Airmen provide care to 1,500 Guatemalans

  • Published
  • By Capt. Al Bosco
  • 163rd Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
SANTA ROSA, Guatemala (AFPN) --  California Air National Guard members provided care to more than 1,500 Guatemalans over a three-day period from Aug. 18 to 20 living in Aldea Estanzuelas near Santa Rosa.

Members of the 163rd Medical Group are in Guatemala as part of a two-week medical readiness training exercise as the Airmen provide medical assistance to improvised communities.

Col. (Dr.) David Walton, the California Air National Guard's State air surgeon, established a women's health clinic at the site. He said although the three days highlighted the importance of the medical readiness training exercise mission, they also provided a deep sense of satisfaction.

"It was a surprise to me to see how poor the people of the community actually were," Colonel Walton said. "Their lack of facilities, as well as the generally-poor quality of health among the population was astounding. But, their gratitude toward us providing whatever assistance we could was truly heartwarming."

One such example of the gratitude was further explained by Chief Master Sgt. Jennifer Crain, the 163rd Medical Group nursing services superintendent.

"On our first day, the people working in triage brought a 6-year-old girl in who was running an extremely high fever and began having a seizure," Chief Crain said. "We immediately were able to stabilize the girl and upon further examination determined both her and her 7-year-old sister had scarlet fever. Two days later, the girls' mother returned to show us how much her daughters' conditions had improved and that they no longer had fevers."

Despite the effort put forth by the medical team; however, not everyone could be helped. In fact, in one instance the team saw a patient who had previously been diagnosed as having breast cancer, but could not afford treatment.

"It was really sad to see," Chief Crain said. "This woman knew she had cancer, but couldn't afford treatment and when she came in there was nothing we could do because she had already progressed to stage three."

The team was able to help many of the community's citizens. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the 2,800-person population received treatment. Among the clinics, the general practice clinic, run by Col. (Dr.) Vincent Dang, the 163rd Medical Group commander, remained busiest seeing more than 700 patients. However, all the clinics remained busy as the dental clinic staff saw more than 200 patients and the optometry and women's health clinics seeing 290 and 335 patients respectively. The pharmacy also remained busy filling more than 1,500 prescriptions for nearly 700 people.

"It was surprising to me that we were able to help as many people as we did with a relatively small team," Colonel Dang said. "I think we really made a difference for these people and I'm glad we were able to help."

At the end of the visit, Colonel Dang presented a California flag and several basketballs and soccer balls to Maria Candelaria Cortez Castellanos, the school's principal.

Ms. Castellano said she was pleased the group came and was able to help the people of her community.

The team's next stop is Aldea Santa Maria de Ixhuatan, where they will remain for three days before wrapping the exercise up with a three-day visit to Aldea Las Cabezas beginning Aug. 25. 

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