This February, four residents, alongside program faculty, medical students and a public health student traveled to rural Guatemala. Wu Qu Kawoq, also known as the Maya Health Alliance, continues to be out fantastic NGO. The organization formed with the goal of providing grassroots healthcare delivered in native languages to many of the rural communities of Guatemala who previously were unable to access care. They are now one of the largest providers of healthcare in Guatemala and we are proud to work alongside them for in a culturally sensitive and continuity minded partnership.

You can see more more highlights of our Guatemala trip below. To learn more about our Global Health Curriculum click here. You can read more about the Mayan Health Alliance here.

Our core resident team along with two of the women most important to the health of Chocola, one of the communities we serve in Guatemala.

We traveled first to the small rural, coffee and chocolate farming town of Chocola. The team sets up clinic for the week in a small building centered in the community and provides care to numerous children and families – everything from treating acute infections, to minor injuries, chronic diabetes, hypertension and mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.

This model allows for follow up within the same week and we had several patients return for additional check ups or medications.

For the second week we traveled to the city of Tecpan which served as our base for daily clinics in more remote and outlying communities.

Places like Chichimuch, Chutiestantia, and Santiago were reached only after a long bus ride, and we set up day long clinics treating many of the same things as we did our first week.

We encountered more Mayan language speaking people when working in the Guatemalan highlands outside of Tecapn and gained a better understanding of the inspiration behind the Mayan Health Alliance. With incredible interpreters and a strong team we were able to provide care in those native languages.

All in all, we cared for 331 patients and will be able to provide follow up and continuity of care when our next team arrives in April.