Before I came "back" to Guatemala in 2006, I had worked ten years at the University of Washington in Oncology Nursing. This experience for me was very rewarding. Most of my career as a Register Nurse has been in the Mission in Guatemala. I came to Guatemala in 1966 after graduating as a Register Nurse in 1964 from Carroll College in Helena, Montana. I and another nurse found the Clinica Maxeña in 1966, as a Parish Mission Clinic with the diocese of Helena, Montana, in a small rural town in Guatemala Central America. The clinic served also thousands of Mayan Indigenous people in the surrounding mountainous villages.
When I left the Clinica Maxeña in 1983, Cancer was a rare diagnosis. This was mostly due to the reality that the country was in turmoil from internal armed conflict for almost 30 years. Health Care and diagnostic tools almost did not exist in rural Guatemala. Doctors in this area were few. The Clinica Maxeña has had a full time Physician since 1980 but our diagnostic laboratory capabilities were minimal. The signing of the Peace Accords in 1996 did bring about change and progress. Now we do have more doctors working in Public Health Centers in our area. The area is very populated; 13,000 in our town area and over 80,000 in the mountain Mayan villages. Unfortunately the Public Health centers, though they do have doctors, they have very few medications and diagnostic laboratory capacity. We do the diagnostic slides for Tuberculosis and take references for follow up on AIDS patients, and Cancer patients. Most of these patients do require follow up; most are Mayan and do not speak Spanish but the Mayan dialect, QUICHE; few have been to Guatemala City or other cities of reference. Tomorrow I am going to Guatemala City to accompany a Breast Cancer patient who will begin Chemotherapy. I am happy to do this as it is important for me to have direct contact in these health centers and know the doctors and nurses. We also provide the cost of Chemotherapy to the poor, through a PROJECT FOR HEALTH CARE NEEDS FOR THE VERY POOR, MANAGED BY SISTER ANNA.
We are very grateful for your financial support. I have a deep faith that GOD is with us in our Mission to care for the POOR. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACCOMPANIMENT! PLEASE DONATE ON LINE!
