Amelia is the first point of health care for the children at Casa Guatemala, as well as community members from the surrounding villages.  As the health care provider, Amelia is responsible for everything from administering first aid to accompanying patients to the nearest public clinic down the river for more serious cases.  In April, Amelia spent a lot of time administering first aid to the children who suffered from minor accidents.  Children can play rough sometimes, and there are lots of scrapes and cuts to be treated.  Amelia is also responsible for treating common ailments, such as stomach aches and ear infections. When a treatment is given to a patient, Amelia works with the heads of the houses at Casa Guatemala to ensure that they understand instructions and that the treatment is being carried out as prescribed. 

Part of Amelia's job is to ensure that not just the curative needs of the children at Casa Guatemala are met, but that preventive measure are taken to ensure a better overall health.  In April, Amelia helped to host a workshop for all of the school children at Casa Guatemala.  The workshop was given by students studying medicine at a local university and focused on the importance of handwashing.  Amelia also gave a workshop to the children at Casa Guatemala in April on viral illnesses, such as colds and chicken pox.  The workshop helped the students to identify the causes of the illnesses,  symptoms, treatment, and prevention.  Amelia was able to tie in this workshop with the handwashing workshop given earlier in the month by the medical students.  

In April, Amelia also helped to apply flouride to all of the children and staff members at Casa Guatemala.  Amelia works with the students and staff at Casa Guatemala to promote good dental hygiene amongst the students, and flouride is an important part of those good dental practices.

The children at Casa Guatemala had a special treat in April- a trip to the Castillo San Felipe, a Spanish colonial fort at the mouth of Lake Izabal and the Rio Dulce.  Amelia helped to prepare the first aid kit and chaperoned the students on the field trip. 

​Please help us to support this life-saving work by making a donation to Sharing the Dream for Amelia's salary. https://www.sharingthedream.org/donate.html. For $20, you can sponsor a day of Amelia’s important work, or for $400 you can sponsor a full month of health care.

Sharing the Dream in Guatemala provides the salary for Amelia, the health promoter at Casa Guatemala.  As the health promoter, Amelia is responsible for health care for all of the children at Casa Guatemala, as well as the surrounding villages.  Her care is essential for the wellbeing of the children and the surrounding communities. Read her March report!

Amelia's position at Casa Guatemala requires a mix of short-term care and education interventions.  This month, Amelia not only treated the sick patients at Casa Guatemala's school and the surrounding communities, but she focused on education with the children and their parents and gave several workshops and talks.  

Her first workshop in March was with the parents of the school children on the topic of family planning.  During the workshop, Amelia explained the importance of family planning, the various methods, and the pros and cons of each method.  In total, 23 mothers attended the workshop. 

Amelia's second workshop in March was with the school children in kindergarten through sixth grade on proper nutrition and nutrients.  So that the children could practice what they learned with a hands-on activity, they made fruit baskets afterwards.  

Another focus of Amelia's work in March was improving communication, both verbal and non-verbal.  She gave several workshops on this topic, one of which was with the older boys and girls at the school and their teachers. The workshop focused on communication, human relations, interpersonal relations, and courtesy.   Amelia also gave a talk to the parents of the school children on improving communication within the family and the effect it has on the family.  Finally, in an effort to improve communication among everyone at Casa Guatemala, Amelia wrote out some rules for communication, which were posted in the school cafeteria.  

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Amelia also accompanied five students from the Casa Guatemala school to a local dentist for follow up care after being seen by a visiting group of dentists.  The students received teeth cleanings, fillings, extractions, and sealants.  Thanks to Amelia, these students were able to not only be seen by the visiting dentists, but they were able to get the follow-up care that they needed after the dentists left.  

​In March, Amelia's duties didn't just consist of providing health care. She was chosen as one of the judges for the school's Mister and Miss Summer contest.   

Please help us to support this life-saving work by making a donation to Sharing the Dream to support Amelia's salary. https://www.sharingthedream.org/donate.html. For $20, you can sponsor a day of Amelia’s important work, or for $400 you can sponsor a full month of health care.

Don't forget, the entire month of May, Sharing the Dream will donate 10% of total orders of $50 or more in our online store to Casa Guatemala's Education program.   Shop now and help to support education in Guatemala.  https://www.sharingthedream.org/online-store.html

For the past several years, Sharing the Dream in Guatemala has sponsored the salary for a health promoter through our partner organization Casa Guatemala. Casa Guatemala is located on the Rio Dulce (sweet river), an eight hour trip away from our offices on Lake Atitlan. The health promoter, Amelia, is responsible for health care for all of the children at Casa Guatemala's school, as well as the surrounding communities. The children from Casa Guatemala come from remote villages and live on-site during the week. Some children stay over the weekends as well due to long travel times. Her care is essential for the wellbeing of the children and the surrounding communities.

Amelia’s position is not just curative health care, but preventative as well. She does workshops with the children and community members on different topics that will help the participants to improve their health and wellness. In February, Amelia held a workshop with the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders about hygiene. The workshop will hopefully help the students to not only have proper hygiene, but to prevent the illnesses that poor hygiene causes.

​Another of Amelia’s responsibilities is to help coordinate visiting medical groups and their activities. In February, Amelia coordinated and accompanied a visiting group of doctors as they held clinics for the school children and some of the surrounding communities. Amelia not only accompanied the visiting group, but she was essential in ensuring that the necessary follow up care was given afterwards.

​In February, Amelia also accompanied sick patients to the local health center down the river to be seen by the doctor there, as well as the nearest laboratory for exams. One of the patients she accompanied to the local health center this month was a young boy who cut his heel. The cut was deep, and the boy ended up receiving 14 stitches in total. Amelia was responsible for overseeing the healing process, and she visited him several times this month to make sure that the injury was clean, correctly dressed, and healing properly.

Please help us to support this life-saving work by making a donation to Sharing the Dream to support Amelia's salary. https://www.sharingthedream.org/donate.html. For $20, you can sponsor a day of Amelia’s important work, or for $400 you can sponsor a full month of health care.
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You can read more about Casa Guatemala's work on their website.