ABC Dental in Chutzurob

Today, we had clinic in Chutzurob  We had a good number of medical patients.  Also today, Andrea and Maria saw the ABC Children in this area and evaluated their dental care.

Maria examines one of the children in the ABC Program.

Elias has not been feeling good so his mom brought him to see us.  This is Sebastian's grandson, who is now seven years old.  I remember very well when Elias was born.

This is Elias just a few months old, when his mom brought him to see us for the first time. What a nice young man he is now.

Speaking of nice young people, Rosa is one of my ABC Children. She is the young lady on the right.  Cesar is working with the children teaching them how to properly brush their teeth.

Rosa want to be sure I saw what she was doing.

After clinic Manuel, Teresa and I went to change a tire that went flat.  Yes, it happened again.  This time it was a screw and not a bone.  I am a little nervous since things usually happen in threes.  After we changed it, I took it up to Chichi and had it repaired.

Tomorrow, we are off to Chuguexa............there is a huge parade to celebrate drivers of tuk-tuks so the streets will be shut down for three hours.  We will leave early to avoid  being stopped in the street.

Clinic in Mactzul I

We had a wonderful clinic in Mactzul I.  I picked up Teresa and Maria on the way.  We met Andrea, Manuel, Brenda, Emilio and Jackson there.  Today was Jackson's last clinic with us and everyone is sad about that.

The sky was blue and it was just a beautiful day.

This area is beautiful!

We had a great patient number.  We had several ABC Children come in after lunch.

This was our last photo together (Andrea, me, Maria, Jackson, Emilio, Manuel, Teresa and Brenda)

Tomorrow, we will have clinic in Chuchipaca...............I will go with Manuel, Teresa and Jackson.

On Sunday, Manuel will drive Jackson to the capital and he will return to the states.  We wish him the best of luck in his studies at Yale.  We hope to have him visit us again in the future!

Cleaning in Montellano

Monday and Tuesday, several of us met at Clinica Ezell to clean out two of the large storage areas.  We completed about half of it in two days and have discussed meeting again, maybe in November.

This is one section before we started. The largest portion is of OR supplies that are used during the surgical weeks.

Rita and Cary counting and repackaging supplies.  Marta was never in one place to get a good photo!

Antonia looking at the supplies and inspecting expiration dates.

Also helping are Kathlyn, Maufer and Preston........you can see them in the background working.  They entered the data and labeled the shelves as we counted and sorted items.

It was not the cleanest that I have been in my life but we made the best of it!

Monday night, we went to a Pizza Hut and I had a fantastic salad!  Thank you Rita and Cary for allowing me to shower first!

This is one section of the storage room after it was cleaned, sorted and labeled.

This is some of the discarded items. Many were items that we never use on this site.

One of the national hospitals was called and they came to see if they could use some of the items. They went through the boxes and filled their ambulance. They were very excited at the quality and are sure that they will be able to use what they took.

There were also some other facilities that Marta was going to call the next day to see if they were interested in what was available.

Thanks to everyone for helping!  Marta was very excited over this project.  She and Antonia worked very hard and will continue to do so as time allows.

Trip to Antigua and Then to Montellano

After we finished the Pap/ IVAA clinic, I made my way to Antigua.  I arrived safely without any problem.  On Saturday morning, when I was walking around and getting things done, the hotel called me. The parking lot had called the hotel to let me know that over night, one of my tires had gone flat.  As soon as I was finished with my errands, I went to the parking lot to see what had happened.

Flat as flat could be.......................not one ounce of air in that tire.  Two guys at the parking lot helped me change it.  First, I had to call Kemmel since I could not get to the jack and things that I needed.  They are stored differently in this model of truck.  Once we got to the jack, we were on our way!

One of the guys offered to go with me to have the flat repaired. It was a little outside of Antigua but not far at all.  The guy there was really nice and this is what he pulled out.  I was expecting a nail or screw.........but it was a bone!  Very interesting!

Antigua was packed with people!  It has been a long times since I have seen it this full. For dinner I went to a Chinese place that I like and had chop suey.  It was very good!

In the morning, I am headed to Montellano to meet Cary, Rita and few others.  We are going to clean and go through two of the storage areas at the clinic. It will be very warm but I am hoping that we can get a lot done.

Pap and IVAA Clinics This Week

Twice this week, we have had Pap/ IVAA Clinics. First, we had clinic in Mactzul IV and one in Chichicastenango. I stole some of Lisa's photos since I have been slack this week with mine.

This is one of our exam rooms. We are able to carry everything out to a community that would like to have this service provided for the ladies.  In Mactzul IV, we had eight ladies and in Chichi, we had around twenty or twenty-four patients.

Promoters always go with us and help us set up and take down the clinic.  This is Maury, Teresa and Emilio.  Emilio is a good guy and takes our teasing very well. He is doing a rotation with us and it comes to an end this week.  We will miss him.

Lisa took this photo of the ladies on the first level, waiting to be seen. No faces are seen to maintain confidentiality!!  Good idea Lisa. We did the exams on the third level we we got  A LOT of exercise that day. 

We had a few patients this week that will need some follow-up treatment.  We pray that they do well and will help others understand the importance of health care and early screening.

Clinic and ABC Check-ups in Mactzul II

This week we had a clinic in Mactzul II and the ABC Children from this area came to have a dental exam.

It was a busy clinic and we really enjoyed it.  I had between 14 and 17 medical patients.

Dental was very busy with about 30 children.  Aura is attending the patient in the back and Martina is attending the patient on the right.  Emilio, who is doing a rotation with us, is documenting the information as they examine the patients.

I had two very interesting patients today.

One lady had been a member at this congregation for many years and now is attending someplace different.  As I asked questions, Enrique translated.  After a few questions and we could see that the lady was wanting to talk about her spiritual life.  Enrique asked if he could speak with her.........I told him, "Of course!"  I love to ask questions that open doors for discussions.  They talked for a long time and we will see what happens due to this consult.

Another patient, is having marital problems.  Her husband has been seeing other women and they have eleven children.  She wants to make the marriage work and she said that her husband is wanting to do the same.  I asked her if they would like to talk to Gaspar.  I explained that he visits with patients and helps when there are problems in the home.  Sometimes it takes an "outside ear" to help unravel the issues at hand.  I called Gaspar and gave him the contact information.

Please pray for these patients and that they will make the best decisions possible.

Jackson Is With Us Again

I visited my parents in Florida and before I returned, I had prepared for Jackson's visit. I made reservations for him at the hotel that I would be staying at.  This way, Jackson could travel back to Chichicastenango with Kemmel, Lisa and me.

When we returned to Chichi, Jackson jumped into doing water filter education with Mauricio.  Mauricio was at one time an ABC Child and dreams of working with Health Talents one day.  He is currently very active in the Xepocol congregation with the young people and helps us when we have different activities.

This is Jackson and Mauricio as they head out to visit families with water filters.

This is Cesar, who works with the ABC Pogram, Mauricio and Manuel, who is one of our promoters.  They are visiting a family to see if the water filter is maintained.

Education is so important. If we do not understand the significance of something, it is difficult to continue or maintain. All of the family need to be involved.

Gaining access to homes can be difficult.  Much walking is required, while carrying in all of the necessities. 

After a filter was removed, the team flushed it to see what what inside!!  Look at all of the contamination that has prevented illness in this family!  This is what helps a family see the importance of maintaining a water filter.

Many thanks to Jackson for coming to help us with this endeavor.  We wish him the best as he starts his studies at Yale University and he always has an open invitation to return to work with us! Best of Luck to you, Jackson!

Florida With My Parents Again

I have lost track of how many years that I have joined my parents in Florida for a few weeks.  It is probably one of my favorite times during the year......................just us to hang out and relax together!

Us getting to go out one evening for dinner.  Many ladies have made comments on the color of my dad's eyes.  Both of my parents have very pretty blue eyes and mine, well, they just do not show up very much! 

One very pretty sunset that we had.

I walked on the beach a few times in the evening and loved it!

One evening, I was able to watch two dolphin as they went up and down the shoreline.  It was fun even though I did not have my good lens.

Sally made it down with us for a few days. We went to the Tomas Edison and Henry Ford homes and we really enjoyed it.  I learned a lot, even though I grew up near Dearborn, Michigan. We took the tour offered, that let us listen to the information by an audio-device.

It was very hot and I found shade under a tree.

My parents watching me as I came up from the beach one evening.

Mom and Dad at dinner in Bonita Springs. It was very good and I hope to return there again.

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed Sally's visit.  I am always thankful that I am able to visit my parents and have a good time with them!

Now it is time to return to Guatemala and get back to work.