By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE
GLASGOW — As much as Americans might complain about the current health care system in the United States, it is still light years ahead of what many countries have elsewhere in the world.
A local nurse, who made her third mission trip to Guatemala in January with a non-profit group of volunteer medical professionals, spoke to the Glasgow Business & Professional Women’s Club Thursday night at the Glasgow Golf and Country Club.
Bonnie Bennett, RN, works in the emergency department at T.J. Samson Community Hospital and she, along with her husband, John, a local pharmacist, and other volunteer medical specialists, travel to Guatemala in January each year. They spend 10 days treating patients for everything from cancerous tumors to reconstructive facial surgery.
She told the group of her experiences working with the people of the Central American country who are in desperate need of the most rudimentary medical care.
The not-for-profit, charitable organization, Children of the Americas Inc. (COTA) is based in Lexington. Several people in the medical field locally join others from Kentucky and other states to make the annual trips to bring much-needed care to the people of Guatemala.
While COTA’s mission is mainly focused in Guatemala, the group has treated children in more than 18 countries, according to information provided by Bennett.
To make these medical mission trips possible, the team must ship all the equipment, supplies and medicines they are going to use to the town or village where they will be setting up facilities to treat patients.
One way COTA manages this is by partnering with Chiquita, a company based in Guatemala, to send supplies back in empty cargo containers that were originally filled with bananas being shipped to the U.S.
Patients can travel for up to one to two weeks to reach the site where the clinic has been set up and then stand in line for two to three days to be evaluated with no guarantee they will receive treatment. Not all patients are treated. Team members have to turn some away based on who has the most critical need, Bennett said.
Before any treatment can begin, the team must clean the building they are going to be using, which includes washing floors, ceilings and walls with bleach. The facilities are often primitive and infested with insects, according to Bennett.
Personal safety is also an issue for team members and the group hires guards to watch over them while they are there, Bennett said.
The Bennetts were introduced to the program by another local couple, friends Laurie and Mike Branstetter. Mike is also a pharmacist.
Volunteers must go through a vetting process before the can join the team. Each individual medical professional brings different skills to the group.
Specialities include OB/Gyn, general surgery, plastic surgery, orthopedics and medical/dental clinics.
This past January the team saw 900 clinic patients and 400 dental patients.
They performed 120 surgeries, filled over 4,000 prescriptions and treated over 1,000 total patients in the 10 days.
Bennett said she worked long hours each day and in extreme conditions, but that the work is the most rewarding she has ever done.
For more information on COTA or to make a donation, write Children of the Americas, Inc., 1781 Eastwood Drive, Lexington, KY 40502, call (859) 269-4721 or (859) 684-1299 or visit their Web site at www.childrenoftheamericas.org.
