A final picture with students and staff at Keramion.

It was a great day all the way around today!

Our morning routine continued like normal today, we gathered for breakfast and made our daily game play. Like yesterday, the students and professors of Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Social Work headed back to Keramion while the group of Nursing and Pharmacy students opened clinic in San Miguel. Each day brings new excitement and experience a valued part of this amazing trip thus far.

Parachute play at Keramion with students.

The first group of OT, PT, and Social Work students and professors continued their presence at Keramion. We were greeted with students dressed in traditional Guatemalan celebratory wear followed by song and dance. Throughout the day, the students were excited and more comfortable playing with us, our new activities, and interventions we started yesterday. As part of the individual assessments, we helped to reconfigure a walker and wheelchair/activity chair to improve the children’s posture to increase participation in activities. After completing the rest of the individual evaluation in the morning, the afternoon was spent with the whole group. We did gross motor activities with a parachute, “monkey see monkey do” yoga, and animal walks. The students of Keramion had a lot of fun with our new games and partaking in active play with us. We also presented the teachers and staff with different techniques, tips, and tools related to communication devices, social and emotional awareness, as well as behavior management techniques. At the end of the day, the students presented the team with hand painted crafts as gifts of gratitude. This experience was a testament of faith, love, and the mission of Keramion. We hope we were able to be a light and hope to the children so they may be a light and hope to the world. It is sad to leave the smiling faces of the children and staff, but look forward to the continued friendship and partnership with Keramion.

Nursing students gather with patients on their way our of clinic in San Miguel.

Our second group of Nursing and Pharmacy students opened clinic in the town of San Miguel. Today we were able to see about 65-70 patients with a majority being adults unlike clinic yesterday. We we able to asses patient’s blood glucose, heart rate, respiratory rate, weight, and blood pressure like yesterday. We saw many more patients during clinic today with a variety of ailments from runny nose to stomach aches to high blood pressure to diabetes. We are fortunate to be returning to the same area tomorrow so we may can follow up with some of our patients to see if we found something to allow for immediate relief. All of the individuals that can into clinic shed love, smiles, and gratitude on the students. It has been a great experience to provide acute care, doctor’s assessment, and medications when necessary. Today’s clinic and this trip have helped to highlight the important and value of interdisciplinary care, with the patient being in the center. There is so much more to learn as students through clinic and being openly embraced by Guatemalan culture, and we are all so excited for the days to follow.

After a long day, we regrouped as a team for dinner and debriefing. We reflected on our highs and lows of the day, the importance of teamwork, the strengths of those on our team, and most importantly how awesome of an experience this has been thus far. It does not go without saying, this has been a full team effort. Our team has included the dedicated interpreters traveling with both groups, the active community members invested in our projects, the support of all of those keeping up with us at home, and God’s graces on our mission here in Guatemala.

Are there ever too many desserts? We don’t think so.

There is truly no greater way to end another successful day than a team trip to find a few more sweet treats.

With love,

Halle Jarnagin and Claire Isaia, Occupational Therapy students.

Authors from left to right: Claire Isaia, Halle Jarnagin.