Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:01 PM CDT
Nurse practitioner joins effort in providing medical care in Guatemala
PARIS — After flying into Guatemala City and taking buses and boats to get to the village of Sarstun, which can be accessed only via the Gulf of Honduras, Susan Arp, a family nurse practitioner, and about 15 other volunteers prepared for their 10-day stay in a seemingly untouched area of the world.
Arp is employed at Paris Community Hospital/Family Medical Center.
The group, composed of four general medical providers, two surgeons and about 10 other medical students and volunteers, spent July 10-20 in one of the most remote locations in the country of Guatemala to provide medical care to Mayan people.
The country of Guatemala has been slow to develop over the last four decades due to a civil war between the government of Guatemala and the Mayans that lasted from 1960 to 1996. Because of the unstable government through the years of war, few advancements in the country’s economy have been made.
The economic delay has been even worse in the rural areas, where basic amenities such as electricity and clean water have yet to become realities. These deficiencies have had and continue to have adverse effects on the health of the rural people.
Once Arp and her group reached Sarstun, they saw the clinic from which they would be working. It is a modest building built by the not-for-profit group called Refuge International. (The same group hosted the trip.)
“When we arrived at the clinic, there were already lines of people waiting to be seen. We did not even know how they knew we were coming,” said Arp. Among those waiting to be seen were children and adults with varying conditions needing medical treatment. The conditions included many gynecological issues, such as cervical cancer, as well as hernia repairs, uterine prolapse, and a variety of skin infections and digestive issues due largely in part to parasites found in the water.
Not only is this clinic the only medical facility within two hours, but also it is the only source of clean drinking water in the area. The clean drinking water at the clinic is also credited to the non-profit group. The poor condition of the water contributes a great deal to the poor health of the people in the area.
To help remedy the conditions caused by the impure drinking water, Refuge International has also started a program called Adios Lombrices, or “goodbye worms.”
Through this program, the group distributes worm pills and daily vitamins to kill the worms/parasites that the people ingest through the impure water. Refuge International hopes to expand the project by bringing clean water to more locations in remote areas of Guatemala.
“They are all so gracious for anything we can do to help them,” Arp commented of the people seen at the clinic. While she acknowledges that the U.S. health care system isn’t perfect, she does note that it is “100 times” better than what these people have available to them.
In addition to the Sarstun location, Refugee International has a second location in the village of Chocola. At that location, the providers see patients in an old hospital building that Refuge International has revamped.
The Refuge International group makes four trips to Guatemala each year, going twice to each location. When the group does not have providers visiting the area, the clinic is occasionally staffed by a medical provider that visits a number of locations. Additionally, the providers have local apprentice workers who are trained to assist the people in the area by doing community outreach such as blood pressure screenings and diabetes management.
This was Arp’s second trip to Guatemala, and she hopes to continue these trips in the future, as she has a particular interest in international health.
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