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Friday, September 7, 2001
Equipment on way to Guatemala hospital
$100,000 in medical goods are donated here to go to Clinica Corpus Christi
By Jeremy Schwartz
Caller-Times

Paul Iverson/Caller-Times

Sara Merdes, founder of Clinica Corpus Christi in Guatemala, and Steve Woerner, the Corpus Christi Medical Center’s chief executive officer, stand outside the closed Rehabilitation Hospital of South Texas as others load donated medical equipment onto a truck that will transport the items to a boat bound for Guatemala.

   Two decades ago, the Guatemalan town of Patzun lacked even the most basic medical care, as residents turned to roadside pharmacists to get well.
   But thanks to the efforts of a group of Corpus Christi residents, Patzun now has its own hospital - called Clinica Corpus Christi - the only one of its kind in its region. And soon the hospital will be equipped with more than $100,000 worth of donated medical equipment.
   "Patzun is going to have an American-style hospital," said Steve Woerner, chief executive officer of Corpus Christi Medical Center, which donated the bulk of the equipment.
   On Thursday, volunteers loaded up an 18-wheel tractor-trailer with hospital beds, wheelchairs, catheters, syringes, an anesthesia machine and more than 1,000 pairs of glasses.
   The truck will drop its container off at the port in Freeport, where a boat will bring it to Puerto Barrios in Guatemala. A Guatemalan truck will then carry the equipment through the mountains to the city of Patzun, population 48,000.
   "It's awesome to think they will have a complete hospital right in Patzun," said Clinica Corpus Christi founder Sara Merdes. "Getting all the equipment to Patzun is a dream come true because it's been a long time getting there."
   Merdes had originally hoped to send the equipment by truck, but the process of driving it through Mexico and into Guatemala proved too difficult.
   Then, a few months ago, she learned of a Rotary Club-affiliated, Oklahoma-based group called Humanitarian Aid Resources and Transportation, which not only arranged the boat trip, but arranged for funding through a Rotary Club in Guatemala City and one in suburban Tulsa.
   The group's president and director, Jessica Settle, said she arranged for the equipment to be carried by Dole Food Co. trucks and a container returning to Central America after dropping off produce in the United States. Paying commercial rates, the trip would have cost Clinica Corpus Christi about $3,000, Settle said.
   The Clinica was founded by Merdes in the early 1980s, at the height of Guatemala's civil war. Since then, the clinic has grown steadily, fueled by donations from Corpus Christi residents.

How to help
Anyone wishing to donate to or volunteer for Clinica Corpus Christi’s medical efforts in Guatemala should call 881-8663 after 5:30 p.m.

   Several times a year, local doctors and dentists visit Patzun and neighboring villages to provide free medical care. In April, an eye doctor visited Patzun for the first time and as a result, the non-profit organization In Focus is sending 26 cases of eyeglasses.
   And Corpus Christi residents are working to drill a well in Pachut, a village near Patzun where fouled drinking water from natural wells causes sickness among residents.
   As part of Thursday's loading, the Rev. Bob Dunn, a priest at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church and vice president of Clinica Corpus Christi, blessed the event.
   "We ask your blessings upon this equipment, that it get safely to Patzun," Dunn said. "We pray for the health of all the citizens of Patzun."


Contact Jeremy Schwartz at 886-3618 or schwartzj@caller.com

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