Grandview Team Brings Health Care to Gautemala
By Staff Report
DAYTON — In the absence of hospitals and most modern conveniences, the ailing people of La Labor, Guatemala, have one important resource, caring “amigos” from Grandview Medical Center.
A team of doctors, nurses and support staff traveled to the town 18 miles out of Guatemala City for 10 days this spring. In this latest mission, they performed 77 procedures, including hernia operations, biopsies, hand surgeries, cysts removals, osteopathic manipulative therapy, pediatric exams and fracture repairs. They also helped with blood pressure issues, lice and some dentistry.
“We set up a MASH unit in a school, bringing some of our own equipment and using some really rudimentary monitoring and surgery equipment that was already there,” said Dr. Jeff Rogers of Beavercreek.
Rogers, who specializes in anesthesia and pain management, has been with this Grandview outreach team for eight years now. They call themselves “Amigos del Corazn,” or “Friends of the Heart.”
Other members of the team are Connie McCarroll, a pediatrician, of Dayton; Alison Clarey, general surgeon, of Washington Twp.; Brent Bamberger, hand surgeon, of Kettering; Mark Klug, hand surgeon, of Kettering; Reggie Linz, scrub tech, of Washington Twp.; Shirley Reischman, nurse anesthetist, of Moraine; and Andy Kulkarni, an anesthesia resident, of Miamisburg.
Amigos del Corazn originated 11 years ago when Dr. McCarroll agreed to help Sister Margo Young, an internal medicine specialist who did her residency at Kettering Medical Center. Young is with The Sisters of the Precious Blood, a local order that has operated a convent and hospitality house in La Labor for the past 15 years.
From the beginning, Young operated as an old-time country doctor in Guatemala. And two years after her arrival, she recruited McCarroll to help. McCarroll estimated she has visited La Labor more than 30 times.
“It’s like my heart is attached down there and I need to go there to fill up my tank,” McCarroll said. “It makes me revived and resuscitated, so I can come back and do my work here. The people are so gracious for what we have done, and the sharing they do with us is just incredible.”
“I have been to 100 countries and all the continents,” Dr. Rogers said, “and it doesn’t make me glad about what I have when I go to places like this. Rather, it makes me question whether I need what I have. It’s a simple life down there in Guatemala, and the people just seem to be very happy despite the significant challenges they face every day.”
Grandview Medical Center donates medicine, used equipment and other resources as part of Kettering Health Network’s Seventh-day Adventist ministry. Medications and additional needs have been addressed through the generosity of McCarroll, Rogers and other team members.
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