Shalom Foundation Mission to Guatemala
David J. Archibald, MD, resident travel grantee Guatemala, a beautiful country with wonderful, humble people, is one of the poorest countries in our hemisphere. Guatemala’s children suffer from the third-worst childhood growth rate in the world behind Bangladesh and Yemen. In May 2011, a group from Vanderbilt University and the Mayo Clinic, including Shelagh A. Cofer, MD, partnered with the Shalom Foundation to travel to Guatemala City for a craniofacial surgery mission trip. In five days, we provided services at the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center for more than 60 children with craniofacial abnormalities. We primarily performed cleft lip and palate surgery. The trip was extremely rewarding as we saw an immediate influence in these children’s lives. Most memorable was a 10-week-old malnourished infant who could immediately bottle feed in the post-anesthesia recovery area after repair of his cleft lip. Thanks to funding from Alcon Foundation, through the Humanitarian Efforts Committee, the trip was extremely successful, and I hope to take part in future trips of this nature.
Guatemala, a beautiful country with wonderful, humble people, is one of the poorest countries in our hemisphere. Guatemala’s children suffer from the third-worst childhood growth rate in the world behind Bangladesh and Yemen.
In May 2011, a group from Vanderbilt University and the Mayo Clinic, including Shelagh A. Cofer, MD, partnered with the Shalom Foundation to travel to Guatemala City for a craniofacial surgery mission trip. In five days, we provided services at the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center for more than 60 children with craniofacial abnormalities. We primarily performed cleft lip and palate surgery.
The trip was extremely rewarding as we saw an immediate influence in these children’s lives. Most memorable was a 10-week-old malnourished infant who could immediately bottle feed in the post-anesthesia recovery area after repair of his cleft lip.
Thanks to funding from Alcon Foundation, through the Humanitarian Efforts Committee, the trip was extremely successful, and I hope to take part in future trips of this nature.