News

PRESENTATION SISTERS OPEN NEW CLINIC IN GUATEMALA

Submitted by Sr. Stephanie Still

As of October 2009, Concepcion Tutapa, a town in the western highlands of Guatemala, has two new residents and a new medical clinic, Clinica San Jose. Sister Joanna Bruno, Presentation San Francisco, and Sister Liz Remily, Presentation Aberdeen, again answered the call to provide much needed medical care, for a remote area in Central America.

Collaborating for decades in missionary work, Sister Joanna and Sister Liz were invited by the local Bishop, Alvaro Ramazzini, Father Fernando de Jesus Cono Arenales and his parishioners to come to their mountain hamlet.  Says Sister Joanna, “In our thirty plus years of mission work we always wait for an invitation before setting up ‘camp’ in a foreign country.  We hold meetings with representatives of the community to hear their ideas and assess the needs.  Presently, the nearest health facility is three hours distance from town on a bumpy road to the state capital.  Obviously, we cannot do all that they need but we always start with humble beginnings and see where it goes from there.”

Working out of a garage, Sister Joanna and Sister Liz attend to the health needs of the people and hear their personal stories during private consultations.  “Preparing this temporary clinic space meant clearing out the chickens and other varmints that were residing inside,” says Sister Joanna, “as well as washing down the floors and walls.  Finding and modifying makeshift furniture gave the clinic an eclectic rustic look.  With a little creativity we made the garage into a healthy space for:a ‘record room’ which amounts to a Xerox box, a clinical ‘laboratory’ consisting of a microscope and two vital centrifuges, a patient ‘ward’ with two cots and space for prenatal care ultrasound. Patients get their consult free but pay a modest fee for medicine and lab tests.  A generous financial sliding scale also includes paying with work on the new clinic or with fresh vegetables.”

The clinic’s patients are farmers who grow corn and raise sheep.  The people live from day to day, more so now than in previous years.  The road to Concepcion Tutapa is windy and steep.  “At nine thousand feet altitude the road literally ends here, in the clouds,” says Sister Joanna.  

Speaking of their mission, Sister Joana says, “By doing this work alongside the local community and other missionaries, we hope to encourage a sense of dignity while fostering courage and peace.  Without the encouragement and support of the Presentation Sisters of San Francisco and Aberdeen we would not be able to do this vital work for the church in the Third World.”