Equipment to Save Lives in Rural villages in Guatemala

Warm greetings everyone!

My name is Andrea Salazar.

I am a Venezuelan-Colombian doctor (both nationalities and license to practice in those countries), currently living in Guatemala and volunteering for 6 months in a rural area of the Alta Verapaz department, Guatemala.

Volunteering in a rural area of the Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

At the moment I am residing and practicing medicine in a town called Santa Cruz Verapaz. Santa Cruz is a province of the state of Alta Verapaz (200 km away from Guatemala City) , which is the state of Guatemala with more Mayan population (about 70%) and with the worst access to health, besides it has a lot of little villages within with difficult access to civilization.

Santa Cruz Verapaz, has a small medical center that serves the population for free (including some medications) and it works 24/7 for the community.

(Btw I am the 1st of the right side with the gray cap ? )

limited decent equipment

The fact of working in this center made me realize its needs since there is very little diagnostic capacity, especially to rule out cardiac diseases such as myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation in the emergency service that can put at risk the life of a patient,

we also attend many births of women who have not attended a single control during the entire pregnancy, which leads to diseases in the newborn such as meconium aspiration or respiratory failure.

Help us to purchase electrocardiogram and neonatal oximeter

Neonatal oximeter is a device that makes it possible to check how oxygenated the baby is, and an electrocardiogram or ECG, this one checks if the heart is working properly in patients.

Because every day we attend lots of childbirths, these women do not control their pregnancy so we must make sure we monitor their newborns to avoid further complications. We even have had patients with heart attacks and cardiac arrhythmias that can cause blood clots. Some of these diseases could have been treated on time with a proper diagnosis just by using an ECG trace.

The idea is that you help to create a solution: With the acquired funds we will buy an electrocardiogram and neonatal oximeter device for Santa Cruz’s medical center.

With that equipment, It will increase access to specialized diagnostic services in this rural area, that will help a lot of people with low economic resources who cannot pay for those tests. It would make quite an impact in the community!

Your help will means a lot for people at Alta Verapaz

I will finish my volunteer work here at the end of July 2020 so the idea is to acquire the equipment and train the personnel just before I leave.

When we reach the goal I will post updates with the new equipment installed at the medical center ?.

Children and people of Santa Cruz will be eternally grateful and happy if you could donate and share this campaign and help us spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers, and every beautiful soul who is willing to help and support this cause.

From the deep of my heart, I send my gratitude and many thanks for those who support!