Prenatal Care

One of the patient populations that we serve is women of childbearing age.  We see a large number of women for prenatal care and follow-up after delivery.  

Many of our patients deliver at home with the help of a lay midwife from their community, and our goal is to identify the patients that are at high risk for complications.

We offer education on nutrition, warning signs in pregnancy, and breastfeeding with each of our expectant moms and round out the visit with a prayer for their safety and development as a parent.

Anyone who presents with diabetes or elevated blood pressure or breech presentation during their pregnancy gets referred to the National Hospital for care and delivery.  

If all is well we gift them a Clean Delivery Kit with supplies for their midwife and a change of clothes for the baby. 

We love taking care of our prenatal patients, and they appreciate the attention and prayers that we offer on their behalf.   It is such a blessing when they proudly bring back their newborns for a visit.

Good Times with Abilene Christian University

In March we enjoyed a week with a team from Abilene Christian University, Kemmel's alma mater. They did a great job helping us knock out some more well child checkups for our ABC kids in the Highlands and also helped paint one of our clinic sites and deliver water filters.  Some of the most enthusiastic comments came from the team members who got to deliver Tiva water filters to new ABC families.  This involved hiking, visiting, and setting up the filter and demonstrating how to use it to the families. They also had Drs. Sky and Louise Forrister join us, which was fun because they had been interns here back in the 80s with Dr. Mike and Julie Kelly.  So it was a little homecoming of sorts. Good job, Wildcats!

Diana getting a game started

David checking vital signs in mobile clinic

The Forresters and us

Hauling the equipment back to the trucks after a long day.

Hailey prepping patients at Clinica Caris

On the road again

Tiva water filter with one of our new ABC families

Pass the tamalitos please!

"How tall am I?"

Fellowship with local Xepocol youth group

Drs. Mike Kelly, and Louise and Sky Forrester

Our clinic building in Mactzul I is an old school building--we got a fresh coat of paint!

Time for some hiking to install water filters with new ABC families

Teaching family how the Tiva filter is set up

Harding University Visit

We are in the swing of Spring Break around here enjoying visits from two university teams in a row.Our first team was from Harding University and Harding University Physician Assistant program. These guys worked hard helping us get more than half of our ABC program kids seeing for well child checkups. They joined our teams driving out to different communities each day and setting up mobile clinic like pros. They were thorough and cordial with the families and regular patients and spent time giving preventive care education.  A+!

Future PAs and their fearless leaders Gary Hill and Nicole Mount

"On the road again" with Dr. Brian Cress and Nicole Mount, P.A.

Prayer station with Seth (aka Captain America).

All female team healing the sick and aflicted in Clinica Caris.

Dental station with Dr. Aura

Seth and Peyton making friends

Graciela Megan and Heidi hanging out in Paxot II

Susan's Tattoo parlor

Brother Dave and Susan in Mactzul I

Nicole enjoying a visit with her previous host family

Visitors!

We have had all kinds of nice visitors around here lately!  First we had Peri Loftis, medical student extraordinaire working with us for one of her medical school rotations.  She will be a great pediatrician one day!

Peri, Teresa and I after a long day.

Then, we were blessed to have time with Kemmel's mom Roberta and brother, Ron here as well.  We got to play tourists in Guatemala City and Antigua, and later Kemmel showed them around Lake Atitlan and Xela for old times' sake.  They enjoyed getting to see places where they had lived before in the 70s and 80s.  Lots has changed! Ron has gone home after a quick trip and Roberta is hanging out with us until the end of this month. We are being pampered!

Kemmel, Roberta and Ron overlooking Guatemala City.

A fun home visit with Roberta's ABC child Jhony and his family.  We enjoyed meeting his new baby sister.

Jhony showing off his new sweatshirt--this week he got to use it when the cold front hit.

Now we have Mike and Julie Kelly with us.  They were missionaries here in Guatemala in the 90s and have come back several times to help us out with clinics.  Mike is a super brainiac doctor who speaks Spanish and Kiche, so he is a hit with the patients.  Julie is a genius at making friends and knowing everyone's name in town.  She puts me to shame when it comes to knowing all the local vendors in market.

Mike and Julie and Nick from last year.  We need a new pic of this super couple!

This weekwe will have our first spring break team of the year, from Harding University's Physician's Assistant program.  It is always a joy to spend time with these folks.  We will get started on our first round of well-child check ups for the ABC program kids. More pictures to follow.

Looking to the Future

This year we have had some changes to our staff that make us think more about the future for medical staff.  We lost one of our doctors at the end of the year, Dra. Sara Castellanos.  She was a great part of our team and we miss her a lot.

As we started looking for a replacement, we quickly realized that there are few local Christian doctors available to work in this ministry for more than about a year. While Health Talents currently scholarships 3 students in medical school, it will be four years before they are available to work for us.

Medical School Student - Ana Marta

Medical School Student - Josue - second from right.

Medical Student - Jose - leaning in on the left of the photo.

So, we are setting out in a new direction--nurse practitioner training.  We have hired a professional nurse (university trained) who is from one of the local churches and speaks Kiche and Spanish.

Meet Ana Patricia, RN

She worked at the local health department seeing family planning patients and malnourished kids.  So she had a good start.

We are designing a program of didactic study (book work) and clinical practice.  We are blessed to be living in the internet era, where lots of material can be found online and in Spanish.  But this still takes time to plan and energy to teach, so we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and knowledge for all of us!  If this works out, we hope to begin training some of the scholarship nurses that will be graduating in the next couple of years to assist physicians in our growing clinics.

The Year is Flying By!

Apparently we are getting old, because it feels like Christmas will be here again before we know it! This month flew by us in record speed, but we caught a couple of moments to share with you.

Our Health Talent's calendar hanging in the consult room.  Our patients get a kick out of seeing local hot spots like the vegetable market here in Chichicastenango.

My view from inside the consult room in Mactzul I.  Usually it's pretty quiet on this side of the building, but that day I finished seeing a patient and opened the door to a community water meeting in full swing.  When I finished, the men were kind to help carry my boxes and exam table to the truck. 

It has been pretty chilly around here lately.  The "55 degrees" is in the house!

It is Back to School season, and we had the privilege of taking Cesybel and her parents Tomas and Maria to Xela to set up her room where she will be staying as she studies at nursing school on scholarship from Health Talents.

Loving January

And, we're back!  After a fantastic trip home with family, we are refreshed and ready for the new year.

It is good to be back, and we enjoy the season of resolutions and new starts.  There is nothing like the do-over mentality of this time of year to encourage and inspire change. And we are grateful to God for his renewing Spirit that make change possible.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is thy faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24