Thank You to our Summer Volunteers and Interns!

Some of you traveled miles and miles to Guatemala and others worked in our main office but all of you helped us meet our goals and we couldn't do it without you.  By providing support in even the smallest of tasks, you help our organization run smoother so we can keep working towards our vision of helping men, women, and children live long lives without suffering from preventable causes.  Here's the final recap of everyone who gave their time and talent this summer – thank you for your action to help Impact Global Health Alliance!

Joe Gangler and Gonzalo Madrigal traveled to Guatemala in late May to support our local health team through service in construction and health services for mothers and children. As Firefighters by trade in Wisconsin, Joe and Gonzalo used their skills in an exchange with local volunteer firefighters, a fun and exciting way to learn and share with the local community.

Fayetteville Academy
In June, students from Fayetteville Academy in North Carolina worked with local health committee members to complete further construction on the Casa Materna. As part of our Ronald McDonald House Charities grant and the Child Survival Project from USAID, three additional Casa Maternas will be built to replicate the success found in Calhuitz.
 
Florida Gulf Coast University
Professor Tina Ellis of Florida Gulf Coast University led 14 high school students this July to participate in community health outreach, health education in the local schools, and the building of hand washing stations. The group also focused on other projects in the surrounding community focused on water, hygiene, and agriculture.

Sarah Beth Phelps is a student at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health and will graduate with her MSPH in Health Policy and Management this May.  Sarah Beth graduated from Meredith College with a BA in International Studies and Mathematics, with minors in Statistics and Spanish. She has helped implement an important LQAS training (Lot Quality Assurance Survey) for our Guatemala Child Survival Team that took place in August.

Claribel Marmol and Mike Park are Public Health students at Boston University who fulfilled Practicum requirements working with our project for one month. They performed qualitative data collection for operations research through interviews and focus groups, an important new part of our Child Survival Project. They also worked on our UMCOR Water and Sanitation project in the construction of hand washing stations and by training staff and community members in healthy water and hygiene practices.

Lauren Eberly and William Kwan from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine were in Guatemala in July working on qualitative data collection and the Manual for the Replication of the Casa Materna funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities.  Lauren and William also worked with local community water committees, construction of hand washing stations, hygiene education activities, and clinical health outreach.  Lauren is a return volunteer intern and we are so grateful she came back to Guatemala again this summer!