 In late February through early March of 2009, a group of 35 physicians, dentists, medical and dental students, pharmacists and volunteers served the people of Guatemala. The group was lead by Alan Schalscha, DO and John Burdick PhD, both faculty at Midwestern University in Glendale Arizona and coordinators for a branch of DOCARE International, a non-profit organization which provides medical care to developing countries around the world.
Four students of the Class of 2010 from the Arizona Podiatric Medicine Program joined the 2009 DOCARE medical mission team. They were: Donavon Wright, Ben Tanner, Dave Goforth, and Dave McKenzie. They were accompanied the first week by the Director of the Arizona Podiatric Medicine Program and President of the AACPM Council of the Deans, Jeff Page, DPM and his colleague Terry Smith, DPM from Salt Lake City, UT.
The group began the two-week mission in a remote mountain village named San Andreas located about an hour outside of the colonial city of Antigua, the former capitol of Guatemala. The mission has been serving this people for a number of years and has made many lasting relationships. During the first week, the team headquartered in a catholic convent. Breakfast was served at 7 am, lunch at noon and dinner at 7 pm promptly. The service rendered by the nuns and the “Madre” was unprecedented.
Each day began with a one mile hike uphill into the center of the town. There, they transformed the town municipal center into a clinic with general medicine, OB/GYN, optometry, dentistry, podiatry, dermatology, pharmacy and a laboratory. The site was beautiful to behold each day as their tired legs finally made it to the clinic. There were hundreds of Guatemalans lined up at the front entrance. The females usually were shorn in brightly-colored native dresses—the men in their work clothes usually covered with soil from early morning chores in the fields.
 Throughout that week, there was a constant flow with little time to rest in between patients. The podiatry team saw patients presenting with all sorts of different abnormalities. There were multiple patients presenting with paronychia, others with plantar fascial pain, and yet others with osteoarthritis. The most interesting presentation was a young woman with subungual fibromas indicative of tuberous sclerosis. Another young girl presented with spinal dysraphism and the tragic loss of extrinsic and intrinsic lower leg functions secondary to it.
Along with podiatric care, the students were able to work in the general medicine clinics giving physical exams, knee and shoulder injections, and aid with osteopathic manipulation techniques. Some were fortunate to work with the dental team on tooth extraction. The dermatology clinic was also very busy and a frequented area of service.
The second week was spent at other remote villages just outside of Antigua. The bus rides were usually bumpy, hot, muggy, but enjoyable. There, the clinical conditions were not quite as favorable as in San Andreas. Many times the students and physicians would find themselves outside under a tree or in a cramped corner having a face to face visit with a local patient. Other times the village would close down school for the day in order to utilize the facility for patient care. The children loved to see people from the United States and they seemed to enjoy their well-child exams mostly because they got a pack of vitamins and a bright toothbrush at the conclusion.
The time spent in Guatemala was not all strictly long clinical hours, however. The group was fortunate enough to have time to see the beautiful country landscape. A relaxing weekend trip to Lake Atitlan was had by all. There they stayed at a beautiful hotel on the shores of the lake with a breath-taking view of the three volcanoes surrounding it. They reminisced over the previous week while sipping pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris at poolside. A brave group of students hiked up the active volcano Pacaya and were a mere 20 feet from the live flowing lava.
 Great working relationships were forged as students from all different health-care backgrounds spent down-time together and worked interdependently in the clinics. It was a wonderful opportunity for these podiatric medical students to share the extent of their training and general medicine knowledge base with colleagues from different medical disciplines. It is safe to say that levels of respect were increased.
The week concluded with a beautiful dinner atop the Tre Fertelli Italian Restaurant in Antigua. There, the group enjoyed the company of newfound friends and future medical colleagues. A presentation was given by Dr. Alan Schalscha wherein he told the group that 3,800 patients had been seen by the group during the past two weeks.
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