It was sad to say goodbye to the volunteers in this group. Geneen and John Farmer, Dr. Mark Lepore, Paul Fleming Hermann, Dras. Olga and Menchu and Dr. Gonzalo are part of the Hospitalito family. Thanks.
Canadians Chris Gailey and Anita Buehrle volunteered at Hospitalito Atitlán for a month in order to escape hurricane season. They had just sailed through the Panama Canal and left their catamaran in Nicaragua. Chris and Anita were looking for a place to spend a month volunteering. When they arrived they painted the operating room, a cabin, helped with inventory and did an incredible amount of computer work. We all enjoyed their company and appreciated their help. We hope they return someday.
To read more about the K’aslimaal award see…
Pollo Campero, the Guatemalan country fried chicken chain, now with restaurants worldwide, has been rewarding organizations for the past 8 years with a grant competition called, “Helping Those that Help Others’. K’aslimaal entered the competition in May of this year and on Wednesday, August 19th, ten members of the Hospitalito staff and Board of Directors attended the awards dinner at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Z.10. Francisco Sojuel, K’asllimaal president accepted the check for Q500,000. The money will be matched by the Kendeda Fund and used to complete phase II of construction, so that the Hospitalito will be able to move into the first floor of the new building in early 2010. This is the highest prize awarded for humanitarian work in Guatemala. In this photo, the K’aslimaal Board, medical staff and volunteers are nervously waiting the ceremony and news.
Internal Medicine physician Massoud Javadi from Houston TX, Paul-Fleming Herman a radiologist from Denmark, OB Menchu Gutiérrez Velaz from Madrid, Mark Lepore from Ventura California, and a Spanish medical student were given the tour of the new hospital by Dr. Juan Manuel Chuc.
Dr. Leoonel Toledo is a pediatric attending at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is here to learn about the work of HA in Santiago Atitlán. Dr. Leonel was born in Quetzaltanango but moved to the US with his parents at one year of age. Everyone is enjoying his sense of humor, and hope he makes volunteering at HA a permanent part of his visits to Guatemala.
