CHIMPS is sending six pediatricians to El Hospitalito in Santiago Atitlan (https://hospitalitoatitlan.org/ ) in April 2020. This will be our first formal activity at this site although CHIMPS members have gone there to do a site visit and to work individually for the past 2 years. Hospitalito Atitlán is a small private nonprofit hospital serving 75,000 Maya living on the southern shore of beautiful Lake Atitlán in the Guatemalan highlands. The hospital provides a full-range of preventive and clinical health services with an emphasis on women and children and has the only 24/7 emergency and surgical obstetrical care for patients within a two hour travel radius as well as a 24-hour lab, orthopedic services, and general surgery and anesthesia. Many of their patients cannot afford care. In 2018, the hospital provided $205,305.00 in free and discounted medical care in the hospital and in community outreach clinics. It receives donations of money and equipment from a range of NGOs, and relies on teams of volunteer specialists many of whom come from the US to help deliver health care.
Dr. Sarah Bergman Lewis, a pediatrician from Seattle has worked there as a volunteer during the past 2 years and focused on community outreach to very poor families some with medically complex children and all with little access to health care. Our team will continue this work as well as do in-service trainings for hospital staff. Here is an article in their newsletter about Dr. Bergman’s work:
