The 'Pavillon de los Niňos' Facility
- Our largest undertaking - The Children's Pavilion serving the northwest
- A facility for physically and mentally challenged children (and adults)
- This cause will initially provide physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, classes for the deaf and for the blind.
- Classes for disabled children who typically do not and/or cannot attend school.
- Already more than 100 special-needs children await the opening - and we expect to serve about 300 children
- In 2009 we purchased land, built the entry, a huge retaining wall, and storage.
- January through May of 2010 we constructed the shells of the buildings necessary to open/start
- Subsequent trips will add to the facilities and function for this never-before tried solution
- Knox Church (in Vankleek Hill Ontario) and friends have already helped with some of the construction costs and several visited the project to provide hands-on assistance…
The Laurie Anne
EMERGENCY ROOM AND OPERATING ROOM
The Andy Gump Foundation received a request from a small Catholic Hospital in Jacaltenango, Guatemala - the only hospital covering a large part of the North-West mountainous corner of that country.
The hospital's small operating room (built in the early 60's of adobe and wood) addresses all of the operations and emergencies that come from the large surrounding area. It is also used by visiting groups of doctors/specialists for cleft-palate, cataract, gynecological, and many other scheduled procedures. The problem is they can only plan for one patient at a time and many are turned away or sent to the city of Huehuetenango, almost 100 miles and 3-hours of twisting road. Worse, if an emergency arises while a visiting medical group is present - many of their scheduled surgeries are bumped - never to take place as the visiting doctors have a limited scheduling window.
Dave and Brenda were asked if they could get/manage/build an updated additional operating room. They visited the site and identified a number of issues required to prepare the old store room for construction of the new Emergency Room (primer nivel) and the upper blank slab to become the new Operating Room (segundo nivel).
On a follow-up trip, along with a huge list that grew significantly, Dave spent time with the sisters (nuns) and doctors in Jacaltenango - and a lot of time with friend and architect, Daniel of DECO (www.decoarquitecturagt.com).
The addition of the triage/emergency room will save lives - able to better assist in emergency situations (vehicle accident/earthquake/landslide) without needing to turn people away. The new operating facility would allow more access, permit better 'outside' aid, and reduce postoperative infections.
When the contract was signed, Dave and Brenda forwarded the deposit of 97,000 Quetzales so material purchases and mobilization could be started.
Construction of the new “Laurie-Anne” Emergency Room and Operating Room began August 1, 2015. (Dedicated in the name of Dave's sister who passed away in February 2015.)
