Bienvenidos

I would officially like to introduce the team for the first official WUGI trip to Guatemala City:

Carolyn Arden

Ananya Benegal

Connie Gan

Kelsey Lipman

After a year of hard work and anticipation we have finally arrived in Guatemala City!

This trip would truly not have been possible without the help of various key players including:

Basia Najarro

Melanie Osborn

Ron Ashby

Margarita Escobar-Kampwerth
Thank you for all your help and continued support!

Margarita and Ron 

This past Thursday, July 3^rd we had our final training session with BJC clinical asset management, namely Ron Ashby and Margarita Escobar-Kampwerth. Both have been tremendously generous with their time and without their help this trip would truly not have been possible. As a result of their patience and willingness to teach us we are ready to start our work tomorrow. Not only did they come to WashU to give lectures ranging from the basics of the heart to basic troubleshooting principles but also were able to provide hands on training on equipment models similar to ones we will see tomorrow in the hospital.

After being here for less than 12 hours there have been a wide variety of experiences that  have reminded me why I am passionate about this work and this county and have given the rest of the group  some valuable insight into the country and the healthcare system.  The flight to Guatemala City from Miami alone had some telling signs of the county. There only appeared to be two types of passengers: Guatemalans or Americans, like us, who were traveling to do some sort of service work. While driving through the city  with Dr. Mynor Palma, we were often locking and relocking our doors, driving by poor selling a myriad of goods and, on a lighter note, counting a ridiculous amount of Gallo advertisements.

I also was overjoyed to spend a large portion of the evening with Carlos, a third year resident at Roosevelt hospital who not only taught us more about the culture and hospital but showed us around and demonstrated true Guatemalan hospitality.

After a long day of travel (some of us woke up at 3AM to get here) and great first night we are all exhausted but more importantly eager and excited to start what will be the first of many official WUGI trips.