Youngsters in Camanchaj, Guatemala, also had some laughs, thanks to bubbles blown by support team members of the Guatemala medical mission trip.
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Treating 1,100 patients in a week would be a daunting challenge at even the best of America’s hospitals, let alone at a clinic in the highlands of Guatemala. But that’s just what a team of 65 good-hearted volunteers from the Health Science Center, University Hospital and community practice were able to accomplish in July in the village of Camanchaj, Guatemala.

The diverse range of operations included cleft lip and palate repairs, a wide range of eye operations, hysterectomies, hernia repairs and correction of fused fingers.

Health Science Center faculty on the mercy mission included Dick Graybill, M.D., professor of medicine/infectious diseases; Randal Otto, M.D., professor and chair of otolaryngology - head and neck surgery; William Sponsel, M.D., professor of ophthalmology; and Ronald Stewart, M.D., associate professor of surgery and director of trauma services at University Hospital.

Dr. Otto was accompanied by his daughter, Sheena. Other team members from the Health Science Center included Tiffany Anthony, M.D., surgical resident; Kerry Latham, M.D., general surgery resident; Anne Leonard, R.N., M.P.H., department of medicine; Roberta Martinez, echographic diagnostician; and Drew Sanderson, third-year medical student.

“We have been building a little clinic with two operating suites in a wide spot in the road in Camanchaj, which is about two and a half hours northwest of Guatemala City, the capital,” said Dan Tappmeyer, the team’s logistics coordinator.

More than three decades of civil war have resulted in poverty and illiteracy among the indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala. Very few have access to adequate health care. But the operating suites installed at the clinic in 2002 have been the scene of great things the past two summers thanks to the surgical teams.

The cessation of hostilities between the government and Mayan guerrillas eight years ago has made it safe enough for the teams to enter the region and provide this care, Tappmeyer said. The work begins with local participants, include a local doctor and dentist, who assess who needs surgery before the San Antonio team arrives.

“It’s not just an American thing,” Tappmeyer noted. “Fifteen to 25 team members are from Camanchaj, and we have some Mexican physicians.”

The group raised more than $5,000 in donations from colleagues at University Hospital.

The Health Science Center and University Hospital trip members included Tiffany Anthony, Catherine Celestino, Randy Day, Debbie Foster, Dick Graybill, Deborah Gonzalez, Raul Gutierrez, Kerry Latham, Anne Leonard, Roberta Martinez, Randy Otto, Rubria Price, Ernest Prince, Lisa Rodriguez, Drew Sanderson, Ronald Stewart, Rick Sponsel and McCall Taylor.