Huehuetenango is a small city in the mountains of Guatemala. The leader of Guatemala clinic had been in contact with Steve Miller, the co-founder and president of Helps International and notified him of the need for medical care in Huehue. Most of the people from this mountainous area are farmers, shepherds and artisans and have limited access to medical care. We stayed at Huehue's military base that had a hospital for us to use.

Our first night there, we set up the hospital including all of the OR rooms and recovery beds. Physicians started triaging people that night in preparation for the surgeries to start on Monday morning. There were two general surgeons, a plastic surgeon, and an OB/GYN surgeon on our trip. The main surgeries performed were hernia repairs, hysterectomies, tubal ligations, cleft lip/palate repairs and removal of ganglion cysts. The dentist pulled teeth and provided families with toothbrushes and toothpaste. The clinic physicians helped care for both adults and children, including educating them on preventive care. At the end of our trip , we were able to serve more than 1,000 people in clinic and perform 130 surgeries.

My main job on the trip was that of a recovery room nurse. In addition, I helped out in the pharmacy and in the PACU. The first three days in the recovery room, I took care of the pediatric patients. This was the first time that I ever cared for children. I found it to be a wonderful and an educational experience for me. The children were resilient.

Amanda Smith