It began with a text. An aunt sees a poster for this year’s Iowa MOST mission and wonders if it might help her nephew. She texts a photo of the poster to the parents. They call the number on the poster and talk with local Rotarian David Ramos. He encourages them to come. They leave…
Read MoreAnother beautiful day in Guatemala. Today we screened our second wave of patients and the diverse mixture of stories continued. Everybody loved that little Fernando returned with his parents. His father is a nurse and specifically sought out our mission for his son’s treatment. We have seen the family now for more than 6 years and…
Read MoreOur day one on the mission did prove to be a turbulent one: We could only operate with a core team since the rest -thanks to Delta’s surprising flight cancellation- is still en route to Huehue – and now scheduled to join us tomorrow around noontime. So well, here we are, families and kids on…
Read More10:15 local time our hospital was shaken quite vigorously by an earthquake, 6.4 Richter scale with an epicenter about 50 miles from us in Mexico. While we were all rushing to the outside, our Guatemalean friends were quite relaxed about it “Welcome to Guatemala – welcome to the ring of fire”. Things calmed down soon…
Read MoreThere are so many people we meet here who touch our lives and offer their trust and friendship so that their child has an opportunity to receive medical help. One very special kid is Fernand0–he certainly has a special place in our hearts. Fernando’s father, Ricardo, is a nurse at a private hospital in Guatemala…
Read MoreWe are excited to start posting about the 2018 Iowa MOST mission! Most of the team arrived on Thursday around 9 p.m. after a long day of travel by plane and by bus. Friday was a day of organization and preparation and things went smoothly enough to allow most of the team a few free…
Read MoreFamilies make incredible sacrifice in the hopes of accessing care through the Iowa MOST mission. The youngest patient served on this trip was 5 month old Francisco. His father brought him to be screened alone because the baby’s mother had become paralyzed after childbirth and could not travel. Little Francisco had no shortage of people who want to hug…
Read MoreToday was “seeing patient” day! The group was very enthused and energetic, and the walk to the hospital went very quickly. Patients were already patiently waiting to be seen. To those of us who are new to this mission, it is humbling and amazing to see the trust that these people place in us. Out…
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