Mission to Guatemala
from Katie Hein and Julie Golden

A team of students, faculty and partners from Belmont University’s School of Occupational Therapy and School of Physical Therapy are ministering in Guatemala during Belmont’s spring break, the seventh year a team has traveled there.

Today was full of adventures! We visited 4 different loactions. In the morning we went to the Children’s Rehab Hospital and the Guatemala Association for People with Down’s Syndrome.  Then in the afternoon we went to Hope for Tomorrow/Nutrition Center and Las Conchas.

The Children’s Rehab Hospital Day 2- We met little Carlos, Kenneth and his wife to have little Carlos casted for AFO’s. Meanwhile, the rest of us participated in the morning therapy sessions (OT/FT- fisotherapy (PT)). The Guatemalan FT’s asked us for help with an exercise program for Christopher, one of the boys who suffered from Meningitis and is extremely weak. The only thing they have done for him in the past month is have him on tilting board to have him in a vertical position for 30 min. Lisa and Jessica (DPTs) evaluated his lower extremity and trunk strength, range of motion, and vestibular-occular system. He was getting bored with laying down, so  we sat him up to work on strengthening and postural control.  He was automatically happier and willingly participated in the activities.

After asking what else they have tried to do with Christopher, we discovered he gets dizzy on the stability ball. We checked his VOR, smooth pursuits, saccades, convergence/divergence, & VOR cancelation. Since the FT’s and the FT students did not know how to evaluate and treat his dizziness we were able to do a mini-lab session and teach them how to evaluate and treat a vestibular problem. This was a great experience for us because we were able to apply skills that we recently learned in our neuro class.

Center for Down’s Syndrome- We learned about this place from the pastor of the church we visited on Sunday. They have 43 children/young adults in school there. We split up into 4 groups based on age group and behavior and worked on gross & fine motor skills and sensory integration. Katie was with the group with the most behavioral issues. We set up an obstacle course, danced with the children, sang, played with play dough, and used a jump rope to work on stepping and crawling. Julie was with the teens and adults and we had 3 stations- a fine motor where they glued confetti to their names written on construction paper and did puzzles.  There were 2 gross/fine motor skill stations- one where we taught them “head and shoulders, knees and toes” in Spanish, passed a balloon above their heads and between their legs and also twisting their trunks, and had them walk a “tight rope” with tape on the ground. The last group tossed balloons in the air and practiced tying their shoes.

In the afternoon we split up and went with the same groups as yesterday afternoon just to the opposite location. Katie and I went to Hope for Tomorrow. Here the PTs made videos of several exercises and stretches to do with little Carlos, Ann (OT) worked on oral-motor skills with a few of the kids and Gloria (OT/music therapist) took her guitar and sung with the kids- this was the best “treatment” for Diego who has attention issues.

Carolyn and Markus went with the other half of the group to the Nutrition Center today. We played with the kids in the huge open room they had there. Who played ball with them, gave them piggy-back rides, and held them. The kids were so excited to get attention and love and all of us were ready and willing to spend as much time with them as possible. They were sad to see us go, but a girls’ school group showed up just in time to keep them entertained. It was an incredible experience and the kids brought so much joy to our hearts.

The last stop was another visit to Las Conchas. Earlier in the day Oki-Doki (our van driver) bought a thick mattress for “big” Carlos and we went as a group to deliver it. A group of about 3 people were originally going to deliver the mattress, but little did we know God had a bigger plan us for us. We arranged for all 22 of us + translators to go back to deliver the mattress. The first group arrived and noticed a fire was burning, but then they saw little kids running with pales of water to go put the fire out. The fire they had started was out of control and fast approaching a car and several houses. We emptied out the lunch coolers and everyone’s bottled water and helped put out the fire. There was a water hose on the playground that helped fill all the buckets. Several of the team members went down into the flames (with scrubs covering their nose and mouth) to deliver the water. After the fire was put out Karen, Julie, and Katie carried the mattress down the hill and into Carlos’ home. We took a video of Carlos’ first experience on the brand new mattress—priceless joy on his face. We hope to attach the link to the video, so you can see it for yourselves, because words don’t do it justice! (Click here to link to video) Carlos’ sister, Karen, is deaf and mute and unable to communicate well.  Teressa donated the iPad and taught Karen and their mom how to use it to communicate. Another group played with the kids teaching them the song Peace like a river (in Spanish) and kicking around a soccer ball.