Katie Kirk has recently moved to Guatemala to be Mission Guatemala’s Community Health Coordinator, with a focus on expanding wellness promotion and disease prevention programs. She graduated from Ball State University in 2009 with a BSN in Nursing. She has since worked with inpatient cardiac nursing, as well as a travel nurse working in medical surgical, and cardiac adult units. For the last 2 years, she has worked in Reid Hospital’s interventional cardiology and peripheral vascular surgery suite.

This past June, at the invitation of a coworker, I came on a mission trip to San Andrés Semetabaj, to work with Mission Guatemala. I came with the secret hope that I would have an opportunity to work in the medical field during our week here, but once we arrived, I learned that Mission Guatemala didn’t currently have a program in place for utilizing visiting medical professionals. However, I quickly found myself falling in love with Mission Guatemala’s passion for helping others and “doing all the good they can,” and as the week went on I began to talk to Tom and Dave about what role I could potentially play in developing programs to promote health education and access to medical care in the rural communities that Mission Guatemala serves.

On August 21, I returned to Guatemala, and am excited to now be here for an extended period of time, helping to coordinate opportunities for visiting medical professionals who come to Mission Guatemala to utilize their skills in the communities, as well as to hopefully develop programs which will provide disease prevention and promote wellness in the communities of San Andrés Semetabaj.

My first opportunity to work with a group of medical professionals was with a part of a team from Noblesville United Methodist Church. During the week, the group, which included a pharmacist, an emergency room doctor, a nurse practicioner, and 3 RNs, spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing wellness exams for the almost 90 children at the elementary schools of Xejuyu II and Caliaj. The children, accompanied by their parents, first participated in a fun, ten minute class, which covered the importance of hand hygiene, oral hygiene, and drinking purified water. The children then had an initial RN assessment which included a check of their vital signs, height and

weight, and a preliminary head-to-toe exam. They then had a consultation with either the doctor or nurse practitioner, and received any medication that was prescribed.

On Friday, the group went to the town of San Lucas Toliman, to Casa Hogar de Rehabilitacion Tat Loy, a drug and rehabilitation facility that Mission Guatemala has recently begun working with. Casa Tat-Loy is an incredible facility, started four years ago by Tadeo Latona, a recovering alcoholic from San Lucas who believes that in return for God helping him to overcome his own addiction, he is called to help others who struggle with this, as well. Hundreds of men have been treated in Casa Tat Loy over the last four years, and the house currently has over 50 residents, all of whom we were able to provide with medical consultations and exams.

Throughout the week, each patient we saw, both in the schools, as well as at Casa Tat Loy, received an extremely thorough assessment with on-site pharmaceutical treatment and education. It was an amazing week, full of God’s grace and sense of gratitude on all sides, both from the patients, as well as from those of us who had the opportunity to serve them. Galatians 5:13 says, “Through love, serve one another,” and I witnessed God’s unfailing love shown throughout the week by our providers, patients, and families.

This week was also special to me on a personal note. After the team arrived, I learned that one of the RNs in the group had cared for me in 2002 when I had a lethal brain bleed and was a patient in the neurology critical care unit at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. That team of doctors and nurses who saved my life were my inspiration and motivation to pursue a career in nursing, and every decision in my life since has been made with this awareness. It was an incredible honor to meet one of those team members again, 12 years later, and to get the chance to serve alongside her in Guatemala!

This week was a clear reminder for me of how God is very much a part of our lives and that He is in charge of our paths. I am thankful for the opportunity to meet these wonderful medical professionals and to have the privilege to provide the service of giving with this medical team. This week has shown a true testament of what we are called to be as health care providers.

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” 1Peter 4:10.