Bend medical team heading to Guatemala

The Hospital De La Familia Foundation is a charitable foundation based out of San Francisco. Every other year, it sends a Bend medical team to its hospital in Guatemala.

The group is made up of 45 people, doctors, technicians and nurses who leave on Thursday.

Medical care in Guatemala is much different than the U.S.

“Oh, it would be a big shock,” Courtney Ringer, a certified ophthalmic assistant at Bend Memorial Clinic, said Monday.

She said most of their records are still kept on paper, and it’s disorganized.

The team will be staying in the small town of Nuevo Progresso, located in the foothills of Guatemala.

“That’s where a lot of indigenous population has been pushed because of the civil war,” Dr. Brian Desmond said.

Many of the people they treat do not even speak Spanish. They speak indigenous languages. Communication, they said, can be a large challenge.

“A lot of the population is extremely poor and even disconnected from the Guatemalan society,” Desmond said.

Thirteen doctors, including anesthesiologists, ophthalmologists, optometrists, gynecologists, plastic surgeons and their teams, will have their hands full for the week they are there.

“Our optometrists see about 300 patients during the week, and we’ll do about 100 surgeries,” Desmond said.

Many of their patients wait days, in long lines, for care.

“Some stay the night, some stay the night on the streets,” Ringer said.

Central Oregon doctors have been helping the the Hospital de Familia Foundation for 20 years. Their goal is simple.

“It’s to give back and help some people who need care,” said the team leader, Dr. Scott Letourneau said.

For more information: https://www.hospitaldelafamilia.com/