Botsford Docs, Staff Complete Annual Medical Mission to Guatemala

A medical mission program that connects physicians from in Farmington Hills with needy families in other countries may be expanding.

In early March, 60 doctors, nurses and other support staff spent two weeks traveling to villages in Guatemala. The hospital's chief medical officer Dr. David Walters said this was the sixth trip for the Botsford organization, but the program originated about 12 years ago, with Dr. Gary Willyerd of Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital. 

"He was interested in doing a trip to allow interns and residents to go to a third world country," Walters said. Since "piggy-backing" on the original mission, Botsford has taken the lead, with Walters' department handling logistics.

The Botsford team includes mostly doctors, along with nurses and other support staff. "Anybody who has medical experience at all who speaks Spanish is very valuable for us," Walters said.

Even though everyone pays their own way, many physicians and staffers have made the trip more than once. The work, Walters said, is extremely rewarding. A physician in Guatemala, Dr. Sacbaja, arranges for clinic days in remote villages. Doctors set up in schools, using classrooms as exam rooms, and usually treat minor complaints and stress prevention.

"Our goal is less acute intervention," Walters said. "What we try to do is make sure everyone we see gets vitamins. Another big issue is parasites."

If patients need more intensive treatment – like a woman who needed surgery to treat an internal infection – Sacbaja makes sure they get help.

"Most of these folks work manual labor," Walters said, "so we see a lot of chronic knee pain, foot pain, arthritis." Other problems result because of the way people live; physicians see chronic respiratory illnesses that stem from families living in homes where they burn open fires without a chimney to funnel smoke outside. 

Patients – usually women and children – often wait for hours to be seen and remain patient and polite, Walter said. The work is very rewarding and "kind of resets your expectations to see how little these folks have and how happy they are," he said.

There is now talk about expanding the program, to create a "continuity clinic" in Merida, Mexico, where medical staff would go on a regular basis with a smaller team. In the meantime, a decision has already been made to return to Guatemala next year. 

"It's a rewarding experience. First timers really don't know what to expect. There's a fair amount of apprehension going into a third world country," Walters said. "But I haven't come back with anyone who didn't think it was a 'wow' experience."

You can find more photos and information about the trip on the @BotsfordDocs Twitter feed.