Clinic Prep and First Day of Clinic, May 31

The team, recovered from our Friday travels and late arrival, enjoyed a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes, pancakes and fruit. How can anyone eat all that? Well, a few of us did! And did I mention the delicious Guatemalan coffee with hot milk?

The team spent a good hour this morning prepping meds for our pharmacy. Several analgesics and antibiotics were pre-measured into one month amounts. Vitamins for children and adults also were counted and saved in small zip-loc bags. 

This morning we met our four translators who, in addition to Cristian, will help our medical teams, pharmacy and nutrition educators communicate effectively with patients. The four are Carlos, Boris, Marcos and Kaylee. We welcome them as part of our team!


Our wonderful translators



Our hosts in Gualan and Los Limones. L to R, Project Coordinator/Translator Cristian, Pastor Luis the younger, and his father, also Pastor Luis

As we sat after dinner tonight to discuss the day’s activities, we had two particular stories to relate. Dr. Kate treated a little girl who was going bald, brought in by her mother. Hers was a case of severe malnutrition, weighing only 18# at 2 years of age, much less than the third percentile for her age. After probing questioning, it was found her diet consisted of small amounts of fruit, toasted tortillas mashed up in water with sugar. No protein, no dairy, no vegetables. The mother was given “plumpy nut” a concentrated vitamin, mineral and protein supplement to begin bringing her back to health and hopefully improvement in her growth and regrowth of her hair. The pastor will be asked to follow up to provide additional supplements.


Our “weighing and measuring team,” aka Kelly and Isaiah, are the first in our team to meet the patients, once they are registered. One little boy was terrified of stepping on the scale and became inconsolable. Kelly reached into our toy bag and rolled a toy car across the room to him. He calmed down and weighing and measuring proceeded smoothly. While the family was still in the clinic, that boy’s older brother came over to Kelly, gave him a hug, and then ran back to his mom.  Older siblings often care for the younger ones in this culture, and we think this was that older brother’s way of thanking Kelly for his kindness to the little brother.



Beautiful wooden cars that travel with the team from South Dakota. 






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