SERVING THE POOR IN THE CLINICA MAXEÑA

Friends and Family,

I have been off the Blog lately.  Busy, and also I took a few days off, for rest and Relaxation.

The Clinica Maxeña continues to serve the most needy. Patients illnesses are more complex now and also more costly. The National Health system is in continual crisis.  Options for the POOR are few and one recent comment is REALITY; if you have money, YOU LIVE! if you don't YOU DIE!  Our Mission is:  " to make a difference"; we always choose LIFE.

We continue to reach out to other private institutions for HELP, whenever possible.  There are more BRIGADES of DOCTORS from the United States, offering their services, in private institutions. Our own Clinic has begun advertisement for our bi annual EYE SURGERIES, scheduled in October 2012 and March 2013.  These Doctors are from Montana and California.

One of our workers has also been bringing patients to two Catholic Hospitals, who offer general surgeries, for consult and dates for operations. These operations are at a cost of $100, which most of our patients can pay;  some however are paid by donations to our Clinic.  We also provide transportation, some diagnostic tests,  accompaniment, and follow up.  Surgeries include Gallbladder, Hysterectomies, Hernias, Plastic surgeries, Cleft Lip and Palate. These surgeries are presently scheduled in October too and the Hospitals are approximately two to three hours from the clinic. The Clinic is blessed to have two good vehicles for service of patients and errands.

Last week we brought an  EMERGENCY eye patient to a Guatemalan Institution that serves patients for EYE Disease and SURGERY.  This particular Institution, PRO CIEGOS of GUATEMALA, also accompanies our EYE DOCTORS, by providing a Guatemalan Ophtalmologic Medical Resident,  when surgery is performed in the CLINIC.  Unfortunately the GLAUCOMA was too advanced and Manuela is BLIND.  The Doctor was able to provide pain relief and medication.

WE NEED DONATIONS TO CONTINUE TO RESPOND TO THE POOR!

Please donate on line at:
http://catalog.diocesehelena.org/Guatemala-Mission-c10/  for our work with the most POOR.

THANK YOU!   SHEILA

Attached is a photo of Manuela, 47 year old Mayan Woman, blind from GLAUCOMA, as she rests in our clinic, on return from PRO CIEGOS, EYE CLINIC, in Guatemala.

TO LIVE FREE OF VIOLENCE: LOS DERECHOS DE LA MUJER!

Women in this society are often not respected as equals, even by their spouses. The situation is more critical for the disabled. More recently we seem to be encountering more women, who have been raped,  pregnant, and with little support system. 

A 22 year old woman, who has suffered from epilepsy since an infant, has been raped for the second time.  She has been rejected by her family and at times left to sleep in the corridor.  Her mom passed away about a year ago. She lives with her father, grandmother and some siblings, who are married.

The man who raped her we know as we had assisted his wife with treatment, when she suffered and died, about a year ago, with cancer.  Our Project, for needy patients, assists Reyna with her epileptic medications.  Reyna has presented her case to local authorities and to the "Organization of the Defense of the Woman",  who know her from the first RAPE.

She is receiving Pre Natal care in our clinic.  She is now six months pregnant.  Our Representative of Pastoral Health visited the family.  They agreed REYNA could stay in the kitchen and accompany her grandmother. The rest of the family lives in the adjacent Living area of their home.  At least she was not sleeping in the corridor.  She had asked us to provide her a bed since she was sleeping on a few boards on some blocks.  I agreed I could do this.  I decided I first wanted to visit the home to see her living situation.  Our representative of Pastoral Health accompanied me.

Her father came out to greet us and bring us to the living space they had provided for Reyna.
I was deeply disturbed to see the condition this young woman and her crippled grandmother were enduring.  They were in a Kitchen with a dirt floor, no door, no ventilation or lighting. Reyna´s living

was a corner of about four feet by five feet, no window,  a wooden separation from the rest of the kitchen area. Her bed was a few boards, on cement blocks, with a blanket. The rest of the small dirt floor space was cluttered by a gunny sack, I guess of her clothes. There was little space to walk in the cramped area.  Reyna was not at home at the time. The rest of the family stay inside their adjacent house that was adequate and had space for Reyna, I am sure.  Her grandmother was sitting on the dirt floor. We left in silence.  

We will provide Reyna with a bed but first I hope to first locate a more suitable home for her to live and have her baby.  We are aware her baby will be by Cesarean because of her epilepsy and other deformities. Reyna needs prayer, assistance, and accompaniment, which we hope to provide.

I include the Banner of the Organization for Defense of Indigenous Women.  This is a respectable, effective organization, which we will also consult for Reyna, so she will be accompanied in her Rights as a Woman.