Program locations
Guatemala is a country of 13 million people immediately south of Mexico. The official language is Spanish with 22 Mayan dialects spoken mostly in rural areas. Guatemala has 22 departments with Peten being the largest in size (approximately 1/3 of total land mass). The population is 600,000 people. Geographically, the Peten is a naturally sub-tropical rain forest home to the largest tropical forest preserve in Central American. This lowland tropical forest is home to a wealth of plant and animal species, such as jaguars, tapirs, monkeys and hundreds of exotic bird including the Tucan and Quetzal. The Mayan ruins of Tikal are located an hour away from Lake Peten Itza – other Mayan ruins are within walking distance of many of the small villages.
The population of the Peten is primarily indigenous with a majority of the population speaking both Spanish and Q’eqchi. The people suffer because of deforestation, poor soil quality and crop production. The rate of malnutrition is 60%. The Peten has the highest rate of maternal mortality in Guatemala at 172 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births. The infant mortality is also elevated at 40 infant deaths for every 1,000 births. There is one regional hospital and 3 referral centers within a landmass 1/3 the size of Guatemala. At present many villages in Southeastern Peten have no medical care and no medications on site. Travel to a referral hospital is 4-6 hours by bus.
The Mission House is located Colonial Tikal in San Benito, Peten in the gated community of Santa Isabel. The house is a 3,000 square foot 2 story home built according to American Standards. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a living room , dining room, kitchen, upstairs study, upstairs sunroom with an outside porch, downstairs sunroom, computer room and garage. The outdoor garden is surrounded by mango, lime, and papaya trees and small porches. A basketball court and an outdoor shower are available. The amenities of the home include air conditioning, ceiling fans, satellite wireless internet, cable television, washer and dryer. Two adjacent studio apartments with private bedroom and bath are separated from the home and are available for the visiting faculty member. A paved street safe for running surrounds the house. Home cooked meals, laundry and cleaning services are provided by a full time housekeeper.
Where We Work
National Hospital
San Antonio Penados del Barr Betancourt Hospital is the regional referral government medical center for the Peten. It is a fully staffed bed hospital with a 24 hour emergency room located 2 kilometers from the Mission House. Students have the opportunity to work with Guatemalan physicians in the operating room, emergency room and radiology suite. Many of the students have had the opportunity to perform and assist with both surgical and anesthesia procedures.
Candelaria
The Candelaria is a primary care outpatient clinic located in nearby San Benito. On a daily basis the clinic is staffed by health promoters from the Vicariate. Students have the opportunity to conduct comprehensive physical exams including gynecological exams, prenatal exams,well-child visits, and treatment of chronic diseases under the supervision off faculty. An in house pharmacy allows students to utilize the WHO formulary and to arrange ongoing followup evaluations of their drug treatment.
Las Cruces
Las Cruces is a multispeciality clinic located approximately 2 hours south of San Benito.The clinic, under the direction of Susannah Emerick has been functioning for the past 20 years. It is the operational training site for the Health Promoter Program of the Peten.The clinic provides general medical and pediatric care and primary trauma care and evaluation. The clinic also has an in house laboratory and pharmacy.
Dispensario Dominicas
Diocesan DispensarioThe Dispensario is the oldest non-government health care facility in the Peten. The Dispensario has served the people of the Peten for 25 years by providing outpatient clinical care, a pharmacy, a laboratory, as well as, an orphanage, and a day care. Students will participate in clinics staffed by local Guatemalan physicians and visiting subspecialists from Guatemala City in the areas of Cardiology, Neurology and Ophthalmology.
The Dispensario provides the most extensive low cost laboratory services for the Peten region (600.000). It is a main referral center for common infectious and tropical diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, TB, and a variety of parasitic and amoebic infections. All non-governmental pharmaceutical supplies are dispensed from the Dispensario. Students are encouraged to actively participate in the clinics, laboratory and pharmacy.
Asilo-Local retirement home
The local retirement home now houses 60 full time residents – for a one-time entry fee of $60. The residents are entertaining and eager to be examined and treated for their non-healing peripheral vascular ulcers, diabetes and multiple traumas.
Good Samaritan Clinic
Good Samaritan ClinicThis is a non-governmental primary care clinic serving the families in San Benito. Students will have the opportunity to examine the patients who present at this clinic for care – diarrhea, parasitic infections, pneumonia, malnutrition, and malaria are some of the most common diagnoses. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the training of health promoters and local nurses while at this site.
During the their time at the Good Samaritan Clinic the student will also have the opportunity to rotate through the emergency department and General Medical inpatient wards at The General Hospital in San Benito. This hospital is the regional hospital for Peten. It is a governmental hospital which receives patients from 3 other sites within Peten – Melchor, Poptun, and Sayache. The hospital has 5 government physicians full time and permits limited admission of private patients. It serves as the referral center from the integrated hospitals and may send patients to the tertiary hospitals in the capital.
Centro Nutricional
Centro Nutricional Centro Nutricional is primarily a Malnutrition Hospital administered by the Daughter’s of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Dolores, Peten. This Malnutrition hospital, the only one of it’s kind in the Peten, has been receiving children from the small villages for 17 years. The children whose ages vary from 6 months to 10 years have an average stay of 4-6 months. One wing of the malnutrition hospital serves as a maternal child health clinic, a pharmacy, laboratory and optical. These facilities, which are open to the public during the weekdays, serve over 50 patients a day. Rotation through the clinic, pharmacy and laboratory are available for the student.
Tikal Lab
Tikal Lab is a private laboratory with full diagnostic services. Under the supervision of Alma Jo Leon, licensed medical laboratory technician students are instructed in the process required for the laboratory diagnosis of tropical diseases.
Alma guides each student in the intricacies of laboratory diagnosis from specimen collection, to slide preparation, to microscopic identification of the different parasites.
Village Health
Time spent in the villages will be under the supervision of a U.S. Board Certified physician and health promotors well known to the local communities and the Peten.
Students will gain first hand clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, TB, and multiple parasitic infections. Students will observe the effects that minimal infrastructure and poor sanitation have on maternal morbidity and perinatal malnutrition. The role of clean water sources and its impact on health will be addressed on visits to the remote villages. Students will gain an appreciation of the need for infrastructural support and its impact on public health.
Village Health Sites: Paso Caballos, Santa Rita, Cobanarita, Santa Amelia, Guadalupe, Las Flores, Las Cruces, Semokoch, Las Rosas, San Jose Pinares, Mango,La Esperancita
Subspecialty programs:
Ophthalmology Subspecialty
The Ophthalmology Subspecialty Elective will take place at a local eye clinic and at rural sites in the Peten.
The main site is the Vicente Pescatore Eye Clinic located in Santa Elena. This clinic is a referral center for the local patients of San Benito, Santa Elena and Flores and for patients referred from the rural villages of the Peten.The student will have the opportunity to follow indigent and private patients both in a clinical and operating room setting. This is a very busy rotation in which over 50 patients are examined daily.
Students will also have the opportunity of participating in rural eye screenings in which 50-300 patients are seen and treated.
At the end of this rotation the student will be able to perform an eye exam in Spanish, recognize and know the treatment for the most common eye diseases in the area and triage eye patients for further care. Opportunities will be available for observing and assisting in laser and intraocular surgery.
Health Promoter Program
Students can participate in travel to the small villages to work with local health promoters in the Vicariate Health Program. Travel to the individual sites will be arranged through Pastoral Social of the Vicariate and Encarnacion Garcia.
Students will be actively involved in seeing and treating patients in the remote villages with the health promoters.
It has been our experience that students at a later stage of their training desire to spend additional time at one of the sites. We welcome your return.
