June 2014 Mission team: Front row (l-r): Kristen Conrad, Chelsey Manire; Middle Row: Candice Beam, Mary Alice Hobson, Alex Ernst, Kandice Squires; Back row: Meredith Erivin, Dr. Eric Hobson, Garrett Hobson, Will Hobson, Scott Hobson, Kyla Cunico

Students and faculty from Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy recently completed a year-long project to create an inventory system at the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center in Guatemala City, Guatemala.  The project started last July and included four separate mission trips from the College with a total of 23 students and faculty contributing.  The most recent team finished the expansive project to catalog the contents of the surgery center which includes three operating rooms and 21 beds.  The inventory system was built from scratch, tested, launched and, during this last visit, turned over to the surgery center’s local management.

Kristen Conrad (CO2017) creating inventory bar codes at Moore Pediatric Surgery Center.

The team was led by Dr. Eric Hobson, professor of Pharmacy, who was joined on this most recent trip by his family, including his son, Garrett, who will enter Belmont as a freshman this fall.  Dr. Hobson has directed all four of the teams that have contributed to this project.  The students on the most recent team included Candice Beam, Kyla Cunico, Alex Ernst, Meredith Ervin, Chelsey Manire and Kandice Squires, all third-year PharmD students, and Kristen Conrad, a second-year student.  “I had to go back to Guatemala,” said Squires, who has also been part of previous project teams.  “I claimed `dibs’ on bringing order to the hospital’s third-floor ‘black hole’ storage room.  And, we did it!”

Kandice Squires (CO2016) and Will Hobson moving medical supplies.

Allison Bender, Executive Director of The Shalom Foundation, the Franklin, Tennessee not-for-profit that built the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center, called the Belmont teams’ service to the organization, “a true blessing.”  She added, “Now, the Moore Center staff can be more efficient, and be better stewards of donated resources. Most important, the inventory system that our Belmont friends have built helps us provide the hundreds of Guatemalan children entrusted to our medical care each year an even safer, better experience. God’s work requires many skill sets, and The Shalom Foundation knows that Belmont University community is home to varied talents and a commitment to service.”