15 February 2016
The vision for a hospital in this area of Canillá, Guatemala goes back many years. Here is a video describing this vision:
Guatemala Promo Video from Enspire Media on Vimeo.
When we were last here, a little over a year ago, the governmental authorities had just given approval to begin construction. At that time, the workers were dumping truckload after truckload of sand and gravel to prepare the foundation of the hospital. Two days ago, in the course of 12+ hours, the workers poured tons and tons of cement onto what is now the ceiling of the future operating rooms.
Here is an album with commentary showing the current progress:
Video: 360 Degree View from the Roof. Rebekah really wants to get down.
The next move forward for the medical services will be to move the clinic to the new hospital site. This should happen in the next few months. We had another meeting today discussing all of the details that go along with this including some necessary changes. Lots of questions remain including: Will some or all medicines be charged for instead of the current system of the price of all medicines included in the nominal visit fee? Should there be sliding fee scales for services based on one’s ability to pay? If so how can this be determined (most people don’t have the previous year’s income tax return? How can the clinic services be more self-supporting while ensuring that those most in need have access? Is it best to start an electronic medical record system with the move? There is a team coming down at the end of the month that will demo OpenEMR, a free open-source system. We continue to pray for God’s direction in all of this and much more.