It is with great pleasure that we WELCOME New Medical Director Dr. Ilsy Córdova to the Primeros Pasos team! Dr. Córdova comes to us with a sincere passion and ample experience in providing quality medical attention to children and families in rural Guatemala. With her support, the Clinic will further its stride toward lasting achievements in improved health for the Palajunoj Valley!
This year, choose a gift that makes a difference...
With the Give of Healthoptions, you will find theperfectcharitable gift that you can make in the name of someone you care about while also directly supporting the health needs of the thousands of impoverished children and families in rural Guatemala!
This fall, medical and education teams provided basic care to children at twelve day care centers, expanding last year’s reach by two centers. To-date, over 225 children have been attended to as part of this collaborate effort with one of the Guatemalan agencies for children’s services.
As an innovative approach to dental care Mobile Dental Clinics were introduced the later part of the year taking dental services on the road to the furthest Valley communities – Bella Vista and Las Majadas. In total, the Clinic Dentist extracted 172 infected teeth from 80 children and adults.
As you can tell, it has been a year full of rewarding work serving the residents of rural Guatemala. Looking ahead to 2012, we are excited to continue these programs and to make formidable expansions. The Primeros Pasos team is thrilled to launch its Nutrition Program, aimed to combat the high rates of chronic malnutrition amongst children in the Palajunoj Valley with both nutrition classes and food supplements for up to 25 designated families. This next year, Primeros Pasos also hopes to create a Valley-cased Scholarship Program that will help adolescents continue their education beyond the sixth grade and increase their career opportunities. Another new component, Primeros Pasos is in the process of planning a reproductive health education curriculum appropriate for High School students to enhance outreach to the older students in the Palajunoj Valley.
Considering the tasks ahead, please take a moment to support the life-changing work happening in the rural Guatemala by participating in the Gift of Health campaign this season. It's an opportunity to give a meaningful gift on behalf of someone you love. The support we receive from generous contributors is what makes the work at Primeros Pasos and CHILA possible.
Happy Thanksgiving and warm tidings for the holidays!
Even as the Guatemalan school year draws to a close, Primeros Pasos is keeping busy in the Palajunoj Valley. We have officially finished the Healthy Schools programming for the final public school. All ten schools in the Valley have completed their “health field trips” to the clinic, getting both medical care and health education.
In September, we contracted with a professional Dentist, Dr. Cinthia Velásquez, who will be working with us through the end of the year. We also have three new volunteers helping out here at Primeros Pasos: two in the Children’s Health Education Program and also in Development and one volunteer laboratory technician.
While mobile medical clinics have been bringing healthcare and health education to the isolated communities in the Valley for a few years now, this October marked the first time we have ever had mobile dental clinics. Volunteers went out with Dr. Cinthia and pulled over 50 severely infected teeth from students at Bella Vista.
On October 1, the Primeros Pasos team said goodbye to the last rotation of eight medical students from la Universidad de San Carlos who are off to complete their hospital rotation. This week, we welcome eight new students for their two-month clinical rotation with us.
Our team of Children’s Health Educators has been finishing up the year completing student-selected 6th grade projects. The class of 6th graders chooses a topic that is important to them (environment, domestic violence, education, etc.) and a project that goes with that. Last week, our volunteers helped finish desks at Xepache and this week they planted trees in Tierra Colorada Baja.
In coordination with our NGO partner, the Quetzaltrekkers, we held another successful monthly in-country benefit. Also, in conjunction with the TematicaRevista, a local magazine headed by the in-county Clinic President, we had the first ever photography auction and exhibition to benefit Primeros Pasos. These in-country fundraisers are used to support all Primeros Pasos programming.
Primeros Pasos is very excited to start a nutrition program for the Valley. On average, more than 50% of children we see through the Healthy Schools program suffers from some level of chronic malnutrition, we are looking to start a program to treat these children and help to support and educate their families. Over the past month, we established agreement with GlobeMed‘s Chapter at Georgetown University and AGRUEGA, a local company in the Valley, in support of the program. Together, we will cover the program costs for a Nutritionist, Laboratory Technician, educational materials and the purchase of multivitamins and fortified atol (hot beverage). We are excited to get this program off the ground in 2012!
Stay tuned! Next on our list of Primeros Pasos projects is go out to the local daycare centers in the Palajunoj Valley to bring medical care and health education to the Valley’s littlest residents. Additionally, the Inter-American Health Alliance, our parent organization, has already begun plans for a fall 2011 fundraiser benefiting in D.C.
In mid-August, Primeros Pasos was fortunate to receive a visit from founder Brent Savoie and friends. Brent continues his dedication and commitment to the Clinic via the technical and fundraising efforts of the Inter-American Health Alliance(IAHA). Primeros Pasos staff and new board members were very pleased to have an opportunity to meet again in-person with IAHA representatives and strategize about objectives to enhance current Clinic services and programs.
This summer, the generous efforts of Temática LaRevista and La Cocina de Chatia marked the start to an annual tradition of board member-sponsored fundraisers here in Quetzaltenango. Their month-long Photography Contest and Awareness Campaign culminated with a Photography Exposition on Sun, August 14 at the Pradera Xela to auction off the top ten photographs submitted of Guatemalan scenery and culture. All proceeds will be donated to Primeros Pasos in support of the continued provision of quality medical services to the children and families of the Palajunoj Valley.
Among the event attendees, Primeros Pasos staff and volunteers participated in the auction with pride!
The summer kicked-off to an amazing start with a tremendous amount of support from foreign volunteers, USAC externos, current Clinic staff and board members ~ providing the highest quality of services to Valley residents was top on everyone's list!
2011 Summer Agenda
- Mobile Clinics to Las Majadas & Bella Vista
- Lab Evaluation & Technician Manuel
- Newsletter
- General Adult Health Education Curriculum for Parents and Teachers
- Pharmacy Analysis
- New Primeros Pasos Poster
- Establishing a First Aid Curriculum
- Electing a New Board of Directors for the Clinic
...and lots of fun!
Thank you Primeros Pasos team for your dedication toward accomplishing these goals and the Clinic's overarching mission!
April showers sure do bring May flowers ~ last month was a great success for Primeros Pasos as we planted some very important seeds for fruitful sustainability through permanent membership in the GlobalGiving community and over $1,000 of goods sold during the Bidding for Good auction!
During GlobalGiving's April 2011 Open Challenge, Primeros Pasos garnered the support of 81 individual donors and $4,886 to secure access to international volunteers and exclusive partnerships with Gap, Dell and ebay among many others. Many thanks to all those who participated in the exciting, month-long activities and for sharing in our accomplishments toward improving health in rural Guatemala!
Primeros Pasos welcomed Ambassador of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands Jan-Jaap van de Velde on April 18, 2011, for a tour of the Clinic and a brief charla about healthcare in rural Guatemala.
The Ambassador became more aware of the Clinic’s efforts as a result of Dutch-born Marloes Nijboer, Primeros Paso’s esteemed Assistant Women’s Program Director. It was an honor to make the Ambassador’s acquaintance and we hope he returns soon!
It is with great pleasure that we WELCOME New Medical Director Dr. Ilsy Córdova to the Primeros Pasos team! Dr. Córdova comes to us with a sincere passion and ample experience in providing quality medical attention to children and families in rural Guatemala. With her support, the Clinic will further its stride toward lasting achievements in improved health for the Palajunoj Valley! 
This fall, medical and education teams provided basic care to children at twelve day care centers, expanding last year’s reach by two centers. To-date, over 225 children have been attended to as part of this collaborate effort with one of the Guatemalan agencies for children’s services. 
In September, we contracted with a professional Dentist, Dr. Cinthia Velásquez, who will be working with us through the end of the year. We also have three new volunteers helping out here at Primeros Pasos: two in the Children’s Health Education Program and also in Development and one volunteer laboratory technician. 
Our team of Children’s Health Educators has been finishing up the year completing student-selected 6th grade projects. The class of 6th graders chooses a topic that is important to them (environment, domestic violence, education, etc.) and a project that goes with that. Last week, our volunteers helped finish desks at Xepache and this week they planted trees in Tierra Colorada Baja. 
se children and help to support and educate their families. Over the past month, we established agreement with GlobeMed‘s Chapter at Georgetown University and AGRUEGA, a local company in the Valley, in support of the program. Together, we will cover the program costs for a Nutritionist, Laboratory Technician, educational materials and the purchase of multivitamins and fortified atol (hot beverage). We are excited to get this program off the ground in 2012!
On Tues, July 5, 2011, in a General Assembly Meeting held at the Clinic, Asociación Primeros Pasos elected the 
