North Vancouver medical staff provide lifesaving surgeries in Guatemala

A group of Lions Gate Hospital medical staff are packing their bags for a week-long trip to give lifesaving surgeries to people in Antigua, Guatemala starting Friday.

The 35 members of Team Broken Earth Vancouver, a branch of a national volunteer-based registered medical charity, will provide dozens of gynecological, orthopedic and general surgeries over a span of seven days.

“Through these missions, we are able to provide not only surgeries but hope and healing to those who have little access to such resources,” said Kristi Lange, a North Vancouver operating room nurse and leader of Team Broken Earth Vancouver. “The patients we serve often live in extreme poverty and in rural, isolated regions, making this work necessary and deeply impactful.”

A majority of the patients are Mayan, an Indigenous population in Guatemala, who have had little or no access to health care.

This marks the fifth year of volunteers going to the country. Team Broken Earth Vancouver is collaborating with Partner for Surgery, a non-profit in Guatemala that helps co-ordinate international and local health workers to provide care in rural areas.

Lange said when patients are identified needing surgery and don’t have funds or resources to get the care they need, they enter a database system with Partner for Surgery. Then, they are introduced to a “health promoter” for an area. The health promoter helps as a translator between the healthcare workers and patient and provides support in the recovery period.

Lange has been instrumental in supporting medical care missions in places around the world.

When a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, Lange quickly went to help alongside a team of medical care workers from across Canada. This eventually formed Team Broken Earth, started by Dr. Andrew Furey, who is now the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The team has grown, doing relief work and assistance in Nepal, Bangladesh, Nicaragua and Ethiopia.

Lange officially started the Vancouver branch 10 years ago, as she wanted to continue doing this work, but also getting others involved.

“I was amazed at how many people wanted to volunteer their time and expertise to go do this kind of work,” Lange said. “It was very easy to put together a team … and it’s just been that way ever since.”

The volunteer team is comprised of medical care professionals who have gone on the trips for years, but also those going for the first time like Signy Coatsworth.

Coatsworth has been an operating room nurse at Lions Gate Hospital since 2017 and is excited to help those who need it most, but also gain perspective.

“I think a lot of people are always complaining about the healthcare system. But at the end of the day, we are very fortunate to have access to healthcare that is, for the most part, free,” Coatsworth said. “It’s important that we’re offering a service that is otherwise unattainable.”

After Coatsworth heard about the mission from other colleagues, it made her want to take part in continuing this work.

“[They] feel really proud of the work that they’ve been doing, and everybody comes back with amazing stories about the people they’re meeting and the kinds of surgeries they’re able to do,” Coatsworth said. “It’s always been something that’s been of interest to me.”

Health care workers from St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver will also be participating, Lange said.

The mission will run until Dec. 1.

Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. [email protected]