Guatemala PT Missions

We went back to Guatemala!

The whole group at a pop up clinic in St. Augustine, people waited for several hours to be seen!

This is my second year going to Guatemala, I go with Hearts in Motion(HIM). I initially heard about it through my good friend Jodi. Jodi was my clinical instructor when I was in PT school and we have stayed in touch since that affiliation. Jodi is now a professor at Midwestern University in Phoenix, Arizona. She organizes a group of students to go to Guatemala every year, and luckily she lets me come along to supervise/teach the students.  Last year I remember thinking that we needed a more multi-disciplinary group to treat patients because we saw patients with occupational therapy and speech therapy needs. This year I invited my friend Tiffany who is an OT to come along, and Jodi said she could come! That's what I love about Jodi, she has a "more the merrier" outlook, and makes the trip inclusive and fun for everyone! Long story short we had SUCH a good time. One of my favorite things about Guatemala is spending a week with my best therapist friends! If you are interested in getting involved with Hearts in Motion, you don't have to be affiliated with a university, you can get together a group of coworkers or join another group that is already scheduled! Just go to http://www.heartsinmotion.org and sign up for email updates(they'll send out emails when they need more people for a trip) Or you can contact them and set up a trip! Hearts in Motion is a faith based organization, but you don't have to be Christian to go-all you need is a servant's heart.

Jodi with one of the little girls at the nutrition center, she kept telling me her name was SiSi after I told her my name was Sisi! I was legitimately confused. Was her name really Sisi? No, I asked a teacher later :)

We arrive on Sunday, and get started early Monday. We treat patients Monday-Friday and then go to Antigua Saturday and Sunday for a little R&R. 😀

A smoking Volcano in Antigua

An erupting volcano in Antigua! Should we have been concerned??

Just a beautiful church in Antigua

Our view from brunch at El Tenedor

Each day we treat patients from the area that don't have access to PT regularly. There are multiple settings; pop up clinics(at schools, parks, anywhere they can find!), established clinics(HIM clinics), the HIM orphanage/nutrition center, and volunteering at other established long term care facilities or rehab facilities that don't have the personnel to staff and treat the needs of the community.

Our favorite patient at the clinic in Zacapa, he had a brain injury years ago and still isn't walking on his own. In the US he would've gone to inpatient rehab and left walking independently! We worked on walking with a new walker!

This woman was so sweet she thanked us a million times and told us she would pray for God to watch over us everywhere we go!

We saw this little girl last year! It was so great to see the progress. We gave her new braces and shoes and  trained her mom to teach her to walk. She is 3 and still isn't walking independently.

Pediatric PT at the nutrition center. This little girl  hated being on her feet, but was behind on her milestones so we worked on walking. 

My favorite part about Guatemala are the Guatemalans! HIM sets up clinics every day we're there and spread the word via word of mouth and so many people show up for help. The people wait for HOURS to be seen, they are so patient and kind, they are SO grateful for the help and want to hug and bestow blessings upon you when they leave.  We had some patients that had ridden buses and tuk-tuks for 6 hours to get to our clinics! You would've thought we had given them a million dollars and we just gave them some PT! There is no such thing as government assistance in Guatemala, therefore, if you are hurt and can't work hopefully you have family that will take care of you. If not, you work injured or not. There is no such thing as retirement in Guatemala, we saw patients in their 70's and 80's who still worked threshing crops everyday. They are some of the most hard working people I have ever met. There is no such thing as Early Intervention in Guatemala, we see children who are 3 years old and have never walked or crawled, and have never had any intervention. Luckily HIM has made such a lasting impression that people are starting to get their children to HIM as infants to correct deformities like club foot and cleft lip/palate. Deformities that would be corrected in the first days of an infants life in the USA are sometimes not addressed until the child is a toddler in Guatemala.
My other favorite part about the trip is Nancy, she's a permanent PT from the US that lives and practices in Guatemala and organizes most of our trip. She is famous in Guatemala, you can't go anywhere without someone knowing the goodness of Nancy. She is such a good PT, person, and advocate for the Guatemalans. The love she has for human beings is obvious at all times. She is insanely organized and I've never seen her write anything down! It's amazing, she's amazing. #lifegoals

Nancy, Tiffany, and I on our last work day!

Just like last year, I made so many new friends and left with such a full heart! I love being able to help the people of Guatemala, and I love the teaching experience that Guatemala provides! As a traveler I don't get to take PT students which is a shame because I love to teach. I love watching the students learn to use the skills they have learned in PT  school and learn to be resourceful.

Our visit to a school that HIM has started so that kids aren't left at home alone all day. We sponsored the kiddos and took them all Christmas gifts, unfortunately they had to wait until Christmas to open the gifts. 

Playing Pato, Pato, Ganzo, (duck duck goose)

Going to Guatemala is such a humbling experience, people that have devastating injuries have such positive and loving spirits. Going to Guatemala changes you, it changed me. It changed the way I practiced PT and changed me as a human, mostly for the good, I learned that a smile, and showing some one that you care and loving them makes such a difference. Sometimes in Guatemala you feel like you aren't doing anything because you see a patient once and send them on their way, but they feel it, they're grateful and so touched by 30 minutes of our time.  Sometimes I feel changed for the bad. I find myself less patient with people that complain about minor things(like having to wait 5 minutes for an appointment), or that take what they have for granted, or that take the amazing healthcare that they receive in the US for granted. We, as Americans, don't realize how good we have it. When we get sick we call the MD and usually get in to see someone the same day. We have access to Emergency care, we might have to wait a few minutes or hours but we have the access. Guatemalans don't have access to basic medical care, unless they are mega rich and they will wait ALL day for a few minutes of a physical therapist's time. We don't see how blessed and well taken care of we are, because we have always had this access. We have floors, electricity, and running water in our homes.Most Guatemalans don't have hot water, some don't have any water. We had a patient that needed a walker due to poor balance and we couldn't give her a walker because it wouldn't work on a dirt floor. Some don't have electricity and live how I would when I camp on a daily basis. Guatemalans don't have SO much that we consider basic needs in the US. YEt, despite not having much they are SO patient, kind, and thankful, and understand how "blessed" they are by a simple PT/OT clinic.  I wish I could make a public service announcement about being patient with healthcare workers in the US, and play it for the world to see. But it wouldn't work, you have to go and see for yourself. Or, as a patient told Tiffany when she returned to work- people see it as "not my famine, not my problem". I encourage my readers(all 3) to be kind and patient with nurses, doctors, therapists, and other people in healthcare. We are working so hard, we are suffering from compassion fatigue, and we are doing our best. Something that is easy for Guatemalans to see but people in the first world have a problem seeing, maybe that's why I love them so much. There are bad eggs everywhere, but most of the healthcare workers I have met are amazing and we chose this job because we are loving, patient, serving, kind, and want to help you! And, The PT's and PT students that I have met serving in Guatemala are AMAZING!!

Every year we visit a waterfall and I try to take a selfie with as many people as possible!

My favorites from the trip! Jodi, Tiffany, Catch, Emily, Kim, and I under the yellow arch in Antigua.

Look at these beauties, in Antigua many of the Guatemalans still dress traditionally.

Anyway, I digress. Bottom line, I love going to Guatemala and I think everyone needs an experience like this to fully understand how great we have it. You don't have to go to Guatemala- volunteer at a school, an orphanage or soup kitchen, do pro bono work, get involved and get out of your bubble! Just go and do and love people!  It feels so good to do good and be appreciated for it. I love Guatemala, The End.

PT and OT at our first work day at El Centro de Rehabilitacion Fisica.  We had a group of wonderful translators that are Guatemalan Kiddos that are part of a US embassy program to learn english and Translation.