A 13 year old boy carries his 18 month old nephew into the hospital for surgery. Families are important here. Later the “uncle” has fun with one of the nurses doing puzzles. Submitted by Jacque Andrew
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Vital to the dozens of cleft palate and lip repairs to be done by the Iowa MOST mission is the refurbished anesthesia machine shipped from Iowa to Guatemala! Unpacked and set up here by DGE John Ockenfels and Dennis Wilson, biomedical engineer. Guatemalan coordinator of the mission Paco Fernandez was instrumental in ushering the important…
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February 9, 2014 Despite multiple flight delays and cancellations, finally the 2014 Iowa Miles of Smiles Team (MOST) has arrived in Guatemala! Caught in the polar vortex that wrecked havoc with thousands of flights and millions of travelers, the team patiently made its way across the US from multiple locations, all with one purpose in…
Read MoreOn Saturday, March 9 at 7:00 pm Iowa City West High School students will present a Music and Art Festival in the West High Auditorium. Proceeds will go to Iowa MOST to carry out its annual mission trip to Guatemala to correct cleft lip and palate. The festival will feature music and art by West…
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We established the Iowa MOST Guatemalan connection nine years ago. It is through our Rotary relationship that we were able to establish the reliable partnership we have enjoyed during eight mission trips. Rotarians in Guatemala are our working partners and our friends, and they always invite us to their weekly Rotary meeting. The meeting is an opportunity to…
Read MoreSome of us are lucky enough to have the Iowa MOST experience in person. We have the satisfaction and joy of being with the patients and their famlies and of being the recipients of their gratitude. However, there are so many partners, both organizations and individuals, who make the Iowa MOST mission possible, but who…
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Tomas was born with a disfiguring cleft lip. Superstitious friends and neighbors who were frightened by his appearance warned his parents that he would perhaps not survive infancy. In a small, out-of-the-way place, such can be the mistaken belief of those who have no knowledge of the cause and effects of clefts, but who are looking for…
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It may be hard for the reader to imagine a whole hospital being turned over to people from another country who want to carry out a cleft lip and palate mission, but that is what happens in Huehuetenango. For a whole week each year, Dr. Oscar Marroquin and his partners take emergency cases only in order…
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