Backpack Journalism 2012: Guatemala and Nicaragua

Can't save them all

By Andrea Castillo

GRANADA, NICARAGUA _ Tita groaned in pain. An intravenous (IV) catheter stuck out from her neck, a blood transfusion underway. At that moment, she had about a 10 percent chance of survival.

A two-month-old black and white puppy, Tita arrived at the World Vets Surgical Training Center with severe anemia, intestinal parasites, dehydration and low blood sugar. The worst of her dilemma was parvo — a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease.

Tita’s owner Hazel Roman brought her to the clinic at 9 a.m. in tears. Roman said the puppy had been in her care for two weeks and she was already attached. Tita was part of the family.

“My poor dog”, Roman said. “I don’t want her to suffer anymore.” 

With good intentions, Roman said she gave Tita an over-the-counter deworming medicine. The unknown medicine, however, gave the dog an adverse reaction, causing her already depleting condition to spiral downward.

Roman left the World Vets clinic with high hopes.

Lassi's tumor

 By Andrea Castillo

GRANADA, NICARAGUA _ Lassi staggered into the clinic. A large bandana was wrapped around her belly that hung low, almost touching the ground.

The German Sheppard winced as veterinarians checked her body, her screams suppressed with a muzzle. As the bandana came off, Lassi’s five-pound tumor was revealed.

Lassi’s tumor had been building over the last year. Ana Goussen, the dog’s owner, said it began as a collection of small tumors. As time wore on, the tumors lumped together, making it difficult for Lassi to move around.

Goussen said she had already been advised by multiple Nicaraguan veterinarians to have Lassi euthanized. Having owned the dog for seven years, Goussen continued taking Lassi to different clinics to see if any would give her a different prognosis.

Two days before being brought into the World Vets clinic, Lassi’s tumor ruptured. The open wound was easily infectable and within a few more days, Lassi would have died.

“When Lassi suffers, I suffer,” Goussen said. “I was going to have her put down even though it would hurt from the bottom of my heart, but if World Vets can try to save her it would be much better.”

A team of surgeons removed Lassi’s tumor in an operation that took about an hour. Because the surgery was so extensive, the team decided to keep the dog overnight to monitor her recovery and control her pain.

By the following morning, Lassi was able to stand up and walk around the clinic, tumor-free and healing well.

Goussen said she knew the dog would survive because she was left in good hands. She said people who have dogs with tumors like Lassi’s should seek help before taking the animal’s life away.

“Nicaragua is a very poor country, so many people don’t have the money to treat dogs like Lassi because the operations are too expensive,” Goussen said. “Thanks to God and to World Vets, I still have my pretty dog. Now I am happy.” 

Veterinarian Joe Zulty kept a biopsy sample of Lassi's tumor to study his own clinic in Maryland. Once the tumor type has been determined, World Vets leaders will check up on Lassi during the next volunteer service project in Nicaragua. 

Clinic brings basic care to rural villages

By Stephanie Schendel

When Hearts in Motion medical staff told 70-year-old Herminia that she needed to go to the doctor, she nodded, and said she would go as soon as she could. The volunteer staff knew she wouldn't.

Her blood pressure was extremely high --- 210/100 -- and with that level, the medical staff said the woman could have a stroke. 

In situations like this, the best the clinic can do is tell her to drink water, give her a small baggy of Asprin, and tell her to see a doctor immediately. 

The organization also notifies the public health department, which is provides care and medication for diabetes and high blood pressure. However the department rarely has enough medication to care for those who need it, said Karen Scheeringa-Parra the founder of HIM. 

Nicaragua: Dangerously Debilitated

By Andrea Castillo

GRANADA, NICARAGUA _ Quivering all over, a dirty, one-month-old puppy with a large pot-belly whimpered as a veterinarian injected it with saline fluids. Dangerously debilitated, there was a chance it would not survive through the night.

The puppy, nicknamed Chancho, was brought in by man who found it wandering along the street. By that time, Chancho was severely dehydrated and disoriented, not able to stand up on his own.

After giving him a checkup and listening to his heartbeat with a stethoscope, veterinarian Dr. Robert Trevino determined that he had parasites and possibly parvo, a highly contagious viral disease.

Chancho was the second patient seen by World Vets volunteers on Monday at the International Training Center in Granada. In five hours, the 12-person team completed 16 spays/neuters and 16 consultations.

Though World Vets service projects typically consist solely of spays and neuters, the clinic’s location in a high-density neighborhood made it easy to open up the program to other services.

Monday served as practice for the team of volunteers before the scheduled free clinic. Though World Vets members usually work three days on service projects, the team opted to give up a day of sightseeing in order to fit in more surgeries.

“The team members just seem to gel every time,” said field service veterinarian Karen Allum. “They are here for all the right reasons.”

Corinne Anders, a licensed veterinary technician, worked prepping and inducing the animals before their surgeries. She said the hardest part about leaving the U.S. to volunteer with World Vets is seeing animals that are mistreated and neglected. Still, Anders said she chooses to volunteer because education is the only way to better the animals’ lives.

“It’s hard for me to see that some animals here aren’t as appreciated as in Western culture,” she said. “In the U.S., if I see an animal running the street that is in trouble or not well cared for, I can contact animal control. With World Vets, we have the opportunity not only to cut down on the population … but also to educate people.” 

Claudio Mayorga, a veterinary student at Universidad de Ciencias Comerciales in Granada, said becoming involved with World Vets gave him the push he needed to pursue veterinary medicine as a career.

Mayorga said he has learned a lot about conducting basic surgeries by training under World Vets associates at the Surgical Training Center.

“In Nicaragua there is a big need for veterinarians,” he said. “The culture here is not into spaying and neutering animals, but with the help of World Vets we are now starting to do that.”

 

Guatemala: Hearts in Motion

By Stephanie Schendel

ZACAPA, GUATEMALA _ Estefani was silent as she lay on the surgery table.

She was still wearing her street clothes and shoes: white sandals decorated with rhinestones and metal studs.

Estefani had a lump in her cheek that doctors thought was likely a benign growth, and they planned to take it out that afternoon. She didn't cry as doctors stuck her with needles. She didn't say anything when they put an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.

From another room, a toddler wailed in pain from the operation he had just woken up from.

Estefani was the fourth oral surgery that the volunteer medical staff from Hearts in Motion performed Sunday, the first of five days this week that the crew will work. Most of the surgeries will be correcting clef palats on children.

In the operating room, Estefani was put under anesthesia and a blue surgery blanket was draped over her body. She was completely covered except for her rhinestone sandals.

Before her surgery, Estefani sat outside in the hospital courtyard with her mother and the rest of the soon-to-patients and their families. It was almost 90 degrees, and Estefani had not been allowed to eat or drink for at least six hours.

Nicaragua: World Vets

By Andrea Castillo

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA _ A thin, brown dog cowered between a bench and a palm tree. It stood on three legs; the fourth, hanging limp, was slashed open at the paw and swollen.

The dog was tied to the tree with a thick metal chain. Every so often, the dog bent down to lick the wound, still bleeding and raw.

“Sometimes dog owners take out their frustrations on the animals,” said Roberto Aleman, an 18-year-old student and part-time taxi driver. “Nicaraguans can be cruel.”

Behind the dog was an open-air restaurant and bar. The owner sat inside, sipping a beer and enjoying the view of Lake Tiscapa.

Aleman explained that while being hit by cars is a big problem for many street dogs, most owned dogs in Nicaragua serve as guards. When they don’t do their job properly, they can be abused as punishment or left to fend for themselves.

“(Some people have) no idea about training dogs other than (to) smack them if they aren’t doing it right,” said Dr. Karen Allum, a World Vets field service veterinarian. “I think they are unaware that animals feel pain the same way we do.”

The Spokesman-Review: Oral surgeons, staff, bring smiles to Guatemalan children

Here is an article I wrote for The Spokesman-Review on the Guatemala trip, specifically about the oral surgeons and those from Spokane who contributed to the trip prior to departure: Oral surgeons, staff, bring smiles to Guatemalan children

Randy’s cries echoed through the pediatric center of the Guatemalan hospital.

The government-funded hospital is mostly outdoors, featuring cracked tiles and an abundance of dust. Randy’s mother carried him up the ramp toward the operating rooms.

The 10-month-old boy from Zacapa, Guatemala, has a cleft lip and palate. He screams and flails as his mother passes him off to a nurse who will ready him for surgery. Minutes later, Randy is lying on a hospital bed inside the operating room with his eyes shut. The sharp and monotonous sound of the heart rate monitor is drowned out by Irish music playing from a portable iHome.

Poised above Randy is oral surgeon Mark Paxton, of Spokane Valley, who will be performing Randy’s surgery. Paxton is a volunteer surgeon who has been doing cleft lip and palate surgeries in Guatemala with Hearts in Motion, a nonprofit based out of Indiana, for the past 20 years.

“I enjoy doing cleft lip and palate surgery because it’s one of the most rewarding types of surgery that I do,” Paxton said. “Fixing cleft lip and palate allows individuals to drink and eat normally, talk normally and look normal. It can make a huge change in someone’s life.” [Read More...]

The Times: Northwest Indiana nonprofit makes impact abroad

Here is an article I wrote for The NWI Times on the Guatemala trip, specifically the nonprofit's founder Karen Scheeringa-Parra and the story of the organization's birth: Northwest Indiana nonprofit makes impact abroad.

ZACAPA, Guatemala | A young Guatemalan boy dressed in a worn polo shirt and navy blue pants holds on to a square piece of paper with a number on it.

His name is Alex and he's 9 years old.

The tiny piece of paper serves as his entrance ticket to a nutrition center in Zacapa, Guatemala, where he will join dozens of other children for a weekly feed. The center was funded and built by Hearts in Motion, a nonprofit organization based in Highland. [Read More...]

 

Inspiring Speeches; The Times of NW Indiana

 
A group of Guatemalan children enjoy their food at the weekly feed at Hearts in Motion's Nutrition Center

Ayman Mohyeldin, a well established foreign correspondent for Al Jazeera English, came to WSU today to speak to aspiring journalists (like myself). He has been all over the Middle East as a correspondent, and was recently arrested by military forces while reporting in Egypt. Ayman is a very knowledgeable and personable journalist (and person), and his speech was inspirational.

Updates

An article I wrote about Kareen Scheeringa-Parra, the founder of Hearts in Motion, will appear in next week's The Times of Northwest Indiana. The Times is a daily newspaper in Indiana that has a circulation of about 100,000. I will post a link to the article when it is published next week.

Some journalism students have been asking me how I was able to pitch a story to a newspaper in Indiana. I tell them: I just sent them an e-mail. It was that easy. I picked Indiana because that's where the nonprofit was based out of. I picked NWI Times because the organization is specifically based out of Northwest Indiana.

This was the pitch I sent to them in December:

If you have a good story and a target publication, I urge you to just give it a shot and send your pitch in to the editors. Rejection letters and no responses can hurt your ego, but once you get that reply back from an editor who is willing to talk, it can lead to your first successful freelance piece.

I got an e-mail back from Justin Breen, one of the editors at NWI Times. We set up a phone interview and I gave him my prepared elevator pitch of my story (1-2 minutes). He asked me loads of questions:

Why should our publication pick this story up?

What experience do you have to back up the credibility of your work?

What makes this story different from other stories we've published?

Make sure you do research on the publication (I spent about a half an hour on The Times website and I searched for any articles they had related to 'volunteering', 'Guatemala', and 'cleft lip and palate'). After the phone conversation, I kept the editor up-to-date with information concerning my trip to Guatemala. While on the trip and as soon as I got back, I sent Justin updates on how I was going to write the piece. He gave me further direction, I wrote up the piece and attached photos, and here we are 2 weeks later: I have my first freelance piece being published in a daily newspaper of a state I've never visited before.

Meanwhile, I will continue to edit video clips for broadcast at local stations and to upload here. I will continue to post more content from my trip here. Keep checking back!

Snaps from Guatemala

Two Guatemalan boys hold their pets in front of their house in the small Maya village of Lanquín.

A colorful graveyard near Lake Atitlán. It is the Maya cultural belief that because the graveyard is colorful, the spirits within are also filled with color and life as well. 

Washington State University volunteers travel with University of Louisville volunteers to Lake Atitlán in the Guatemalan Highlands. Atitlán is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.

Daily Evergreen: Tales from Guatemala

Here is an article I wrote for the Daily Evergreen on the Guatemala trip: Tales from Guatemala.

Excerpt:

The abandoned classroom in the desolate Guatemalan elementary school was transformed into a makeshift medical and dental clinic. Old desk chairs were turned into improvised dentist chairs and examination beds. Long tables were lined with sterilized medical supplies and sorted medication.

A long line of Guatemalans formed outside of the classroom before the volunteers arrived. Each Guatemalan was holding a small square piece of paper with a number on it. Through a megaphone, a staff member called out numbers in Spanish. A steady flow of children, women, men and elderly filled the desk chairs. The temperature reached well above 90 degrees. [Read More...]