12 March 2018

 

We are back in Canillá, Guatemala after about 14 months.  Things have moved forward since we were last here.  Most of the hospital construction was done last time we were here, but now some of the final details are complete.  Just recently, the hospital received a governmental approval to function pretty much as a hospital but is not yet officially considered a hospital.  I’m not exactly clear on the details but I’m told it is a good thing.

 

Although the main services of the hospital continue to be prenatal care, other outpatient visits, laboratory, and pharmacy but there are couple of new things.  There will be a surgery day on Saturday, March 17.  This has been done once before.  This week, the surgical cases will be hernias.  We did some preop visits today.  Not everyone who was expected to show up for this did.  There are a lot of hurdles for the people to get surgery done even if it is free.  Many of our patients come from hours away and rely on people who make trips where the buses don’t go for a price.  But the people do get up crazy early here, so a 6 a.m. arrival isn’t that big of a deal.

 

On another note, there is a functional digital x-ray machine.  The pieces were received from multiple donations.  It works!  Check out my right ankle.

 

 

However, there is still a lot of training and practice that needs to happen to make this more useful. 

 

In conclusion, a lot of great things have happened since we were last here, but there are many more pieces of the puzzle that remain to be found in order to move towards the vision of a fully functioning hospital. 

 

Please, pray that the surgical day would be a blessing to those who receive services and that they and their families would know that ultimately, the True and Living God has provided this for them.