There is nothing like screening day. Many say it is their favorite day even though it is often the longest day of the week. It is humbling to see parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers waiting patiently to have an opportunity to receive medical care. Some of the children have never been to the hospital before.…
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We are excited to say that Iowa MOST in 2020 includes a cataract mission! The need for cataract surgery here is clear. Several years ago Huehuetenango Rotary Club member Dr. Solorzano and Juan Francisco Fernandez, Executive Director of Casa Colibri brought the suggestion to team leader Deb Dunkhase. The Rotary Wheel The success of the…
Read MoreIowa MOST 2018 was a successful trip in many different ways: maintaining the perfect record of the mission in terms of zero fatalities, which Medical Director John Canady always emphasizes as the most important statistic of the mission; 57 medical procedures at Salus 1 including cleft lip and palate surgeries, tonsilletomies, tubes, obturators, dental extractions,…
Read MoreThere are so many people we meet here who touch our lives and offer their trust and friendship so that their child has an opportunity to receive medical help. One very special kid is Fernand0–he certainly has a special place in our hearts. Fernando’s father, Ricardo, is a nurse at a private hospital in Guatemala…
Read MoreThe Iowa MOST team is 2 days into surgeries, and there have been a wide variety of needs: tooth extractions, obturators (when the palate cannot be closed), cleft lip, cleft palate, tubes in ears, and a tonsillectomy. Many kids with cleft lip/palate have ENT (Ears, Nose, Throat) needs. The team works together closely, assessing our…
Read MoreWe are excited to start posting about the 2018 Iowa MOST mission! Most of the team arrived on Thursday around 9 p.m. after a long day of travel by plane and by bus. Friday was a day of organization and preparation and things went smoothly enough to allow most of the team a few free…
Read MoreIowa MOST has always done some type of educational outreach within the surrounding community of Huehuetenango, but over the past three or four years this has grown. There are a number of reasons why outreach is an important aspect of the annual mission: it helps build relationships within the community, it supports projects that local…
Read MoreIn order for any project to thrive for the long-term, constant revisions and innovation must take place. Iowa MOST is a project that has been adept at this, and has therefore been able to add new medical services as well as outreach to the scope of the project when it makes sense, and stay relevant…
Read MoreIntegral to the success of the Iowa MOST mission is the dental team, and while not all cleft lip/cleft palate projects have them, the dental team has been a part of the project since the beginning. Dr. Bill Gates, a dentist in private practice in Durham, North Carolina, is on his 8th trip here with…
Read MoreNote: we are rejoining the blog after technical difficulties (see our Facebook page for write-ups about screening day and the first day of surgeries). This morning I observed my first surgery–que milagro! The team operates two OR rooms and six-month old Maria Guadalupe was scheduled for the cleft lip surgery in OR #1 first thing…
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