A long awaited, and very successful trip to Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala finally occurred in April 2023. Santiago is home to close to 50,000 indigenous Tzutujil Maya, most of whom cannot afford medical care. Due to the COVID pandemic, the CHIMPS group had to cancel their first trip to Guatemala scheduled for April 2020. CHIMPS donated the funds it raised for the 2020 trip and shipped the medical supplies group members collected to Hospitalito Atitlan, the small non governmental, non profit hospital in the area.
The April 2023 group was comprised of nine medical volunteers, including four general pediatricians, a pediatric pulmonologist, a pediatric resident, an urgent care pediatrician/internist, a family practitioner, and a pediatric nurse practitioner. We worked alongside staff and community members to augment the relatively scarce pediatric services to close to 400 children in the week we were in Santiago and neighboring communities. We helped staff outpatient clinics at Hospitalito Atitlan, Hospital Greg Schaefer in San Lucas, village clinics in Cerro de Oro, Chacaya, a local governmental health center, CAIMI, and the coffee Finca de Olas Moca. We also saw patients at ADISA, a center for children with developmental disabilities in the region. In all of these sites, pediatricians are needed to treat and identify children who need follow up and specialty care.
Hospitalito Atitlan is a new CHIMPS partner, and was chosen because of the need for pediatric services in the area, the ability to collaborate with a community institution that knows the needs of the Mayan patient population well, and the ability to provide continuity of care.
We will be making another trip to Santiago Atitlan in 2024.
