faith in Practice mission and surgical teams start coming again in the spring. This will help stretch our money.
As usual with our missions, leftover medicine will go to rural health centers in Oliveros and other towns to help those who cannot afford them.
Conclusion
We are thrilled that Flory, with her son’s help, has been able to start on the path to fulfilling her dream to offer more healthcare to the neediest people in her region. She receives a salary from us and from some of the municipalities she serves. She receives nothing from other missions or from the people she helps. She truly has a heart for service.
Postscript
The Two Rivers Rotary Club recently received this heartfelt thank you on February 3, 2022, for our support of the program.
