CHW Medical Missions Blog: Caring for others brings joy

Trish Warren RN, is a Pediatric nurse at St Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach Calif. She has always wanted to use her medical skills to be able to help in an underserved area. She is excited to be in Guatemala on her first medical mission.

I was very excited when I was chosen to go on this mission. It has been a blessing to be part of this team of extrordinary people all working together. Being a newcomer I was unsure what to expect. Bumping along on the very rough dirt road to Horcones I was a bit nervous. The peds clinic that day was set-up across the street from the main clinic in a one room school house. My nursing skills kicked in and the nervousness left.

We saw many of the local children that day and I was reminded that children are so resilent. Although they live in poverty and lack many things we in the US take for granted, they were still playful and quick with beautful shy smiles for us caregivers. It is difficult to see the struggle life must be for some of these families.

There is a medication, Albendizole, that's given for treatment of intestinal parasites. In 25 years of pediatric nursing, I have never before administered it. Today in Central de Salud, we gave it to almost every child we saw.

Hopefully our being here, giving them a little access to medical care, can help improve their lives in some small way.