First Few Days

Hello Everyone!

We had a great day today at Las Obras Hospital. We divided up into different sections - with some students staying with pediatric patients, some with adult patients, and some with orthopedic patients. The patients ranged from those that live at the hospital to those that come in for treatment on a outpatient basis. Students and faculty alike are trying our best to step in where we are needed. Some students were even able to go to a rural school for children who are unable to participate in regular classroom education due to their disabilities.

Below are some pictures from our first few days. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to document our experiences at Las Obras Hospital or at the rural clinic due to patient and Guatemalan therapist preference. However, we are learning so much and the experience has already been amazing.

Above is a picture of the student house; and the faculty house is right across the courtyard. With fountains, open air, indoor verandas, and a rooftop terrace, we couldn't ask for better accommodations. Since Antiqua has become extremely touristy, it is common to have "Americanized" hotels and accommodations. However, those who work here are extremely poor and could never afford housing this extravagant. Most live in rural communities and bus in to town to work.

Above is a picture of Las Obras Hospital at night. The architecture is beautiful and the benefits that Las Obras offers the community are endless. The hospital runs primarily on donations and volunteers, with most patients living there.

Above is Timiteo, a man who owns a plot of land on the coffee farm in San Miguel Escobar. Here he is very proud of our toasted coffee beans. I say "our" coffee beans since some of the students helped peel and toast the beans.

Above Timeteo's wife is demonstrating how to grind the coffee beans on a traditional Mayan grinder. Many students helped with this process too. Although Timeteo took us on a tour and educated us on his business, the only cost was to buy one pound of coffee! You can purchase coffee from Timeteo at www.asgreenasitgets.org

Above is a Guatemalan mother with her son Hugo at the rural school for children with disabilities. Due to lack of resources, this dedicated mother has to carry her son to school daily. The benefits offered at this rural school are extensive. Not only is it run solely on volunteers, but the children are offered therapies that they would never receive otherwise.

In just a day, our group of physical therapists and physical therapy students may have not been able to make lasting changes in individual patients, but we were able to teach both Guatemalan therapists and mothers therapy techniques and functional positioning. However, what we have learned from the Guatemalan therapists, the parents, and the patients is invaluable and we have learned just as much from them or more!

Thanks for reading!

We've safely arrived!

Hello Everyone,

We made it safely to Antigua, Guatemala! After a short stop at our houses, just to drop of our bags, we headed straight out to a coffee farm. The coffee farm was in an adjacent town called San Miguel Escobar. The farm is run as a co-op and one of the families showed us how to make coffee. Literally, we went through each step, from picking the beans off the vine to hand grinding the toasted beans.

We were all quite exhausted after returning from the coffee farm, so we went to a rooftop restaurant in Antigua to finish off the night. We will be starting our volunteer work at the Las Obras Hospital early in the morning.

Pictures to come tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Buenas Noches!

UNC PT Outreach 2011

Welcome to our blog! We are a group of UNC PT students, professors, and alumni traveling to Guatemala for a service-learning trip at San Pedro Hermano hospital in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the second international service-learning trip for the UNC Physical Therapy Division and we are excited about this great adventure! We will be giving educational presentations and working alongside our Guatemalan colleagues to treat patients at the hospital. We will also visit a new community health center in rural Guatemala to provide education to the physicians and nurses there about common musculoskeletal conditions. We leave April 27 and will return May 5. Check back with us then for daily updates on our trip!

Put a little boogy in it

Yesterday was our last day at the clinic and our last official day in Guatemala. We said our "see you later's" to the staff and patient (as many have expressed an intent to return as official PTs),


received our volunteer diplomas,


and met this guy.


It was amazing and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity. Thank you for reading - and specifically, thank you...

...to the Division of Physical Therapy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: for encouraging our learning in a multitude of ways...

...to our Alumni: your financial support is a testament to your belief in education and your joy in the art and science of physical therapy...

...to our family and friends: who have walked with us in our journey to Guatemala and towards becoming physical therapists...

Your support has made this past week possible and we appreciate the opportunity to be able to represent each of you here in Antigua!

Goals

When many hands make light work, everyone finishes early. When that happens in Guatemala, amigos get together for futbol.

A short walk through Santa Maria de Jesus, up ever escalating cobbled streets, is quiet and expectant after a long day of work. Stray dogs, little children, men on horseback and women in traditional dress are all moving through the streets, casting glances at our small and unfamiliar procession. Finally we arrive -- a right turn onto a dirt path that leads out onto level earth high above the city. Our field is a concrete court equipped with basketball hoops and the frames of soccer goals. Teams are chosen and the ball is quickly put into play. We have four players on each team in a game where, without nets, the ball must touch one of the posts.

Exhaustion is universal, but so is enthusiasm, and the adventure of forging new friendships. We run, we pass, we wrestle, we injure, we score, we run some more, we pant, we sweat, we play on. Often, we lose the ball. It rolls down the steep slopes of this volcanic terrain. Occasionally, the two boys playing on the court below us return the ball to us--shyly, proudly. But often, we chase after it ourselves. The lucky ones who are left on the court have a moment's pause. And in these moments, we slowly collect fans. Two little boys scaling the fence. One and then another and then another leaning into the side of the hill. Squinting, they multiply. Until seis, until we are all panting and soaked through with sweat and a hundred children appear from the path, wanting their chance on the field. We all sit together for a while, drinking water and resting - finally - after the long day. In the truck ride home, Fernando, one of our teammates gives his friendship bracelet to our teammate. So you will remember me, he says in Spanish. This connection, another goal scored.

Can you dig it?

Whistle while you work

So this was the crew for Thursday with From Houses to Homes - we were able to work at one location, two sites, to build the foundation of what will become two homes, each of which will house 8 individuals. Given that this was our second day interacting with the FHTH crew, we were all beginning to become comfortable with one another, working together, eating together, and even playing together (a more detailed post on the latter coming soon).