At the McLean Woman’s Club meeting on April 5, member Linda Wheeler described, with visual aids, her continuing work as an onsite volunteer in eastern Guatemala, providing medical aid to infants and children in remote mountain areas. Wheeler works with a program called Operation Baby Rescue, which brings babies and young children from these areas to a “rescue center” in a low-lying village, where medical care is available. The youngsters are usually seriously ill or malnourished, largely because of the lack of clean water in the region. The most serious cases brought down may be rushed to a nearby medical facility for extensive care.
On numerous occasions, Wheeler and her husband have travelled by plane, train, boat and on foot to the remote mountainous areas. Such trips can last up to six hours each way over rough and rocky terrain. Her next trip to Guatemala will take place in November. She had planned the trip for this month, but because mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus will be present until fall in the areas of concern, she is postponing it for drier weather.
The total cost of such a trip is about $1,800. At the Woman’s Club meeting, a collection toward this cost was taken, and club members had brought contributions of clothing, toys, towels and over-the-counter medical supplies.
Operation Baby Rescue partners with a program known as Hope of Life International-Guatemala, which was begun some 30 years ago in the eastern part of the country and serves hundreds of thousands of people each year. Hope of Life-International is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its website address is https://www.hopeoflifeintl.org. A link for Operation Baby Rescue-Guatemala can be found at https://vimeo.com/31150334.