Indigenous Guatemalan villagers face huge barriers to medical care. Desperately poor and remotely located, they cannot access the services provided by volunteer medical and surgical teams. Partner for Surgery removes those barriers by bringing the medical care to the villagers and accompanying them to the surgical sites.
Millions of indigenous Guatemalans have no access to medical care. They are afraid of doctors and hospitals, experience discrimination from city dwellers, are too poor to pay for medical care, have no means of transportation, and speak only their native Mayan language. Volunteer medical and surgical teams have been traveling to Guatemala for years, but have no way to help these people.
Partner for Surgery uses Health Promoters, individuals who bridge the gap between rural communities and volunteer teams. Health Promoters live in the villages, speaking with the people in their native languages about the availability of medical care and the compassion of the volunteer teams, helping them overcome their fear of doctors and hospitals. Health Promoters also travel with patients to medical and surgical sites.
At the most basic level, Partner for Surgery improves the health of the rural poor. But our mission is broader. Improved health allows the people to focus on education for the children and meaningful work for the adults, thereby reducing the degree of poverty for future generations. Partner for Surgery brings hope to some of the world's most desperately poor people.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
