August, 2018
Health Talents International News
You have a one-time opportunity to honor someone special by donating a new hospital bed in their name.
More information can be found below, please click on the picture to donate.
Improving Our Serve…Our Service
Charles Swindoll, in his 2004 book entitled “Improving Your Serve,” challenged us to develop a servant’s heart. If you are reading this article, you are already numbered among those with servant hearts. If you are inclined to help us improve our serve and up our game, please read on.

Our board approved a modest $100,000 capital campaign in early August to improve our service, to upgrade some equipment and facilities. We are replacing our sixties era hospital beds, gurneys, eye exam chair and slit lamp. (If you think I’m exaggerating, check out the photos below.) The laundry room is being remodeled to adapt to ever growing demands, we’re replacing one operating room table, dental lights, a dental compressor, eye surgery hand pieces, adding a ligature vessel sealing device and new laparoscopic surgical equipment.

And we have a $25,000 matching challenge grant
to kick off the campaign

A dollar for dollar match up to $25,000 for all that is raised by September 30, 2018. With your help, we can hit 50% of our objective in five weeks and get those beds and eye exam equipment ordered.
If you are like me, and not only want to help, but honor someone you hold dear, you can choose to provide a new hospital bed or gurney for $750. Each bed or gurney will have a brass plaque recognizing your gift and the individual(s) you wish to honor. A photo of your bed, and the first patient blessed through your generosity, will be mailed to you as part of our dedication week ceremonies.

For those who wondered when some of our ancient equipment would be modernized, the time to improve our serve is now. Please join us, join me and my family, as we pour a bit more of ourselves into the God-glorifying ministry that is…Health Talents International.
Help us replace this equipment while honoring someone special
"Why we serve"
with Dr. Stephen Harvey
Blurry as the Big E
It’s as plain as the big E on the eye chart…except when it’s not. Sometimes that chart gets blurry for our patients, sometimes our patients begin to blur as well. We see so many sweet faces with the same complaint. “I can’t see as well as I used to.” Most of these faces are wrinkled, brows are furrowed, often accompanied by a spouse whose eyes are full of concern. In a country where few have the luxury of an annual eye exam, Health Talents provides a rare opportunity for excellent care. 

Initial assessment is done with the ubiquitous eye chart;”what is the first letter you see?” Patient after patient is assessed, results charted until they begin to blur. This past July, we were in the process of determining who would be a candidate for corrective lenses and who would be a candidate for cataract surgery. One abuela (grandmother), hand held attentively by her husband, failed the test miserably. Not only could she not tell us that the first letter on the eye chart is the great big E, but she wasn’t sure exactly where the eye chart was located. All eyes on the room began to focus on her!. 

This case was a little bit out of the ordinary, we needed to see if her eyes even reacted to light..Yes! She could see the light! Then our volunteer, only a few feet away, held up three fingers. "How many many fingers does she have?" we asked. “Ten” she responded. The optician, asked our patient co-worker to move a little closer and abuela was asked again, “how many fingers does she have?” Abuela responded, “it doesn’t matter how close or far she is, she has ten fingers.” 

She was exactly right. We are glad to report she had successful cataract surgery and now can correctly answer our rephrased question, “How many fingers do you see?” Mission accomplished. Life changed. God glorified.

You can help "Send the light, the blessed Gospel light"...better yet, bring the light. Volunteer to join us.

Below: The new eye exam chair; Abuela and her eye exam with old equipment

2019 Trip Calendar

Our 2019 trip calendar is now set with the last details finalized this week.Please be aware of one change to our surgical team schedule and trip fees!

When registering for a trip, you now have the option of returning to the US on Friday and forgoing the trip to Antigua. Just click the appropriate field on the trip form. As Clinica Ezell celebrates sixteen years of operation, we find many of our volunteers have been to Antigua on more than a dozen occasions and are anxious to return home instead of enjoying a day relaxing and sight-seeing. We want to make this easy for them!

Our 2019 trip fee for surgical trips is $750, though it will only be $650 if you forgo the Antigua portion of the trip. The $100 savings is equivalent to the cost of lodging at Porta Hotel Antigua, the evening and breakfast buffets.

Please join us for a week of living, loving and serving alongside our Guatemala ministry team. Allow your actions to proclaim, to speak Jesus and fill your heart!
 
2019 Mobile/Surgical Dat