Service in Guatemala

Ryan Klinker

Continuing a 4-year effort to screen patients and treat medical issues in the underserved communities of Guatemala, a team of two professors and four students from the Department of Public & Community Health spent 12 days in the Santa Rosa region assessing over 400 residents.

The ongoing project is in partnership with the Lynchburg, Va., church Iglesia de Las Americas and made possible by a grant from Liberty’s Center for Research & Scholarship. This year’s group also partnered with organizations local to the Santa Rosa area — Manos Unidas, a nonprofit, and six supportive church communities.

The team was led by department chair Dr. Oswald Attin and assistant professor and instructional mentor Dr. Gineska Castillo. To prepare for their work in Guatemala, the students did research on cultural relevancy, social norms, and environmental aspects that may affect patients’ health and their access to healthcare. The students used the trip as a practicum to gain skills and experiences that will benefit their future careers.

Among their patients was a young man who worked at the team’s hotel. A screening revealed he was severely anemic, so much so that they took him to a local clinic for further testing. The man tested positive for H. pylori bacteria infection of the gut, an issue that had been untreated for a significant amount of time and had taken a toll on his health.

Attin said the man was deeply impacted by the care and support he received from the Liberty team. “He was so grateful and amazed by the love and care he had received that he decided to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior,” Attin said. “Our department’s mission verse is Proverbs 13:17, ‘A faithful envoy brings healing,’ and we witnessed that firsthand.”

Liberty’s Department of Public & Community Health will continue its work in Guatemala next summer in the Puerto Barrios region.

Read more about the impact this team had in Guatemala by scanning the QR code: