Medical Team Visits
Team Schedule
June 12-22, 2011
ear-round operations of the Hospital de la
Y
Familia Medical Center in Nuevo Progreso,
Guatemala, are significantly enhanced by visits of
teams of surgeons, medical specialists and technicians, and aides from the United States and Canada.
These teams usually consist of approximately 35-45
dedicated volunteers who not only serve without
pay, but also finance their own transportation. In
addition to our regular teams, a number of eye-only
HOSPITAL DE LA FAMILIA MEDICAL CENTER
Nuevo Progreso, San Marcos, Guatemala, Central America
Andy Sorenson, M.D.
3010 Colby Street, #114,
Berkeley, CA 94705
(Eyes only)
(a non-profit Guatemalan Corporation)
Officers:
July 23-August 5, 2011
Dennis Siegler, M.D.
3523 Oak Drive,
Menlo Park, CA 94025
November 1-15, 2011
als visit the hospital from time to time. (See the Team
Michael McGlynn, Jr, M.D.
433 Estudillo Avenue, #303,
San Leandro, CA 94577
If you are a medical professional and wish to
Funded by:
HOSPITAL DE LA FAMILIA FOUNDATION (est. 1973)
P.O. Box 12981, Berkeley, CA 94712-3981
Telephones 707-252-9069, 510-235-1121, 415-441-5601
Fax 707-252-3654
Officers:
participate in one of our teams, you are invited to
contact Ms Diane Nishikawa-Salomon, CRNA, at
415-407-7860 for details.
Attention, Donors!
January 2012
Lester Molbegott, M.D.
36 Highland Avenue,
Monmouth Beach, NJ 07750
March 2012
will be operating for 7 to 10 days, but usually 2
Patrick Parden, M.D.
North Idaho Eye Institute,
1814 Lincoln Way,
Coeur D’Alene, ID 83814
(Eyes only)
or 3 days will be sufficient for you to appreciate
May 2012
the high caliber of work performed. We have
Sean Moloney, M.D.
200 Sullivan Avenue,
Daly City, CA 94015
W
e encourage donors who wish to visit
the hospital, to join one of our surgical
teams. The teams depart in February, May,
August, and November each year. The surgeons
accommodations at the hospital for 4-8 guests,
and meals are provided. If you are interested,
Jack Younger, Chairman
William Stewart, President
(a non-profit California Corporation, IRS code 501(c)(3), Fed. ID # 94-2452906)
teams consisting of approximately 20-25 professionSchedule at right.)
Foundation Information
Jack Younger, Chairman, John R. Manis, M.D, President, Clyde Ikeda,
M.D., Vice President and Medical Director, Diane Nishikawa-Solomon,
CRNA, Vice President and Medical Coordinator, Thorley D. Briggs, Vice
President, Michael McGlynn, Sr., M.D., Vice President, Emmet Purcell,
Vice President, Richard Spohn, Vice President, William Stewart,
Secretary/Treasurer
Directors: Raul Cruz, M.D., John Eddy, Philip Gardner, M.D., Richard Godfrey, M.D.,
Robert Harlem, Stanley Hellman, DDS, Alan Hoefer, William Jervis, M.D.,
Thomas D. Kiley, Henry A. Klyce, James Knapp, M.D., Roy Mason, Michael
McGlynn, Jr., M.D., Tom McLaren, Sean Moloney, M.D., Andrew Moyce,
M.D., Gary Salomon, M.D., Lee Schwartz, M.D., Dennis Siegler, M.D.,
Andrew Sorenson, M.D., Robert L. Sorenson, M.D., Douglas Stewart,
Lawrence Thal, O.D., Fred Wright, M.D.
Harold Marquis, M.D. 1909-1981
Joseph Sloss, Jr. 1910-1994
Padre Cayetano Bertoldo 1919-2004
Advisory
Douglas Berry, M.D., Juris Bunkis, M.D., Kevin Healy, M.D., Maynard
please call our Medical Coordinator, Ms Diane
Nishikawa-Salomon, CRNA, at 415-407-7860,
for details.
For more information about the Hospital de la Familia,
visit our website at www.hospitaldelafamilia.com.
Hospital
de la
Familia
Send To:
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
P.O. Box 12981
Berkeley, CA 94712-3981
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
P A I D
San Francisco, CA
Permit No. 718
Summer 2011
M
Our Mission Continues…
By Bill Stewart, Secretary/Treasurer
Hospital
de la
Familia
Ultimas Noticias
ospital de la Familia Foundation, a non-profit California corporation, publishes Ultimas Noticias
to inform sponsors of Hospital de la
Familia Medical Center in Nuevo
Progreso, Guatemala, of its ongoing activities in that region of the
world where high quality health
care is provided to the indigent
population. Health care of such a
high caliber as we provide is rare, if
not unknown, not only in the
region we serve but in many other
areas of the third world.
For more than 35 years this
private hospital has provided vital
medical aid and health care to
needy families.
Extra copies of this newsletter
may be obtained by writing to Mr.
William Stewart at Hospital de la
Familia, P.O. Box 12981, Berkeley,
CA 94712-3981, or by calling 510235-1121
H
ost of the people who receive this
newsletter twice a year know
what we do and they recognize
the need for what it is that we do. Others
have a faint idea of our mission and it is for
them that the following is provided.
Our Foundation consists of 8 main medical teams. One team visits our hospital in
Guatemala every three months. This means
that each of those eight teams goes at a specific time every two years. In addition, there
are teams, especially eye-only teams that
visit the hospital at times of their own choosing. This works because there is always a
critical need for medical personnel in that
specialty. Most of the teams originate in the
San Francisco Bay Area, but we also have
teams from New Jersey, Iowa and Oregon as
well as personnel from as far away as
Toronto, Canada.
Teams consist of 30 to 50 volunteers.
Every volunteer is expected to make a contribution towards the cost of sending
him/her to Guatemala. The contribution is,
of course, tax deductible. Team visits last
from 6 days to as many as 10 or 11 days during which they perform surgeries in Plastic
and Reconstruction, Ob/Gyn, ENT, General
and Ophthalmology. It is extremely important for our local staff of administrators and
doctors to schedule enough patients for
surgery to maximize the talents of the personnel that we send. This involves preparation at both ends of each trip. In the U.S. we
work to accumulate donated medical supplies that the medical teams take with them.
Each member of the team is allowed to take
only personal carry-on luggage. This enables
us to check in two boxes of supplies for each
team member. This system works well here,
but on arrival at the airport in Guatemala
City we must trace the many boxes of supplies, as many as 90, and process them
through Customs. Tedious work, indeed!
The preparation performed by the hospital
staff in Guatemala is also intensive. As we
are the only medical facility in the region, we
are known for the work we do — not only in
western Guatemala, but in southern Mexico.
The medical staff and the medical records
personnel identify patients who need attention. They contact and schedule these
patients for clinic visits and/or operations
during the period that each team is present.
While our teams are at the hospital, all
patients are requested to be at the hospital at
7 a.m. even though they may not be treated
until the afternoon. Hour-by-hour scheduling is not possible in a volunteer situation.
Patients sit around with their families until
their names are called. They use the occasion
to socialize among themselves and never
complain.
The hospital generates funds using a
schedule of charges. These charges, compared to what is charged in the United
States, are minimal, but they enable the hospital to pay for 70% of its operating expenses. The schedule of charges is used only as a
guide and the administrative staff discusses
each patient’s bill with the patient’s family
to ascertain whether the charges to the
patient are going to cause an economic hardship. The advantage of working in a closeknit neighborhood is that our staff knows
who are the poorest of the region and more
importantly who are the people who can
well afford the medical treatment.
When a medical team has finished its latest visit, it is not uncommon for most of the
members of that team to announce their
Continued on page 3
Miracles Do Happen on a Daily Basis
Photographs by Drs. Todd Foster and Gary Salomon
Cleft lip/palate patients
Kansas ophthalmologists Tim Cavanaugh
and Michael Stiles
The Operating Room in full swing
Team leaders Phil Gardner, M.D., Andy
Moyce, M.D. and Gary Salomon, M.D.
with the Sisters who run the hospital
One of the mountains that guard the
hospital
The welcoming Band…
…and a critic
Fifth Avenue, Nuevo Progreso
Local women in Guatemalan clothes
-2-
Our Mission Continues …
Continued from page 1
Hello! My name is Paul Ikeda. I
am in 3rd grade at St. Brendan
School in San Francisco. Each
year my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs.
Armanino, has a bake sale to
raise money for Hospital de la
Familia. This year my classmates, there are 36 of them,
and I baked chocolate chip cookies, brownies and rice
crispy treats with the help of our mothers. We each
baked a lot.
Each cookie cost $0.25, and we sold
$465.08 worth of them.
Someone anonymously
matched our total sales. We do not know who it was and
With the money that we made, we helped two babies.
Dr. Salomon brought back pictures of the children,
which we have in our classroom.
It was fun selling
baked goods.
T
#
A Way That You Can
now our total is $930.16.
Make a Difference
or more than 35 years, the Hospital de la
Familia has been providing medical services to an extremely needy portion of the
world’s population. None of this could have
been possible without the continued support of
all who recognize the value of the effort, its
impact on the people it serves, and the unbeliev-
F
able volume of the patients treated for the dollar
spent. We appeal to everyone to continue this
much needed and valuable support.
Financial Support
he Guatemalan government recognizes the quality of health care we
provide in this underserved area by
their accreditation of the hospital, our
nursing school and the grade school that
we support. They require annual reports
and make unscheduled visits just as they
do in their government-supported health
care agencies. Since 1998 they have supported us with a modest monthly stipend
which arrived regularly. It later changed
to quarterly payments that arrived on an
unscheduled basis. In 2008 things changed
again and since then there has been a
major decrease in the money that the government has provided. Citing the poor
economic situation, the amount that we
intention to make a return trip two years
hence. The loyalty is remarkable and is
something we have always been able to
depend on. As volunteers, we are energized by the patients and the familiar
faces we see each time we make a visit. Of
course, not everyone returns and that
means that some of the places have to be
filled. One of the gratifying results of this
is to see the looks of surprise and delight
when the new personnel witness just how
modern our hospital is and the wonderful
reception that each team receives on its
arrival. For most of us it is what we refer
to as “pay back” time. When we compare
life in the United States to the conditions
that the poor indigents of the region
endure, it gives us all a great deal of satisfaction to know that what we do for those
people is, to them, life-changing.
received in 2010 was a small portion of
what we had come to rely on. We have
had to rely more and more on the generous support of people like you to aid us in
the much needed work that we do for the
poor who reside in the area that we serve.
The government this year has promised us
a modified amount of support, less than in
the past, and so far we have received the
first two installments of the four
promised. We plan to discuss the situation
with government officials during our
scheduled trip at the end of July. Whether
anything comes of such a meeting is anyone’s guess, but we feel that an effort has
to be made to convince them that they
have a responsibility to assist us.!
-3-
Send to: Hospital de la Familia,
P.O. Box 12981, Berkeley, CA 94712
NAME ____________________________
ADDRESS __________________________
CITY ______________________________
STATE______ ZIP ____________________
AMOUNT
OF
DONATION $ ______________
CREDIT CARD:
r Visa
r Mastercard
r Discover
CARD NUMBER: ______________________
________________________________
EXPIRATION DATE: ____________________