Within days of the disaster, the K’aslimaal Board leased a former hostel for backpackers, and immediately workmen and volunteers began transforming it into an emergency hospital. Miraculously, sixteen days after the devastating mudslide, the first emergency cesarean saved a young mother’s life. Within time, the living room, with fireplace and a view, was fitted with overhead surgical lights. A tiny kitchen became the laboratory. Offices were added on the porches, and a ramp was built to connect the OR to the patient rooms. The old wooden building is cramped, musty, and the patient bathrooms are nearly impossible to access. The temporary location is a real step down from the hospital built in Panabaj in the 60’s which was destroyed by the mudslide. The people of Atitlán deserve a permanent hospital.

On to Future HA