Guatemala 2011 Mission Trip
Gloria Isaacks and JennaLynn Drake
We began our day with omelets filled with yummy peppers, served with delicious mangos, and Guatemalan Tang. The OT/PT teams went to the hospital while the nursing team went to McDonalds!!! (Actually, they got lost and made it to the hospital eventually.) While at the hospital, the OTs collaborated with 2 OT students from the university who are completing their thesis project on using music interventions in occupational therapy sessions to treat several children.

Sophia, a 6-year-old girl is being treated for postural instability of the trunk and neck, and is working on developing functional grasp. Gloria provided stimulating music with a strong pulse to gain Sophia’s attention, facilitate lateral flexion, and provide proprioceptive input. Tamara provided support to help Sophia extend her trunk and flex her neck.

Carlos, a 6-year-old boy enjoyed playing the guitar while working on postural control and lateral prehension. The hospital provided AFOs and today the motion in his left foot improved. Tamara, Nathan and Gloria demonstrated interdisciplinary treatment techniques.

The PT team did a presentation at the PT University on evaluating patients with cerebral palsy. The OT team presented information about Sensory Processing Disorders at the OT University. Both presentations were well received.
The nurses started the day at the Emergency Department. They observed, helped children to be checked in, provided support for the families, and gave toys to the patients. The most popular toy was bubbles by far and they provided a much needed diversion.

Then, the nurses went to the surgery center to organize supplies for the nurse’s medicine supply carts. Some of their other random projects around the surgery center included trying to assemble a system processor 1 (an endoscope cleaner), and as you can imagine quickly realized it was over their heads After some Google research and a call to the manufacturer (which included several phone transfers), realized the system processor 1 requires a 2 year degree to assemble and quickly moved on to other projects. The next project included showing the staff how to operate some of their monitors and to assemble suction (much easier task!).

We ended the day with a scrumptious meal of baked chicken, mashed potatoes with GRAVY, salad and flan (YUMMY)…The nurses went to McDonalds AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!