Dear
Friends,
Happy New Year! 2020 was a challenging year for all of us and
created chaos and hardship for our families in Santa Maria de Jesus.
We were able
to continue providing healthcare and educational services in Santa Maria although under very different circumstances
SANA Healthcare Clinic
Our clinic was closed from March 15 until June 17 due to the pandemic and government regulations. Once we reopened, social distancing and face masks were required. Patients’ temperatures were taken at the door and if a patient had an elevated reading, he/she was placed in a restricted area where our physician could assess the patient. Fortunately, we did not have any patients present to us with coronavirus
symptoms.
Many patients were hesitant to come out at first, but they slowly started to seek health
care and by year-end, we had provided care for 4,318 patients. Since opening our clinic in late 2011, we have provided 46,119 patient care visits in Santa Maria.
SANA Preschool and Children's Library
Our preschool was closed in mid-March when the pandemic began. In July, we were allowed to provide remote lessons for our children. This presented many challenges: The children do not have computers or internet access, many do not have electricity in their homes, and their parents do not read or write well. Also, the children were restricted to their homes due to the pandemic and could not come to the clinic for their
lessons.
So we restructured the lesson plans and our teacher met with each parent, individually, to go over the assignments for the week so the parent could then teach his/her child at home. The parent then returned the following week with the homework and picked up the new assignments. Of the 80 children initially enrolled in the preschool, only 42 participated in remote classes. Many parents were too afraid to come to the
clinic.
Of the 42 participating children, 20 were very malnourished. We provided supplemental food bags to those children. Our children’s library remained closed all year. However, we did use our library resources with the remote lesson plans.
SANA Helping in the Community
Families in Santa Maria sheltered in place for 3
months. They were unable to work, the crops rotted in the fields, and many were starving. To help address the starvation/malnutrition problem, made much worse by the pandemic, we offered supplemental food bags to families that came to our clinic and needed the nutritional support. Each bag contained: 5 pounds of corn flour, 1 liter of cooking oil, 5 pounds of beans, 5 pounds of rice, 5 pounds of Incaparina (a protein powder formula for drinking), 4
packages of pasta, and ½ pound of salt. This provides enough supplemental food to help a family of 4 for one month. More than 400 bags were distributed in 2020 and we will continue providing these bags in 2021.
We are grateful that we have generous donors, like you, who continue to support our work and allow us to help the people of Santa Maria. For more information on our programs, please visit our updated website at: www.guatemalasana.com
Best wishes to all of you for a healthy, safe
2021.
Rose Baglia
Executive Director
Guatemala SANA Children’s Project Operational Board of Directors:
Becky Lanier,
Chairman
Dr. Rafael Espada, Vice
Chairman
Grace Thee,
Secretary-Treasurer
Rose Baglia, Executive
Director
Donna Bolt,
Member
Brady Edwards,
Member
Nicole Kuppersmith,
Member
Richard Meadow,
Member
Newsletter design and maintenance donated by Dakus Design Group, Cypress, Texas
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