We hope it was Dra. Louisa’s idea of a good time to watch the Brazil – Chile World Cup game during her going away party. Dra. Louise plans to return to help set up the Emergency Room in the new hospital this fall. It was a good time and a good day. La doctora delivered twins in the morning, lunch was pulik, and Brazil WON!!!

Rains and heavy winds from tropical storm Alex downed the milpa in Atitlán yesterday. This time of year the corn is 12 feet tall, and even with the best care, it doesn’t stand up to this kind of weather. The corn, if mature will have to be eaten immediately, instead of drying on the stalk to be saved for tortillas next year.

Aklaxito (little Nicolas in Tz’utujil) and his father, the popular Hospitalito piloto Aklax, visited the construction site this week. Aklaxito celebrated his fifth birthday last month, easy to keep track of as he was born in the old Hospitalito in Panabaj.

CEDEPCA brought five young people studying to be pharmacists to the Hospitalito this week. They are checking patients for high blood pressure, diabetes, and weight. Shawna King, Steven Hammond, Zubin Bhakta Tyler Sledge and Niambi Horton were happy for the opportunity to be of service at the Hospitalito.

Dra. Louise Kenny and Dra. Mary Cutler are physicians who have returned to volunteer at HA. Dra. Louise spent five months of 2009 as an ER physician. Louise leaves soon to begin a new program in Manchester, England where she will continue her education to become a surgeon.

Dra. Mary and her family spent two months at HA in 2008. She and her physician husband Steve Wells both worked at the Hospitalito and their teenage children volunteered too. Mary is donating two weeks of her time before she returns to Ashland, Oregon. Their children Forrest and Emma will spend the summer in Santiago Atitlán improving the Spanish language skills and volunteering. 

Enclosed is a check derived from the fundraising efforts of our Multicultural Club at Weber High School in Utah.We sold Leppe’s eater ice, hot chocolate and some other items at school and held a dinner and evening of entertainment as means to do this.  We had a lot of fun in the process and hope that we interested a lot of other people in supporting the Hospitalito in the future.We also enjoyed volunteering at the Snowbasin Nordic Challenge ski race for Hospitalito Atitlan this February.We would like our contribution to go to the construction of the new Hospitalito so that it will be eligible for the matching grant.Good luck with your efforts on behalf of the Hospitalito.

Last week government geologists were in Santiago Atitlán investigating risk, and their recommendations have left thousands fearing for their lives and their loved ones.

Canton Panúl, has been condemned. CONRED, the government agency that declared Panabaj uninhabitable, made a survey in Santiago Atitlán after the heavy downpour from Agatha. Their experts concluded that a hill to the east town is very likely to produce landslides as the grounds become more saturated. This would be devastating, as the slides would cover a heavily populated area, including a public school, almost in the center of town. Conred’s recommendations to the mayor include the purchase of land in a safe area for the relocation of people in the slide area. Four of HA’s employees now live in Panúl.

Unfortunately, we know that this is a lengthy process. Most victims of Stan are safe in their new homes, but after nearly five years, some families in Panabaj, are still awaiting their homes in Chuk Muk.

Yesterday afternoon thunderstorms brought torrential rains. Every street became a river and later the clean up began again. Everyone is very worried.

Tropical Storm Agatha has caused death and destruction as mud and swollen rivers have claimed lives in Panabaj near Santiago Atitlán. Record breaking rainfall has forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 people in Guatemala. Thousands are left homeless and many are injured.Many roads in Guatemala are impassable and bridges have been destroyed. Roads near Guatemala City are considered especially dangerous due to the accumulation of volcanic ash from the eruption of the volcano Pacaya.The department of Sololá is the area most affected by mudslides, road and bridge damage in the country.  In Panajachel, several homes left standing after Stan were washed into the San Francisco River.Aurora International airport remains closed to commercial traffic because of the eruption of Pacaya, but helicopters with aid are arriving from the US, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Brazil and Cuba.Hospitalito Atitlán is in a state of emergency preparedness and is providing care for the injured. Please support the work with a donation. thank you. 

One of the most complicated parts of planning the new Hospitalito was the design of the electrical system that consists of three components; the electric company, the back up batteries, and the diesel generator. The planning involved the work of many so that future equipment needs would be met.  In this foto, electrician Henry Mendoza and his helper Lupe are finishing up the installation in the machine room.

 Surgeon Fernando Leiva passed away from a heart attack Saturday May 22nd.He was a great supporter of the hospital since our first days in Panabaj. He had done his internship as a doctor there in the 1980s and kept it close to his heart. Dr. Leiva was educated at Harvard and Oxford, where trained with the very best.Since the surgery room opened in 2005, Dr. Leiva has faithfully arrived to Hospitalito Atitlán every five or six weeks for elective surgery, where he offered his services for free. Dr. Leiva served as a member on the Steering Committee of the Captial Campaign, he was also a member of Club Rotario Guatemala Oeste that has offered immense support to the hospital.Dr Fernando Leiva leaves an immense space behind him, both as a personal friend and a friend of Hospitalito Atitlán.

Dr. Brent Burket began his three-year commitment to Hospitalito Atitlán this week when he started seeing patients in the clinics. Dr. Brent came from Ashland Oregon and with the help of Mission Doctors. He is working with Asiha Nnoly of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Today everyone at Hospitalito Atitlán is welcoming a new member to our employee family. Dra. Susana Pajoc Gonzales gave birth this morning to a baby girl. Susana started her maternity leave two weeks ago. Her labor was quick and surprisingly easy, she and husband Pedro Sosof arrived at the Hospitalito, and five minutes later, their daughter was born.

Dr. Ithan Peltan’s article on Hospitalito Atitlán’s disaster recovery was published recently in a medical journal. It has been almost five years since Tropical Storm Stan, but some of us will never forget. 

 http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/Volume_24/issue_6/peltan.pdf.

This is the third time that volunteers from Trinity Lutheran Church have worked on the construction site. Some of the same people were here when construction started in November 2008.  In this photo, Dr. Chuc, Dr. Kevin Bjork, David Swager and group leader Tom Theits pose (and rest) from filling buckets of gravel. Tomorrow, surgeon Dr. Kevin will be volunteering in the operating room.

The largest section of the roof on the second floor was poured today. What teamwork.  50,000 pounds of cement went into this section, about a third used in the pour last June. The sun was not too strong and the rains stayed away… perfect for this task.

Nicole Young-Lin (far right) works for an organization called Saving Mothers and has been meeting with Santiago Atitlán’s traditional midwives. She provides hygienic birthing kits and works with the staff at Hospitalito Atitlán to do trainings in Tz’utujil on safe birthing techniques. 

Rotarians from Salem Oregon arrived ready to work at the Hospitalito this week. This is the third work trip led by Phil Sperl who first arrived in Santiago Atitlán to help renovate the inpatient ward at the old hospital in Panabaj.  The group of seven have planted trees, painted, sifted sand, cleaned and Architect David Holton tried his hand at chipping rocks Atiteco style. He was so impressed with the stonework on the new hospital that he had see how they did it. The workmen were impressed with his ability.

 Nursing staff were given training today in how to operate new IV pumps that arrived from a Rotary International Grant from the East Salem Oregon Rotary and Club Rotario Guatemala Oeste. The pumps are a part of a very large Rotary grant… that is updating a lot of medical equipment…. AND these pumps speak Spanish!!!

Cold and flu season is arriving with the rains and today Hospitalito’s staff were vaccinated today for H1N1 by the Centro de Salud. Jacinto Garcia Chipir receives his vaccine when the Centro’s nursing staff arrived at HA.

Everyone who has ever volunteered at Hospitalito Atitlán knows Fredy Lacán. He started working more than five years ago when he helped install the electrical at the old hospital in Panabaj and since then he has continued as guardian.

Many may remember daughter Melissa, frequently a patient at HA. Melissa brought great luck to the family last week when she purchased a Q25 card for minutes on their cell phone. As soon as the number was entered, she received the message that she had won a pick-up! Family members joked with Melissa and told her it wasn’t true, but Claro, the phone company kept calling, and finally insisted that they go to the phone company office in Panajachel. Still doubtful, Mom and Melissa crossed the lake (Fredy was at work).

When they arrived at the office, there were balloons, huge speakers and a white Toyota HILUX 4 wheel drive diesel pick-up. They still find it hard to believe.

The family of six would like to sell the vehicle (worth more than $20,000) to purchase land and build a home.

Sal and Maru Danial visited this week. They are the directors of the Samir D. Gergis Charitable Trust and made a generous donation towards the operational costs of Hospitalito Atitlán.  Thank you for your confidence!

Anne Flosi arrived in November to volunteer as a nurse for six months. Her time in Santiago Atitlán is coming to an end, so we were happy she was able to join the HA staff at the beach. Anne provided medical care for Aklax whose scrape from a soccer injury (don’t play on concrete) was irritated by a fall in the surf. 

Still celebrating the fifth anniversary of Hospitalito Atitlán the staff, some Board members and medical volunteers traveled to the Pacific coastal beach at Tecojate for the day. Aklax donated his van and everyone enjoyed the sun, surf and seafood.

José Reanda met with the manager of a nature reserve on the Atitlán volcano to collect donations from the hospital donation box placed in the hotel museum. Tarrales is an old coffee farm on the road from Santiago Atitlán to the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. The reserve offers tours to climb the volcano Atitlán, bird watching and ornamental plant tours. The owner has promised to donate plants from the nursery to landscape the new hospital. 

For the past ten years the Marin Guatemala Mission Program, headquartered at St. Rita parish in Fairfax, California has sent containers to the Guatemala highlands containing vitamins, school supplies, shoes and clothing,and household goods for the people of the region. Bill Cuneo a member of Amigos Hospitalito Atitlán is part of this group. He is a dear friend who brings many good friends to visit. Today, HA received a truckload of hospital beds and medical supplies from our friends in Fairfax, CA.

Dr. Gabriel Flaxman is a family practice resident volunteer from The University of California in San Francisco and Dra. Amaia Pellejero is a community and family physician in Spain and will be in Santiago Atitlán at the Hospitalito for the months of April and May.

We are happy to welcome another British medical volunteer to Hospitalito Atitlán. Dra. Hege Mostad is a family practice physician at Westminster Hospital in London. Hege had planned to volunteer at HA in 2008, but an unfortunate ice skating accident left her in the hospital with a broken leg, instead of on her flight to Guatemala. We are happy she finally arrived.

Antonio has his work cut out for him organizing this donation to Hospitalito Atitlán from the International Humanitarian Surgical Team. The donation is inventoried and organized… color-coded boxes for Pre-OP, Post-OP, OB/Gyn, Exam, etc. IHST also donated an anesthesia machine and MUCH more. Thank you!!!

On April 1, 2005 Santiago Atitlán celebrated the opening of Hospitalito Atitlán in Panabaj with marimba, speeches, tamales and a great deal of hope for the future. Five years later, the staff and medical volunteers joined together for a birthday party for the five year old Hospitalito.

The nurses and nurse volunteers sang and performed a dance for the entertainment of all.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the success of the Hospitalito.