On April 1st, 2020, Hospitalito Atitlán will celebrate 15 years of caring for the Maya population of Lake Atitlán. However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, its future is uncertain. We need your help!
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Dear Friends and Supporters,
We hope this note finds you well. To the members of the Hospitalito family in the United States or elsewhere who are currently on the frontlines of the COVID-19 epidemic, thank you for all you are doing. We are thinking about you every day and wishing for your health and safety.
We are immensely grateful to you for your generous support of our campaign during these difficult times for all. Thanks to your contributions—both through donations and sharing the information with others—Hospitalito Atitlán remains hard at work ensuring patients with a variety of conditions are being cared for, and we are ready to manage any suspected COVID-19 cases.
Since the ‘public calamity’ as it is called in Guatemala, staff have taken various steps to support the community. We would like to share with you some of our progress:
- The completion of a COVID-19 emergency response plan together with the Ministry of Health.
- The completion of protocols for disinfection, use of personal protective equipment, and use of UV lamps.
- The donation of 1,300 medical masks to Santiago Atitlán’s Centro de Salud (to support government health workers who were running low on personal protective equipment).
- The creation of educational videos in Tz’utujil that are being aired on cable television and social media. The level of formal education in Santiago Atitlán is very low and with many residents unable to read or understand Spanish. The videos are important tools to get the message to the community.
-The delivery of food baskets to 56 families with children with acute malnutrition and the planned delivery of many more.
- HA’s social worker is communicating with patients and women in the maternal infant program, making home visits when possible and coordinating well child check-ups.
On April 16, Aljazeera published an article “Fears grip Guatemala’s indigenous groups as coronavirus sets in” about the state of health in Guatemala, a solemn reminder of the precarious situation we are facing as a health center in a rural indigenous area of the nation.
The Hospitalito outpatient clinic remains closed with only the services of general medicine, trauma, general dentistry and pediatrics attending on a limited, appointment-only basis. The emergency room is open 24/7. The Guatemalan government continues to enforce a 4PM to 4AM curfew and as of Monday, April 15, the use of masks in public is obligatory. Guatemala has 214 confirmed positive cases and 7 deaths. It is widely believed that the worse has yet to come as the curve of infected patients continues to climb.
If you are able, please continue to share the information about our campaign to help us reach our goal. Mil gracias!
Be Well,
The Hospitalito Team
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Apr 17
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