Day 4: San Martín

Today was a busy day for the GenetAssist team in Guatemala City.  We started the day with another impromptu presentation - this time in a pediatric clinic at Hospital San Juan de Dios.  Dr. Juan Carlos Reyes, a pediatrician, suggested that we speak to the group of women and children in the waiting room.  As the team handed out the pamphlets and hung posters, Zoë spoke about the benefits and importance of taking folic acid.  We repeated this process in the pediatric cancer waiting room.  A few of the women asked relevant follow-up questions and a man requested extra pamphlets to give to his sisters.  Since Dr. Graciela Mannucci's spina bifida clinic was at the same hospital, we hoped to reunite with her and visit her clinic.  Unfortunately, she was on vacation, so we left our resources for her to review.

After a quick coffee break at Restaurante San Martín, we went to meet Dr. Eddy René Gonzáles Flores at his new office.  We had met him during our first trip to Guatemala (see post), but he has taken on a new role as the medical director of Genómica: Centro de diagnóstico genético.  We felt that it was important to meet with him again to discuss the current status of cancer genetic services available in Guatemala.  Specifically, we wanted to know what types of screening and diagnostic services he offers, the costs of such services, and the logistics of a referral to his center for a consultation.  Lindsey currently follows a patient in New York who has been diagnosed with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) Syndrome.  The patient's family members, who may also be at risk to have inherited this condition, live in Guatemala City.  We referred these family members to Dr. Gonzáles so that they could receive appropriate education and services.  This is an example of precisely the type of connections we hope to arrange in other countries in the future.

Next we returned to another branch of Restaurante San Martín (the Panera of Guatemala) where we met with Dr. Ludy Rodas, Director of the Reproductive Health Program at the Ministry of Health.  We showed her the resources we made for the folic acid health campaign in person.  She agreed to distribute the pamphlets and posters in the Ministry's health centers.