Albertina Gomez has four children: Anderson, Tono, Marco, and Antonio. Anderson and Tono go to school but the family does not have enough money to send the younger two as well. According to local standards, Albertina is well off - she and her husband have a small store, where they sell soda, chips, and snacks. Her neighbors consider her lucky. She can afford to buy enough corn and beans to feed all of her children and her family even has chicken during the holidays.

Albertina and her husband do not want any more children. They know that pharmacies in the city sell condoms, but they do not know how to use them. We helped Albertina find an appropriate form of contraception - we give her a shot every three months. Now she does not need to worry about an unplanned pregnancy.

Most families in Guatemalan villages have 4-12 children but cannot afford to feed half of them.

Martina Sanchez is pregnant. Recently, she has been getting headaches, so she came to us for pain relief. Martina was surprised when we asked her to step into the restroom and collect her urine in a cup. She was even more surprised when the volunteers urgently got her a ride to the city to be hospitalized. Martina never suspected that she had preeclampsia - a complication which can kill both mother and child. Among other symptoms, one of the signs of preeclampsia is the presence of certain proteins in the urine, which can be easily detected with testing strips.

These same testing strips can help us discover problems with patients’ kidneys, liver, and bile duct, as well as urinary tract infections. A 100-count package is sold for $10.

In this case, 10 cents can save two lives. We have many of these cases.

Roberto Garcia has not been eating like normal. His parents brought him to the clinic and asked the doctor to bring back his appetite. They did not think to mention that the child has epilepsy. He was diagnosed a long time ago, everyone is used to it and knows to place a pencil in his mouth on time. Roberto’s family does not think one seizure a day is too much.

Roberto has never been medicated - his parents do not have the time or money to go to the capital and receive free medicine, which costs too much at local pharmacies. Roberto does not go to school - his peers there tease him. Teachers think he is possessed by the devil and are scared of his seizures.

The treatment prescribed by the volunteer doctors at Health & Help turned out to be too expensive even for our clinic. However, this medicine not only saves people from seizures, but gives children like Roberto a chance to get an education.

Maria Fernandez is only 65, but everyone who sees her thinks she is at least 80. Maria has been cooking over an open fire her entire life. She has had trouble breathing for a long time, but she tries not to focus on her symptoms.

Maria wanted a new pair of boots for her granddaughter. She came by the clinic after a neighbor told her we give out free shoes for children. Since she was here already, Maria decided to see a doctor as well. During her examination, we suspected she had asthma and immediately had her try out an inhaler. After a few minutes, Maria was able to breathe easily for the first time in many years.

Maria was given several inhalers to take home. Though it was hard to teach her how to use them, the doctors succeeded.

Many people in our village do not have access to gas stoves so women have to cook over open fires. More than half of our asthma patients are women.

Rosalina has type 2 diabetes, though she was healthy and working in the fields not so long ago. Four years ago, her daughter was diagnosed with high blood sugar, and six months later, Rosa herself was diagnosed. Despite suffering from motion sickness, Rosa used to travel by bus for two days to Managua in order to get insulin for her daughter. Still, her daughter passed away at only 14 years old. After the death of her child,

Rosa’s health worsened and insulin became necessary for her to stay alive. Luckily, she no longer needs to go to Managua - she gets her insulin at our clinic. She has six other children, and more than anything, she fears dying. One third of our patients have diabetes. Each one of them has children or parents.