The Moose Jaw International Medical Mission (MJIMM) is holding a fundraiser at a downtown restaurant to support its upcoming trip to Guatemala, which will provide medical care to area residents.
The trivia night and supper occur on Thursday, Jan. 11, at The Crushed Can, with ribs and Caesar salad served from 5 to 9 p.m., trivia starting at 7 p.m., and prizes, raffles, auctions and 50/50s happening throughout the evening.
Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by contacting Shauna at 306-631-3132, Steve at 306-631-6487 or Lisa at 306-630-9324.
The MJIMM team has been travelling to Patzún, Guatemala, since 2014 to help residents living in extreme poverty. It plans to work alongside Clinica Corpus Christi, a small hospital and orphanage in the area.
The community’s population is roughly 26,000, while the area’s is roughly 58,000.
Forty-two health-care professionals from Moose Jaw and across Western Canada will visit the Central America country from Feb. 1 to 10.
The team — doctors, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, gynecologists, other medical professionals and tradesmen — completes major operations and installs stoves and water filtration units in homes. It also conducts community clinics and teaches women about menstrual hygiene.
To donate, click here.
The group hopes to raise $80,000, and so far, has collected over $42,000. Anyone who wants to support the mission can donate:
- $100 per surgery; the group intends to perform roughly 60 surgeries
- $400 per stove and water filtration kit; the group plans to install 81 kits
- $2,500 per patient for a full day in the hospital; this cost includes staff, a translator, a bed and food
- $50 per menstruation kit from Days for Girls International (DfG); the mission team plans to hand out roughly 90 kits; these are washable and reusable supplies that allow females to attend school and work during their periods since few have access to sanitary supplies
Mission spokesman Dr. Brad Thorpe explained that surgeries are more than $100, but if four people each donated that amount, then the organization could easily cover a surgery.
“We realize in the economics of the world that we live in, people don’t have hoards of cash lying around, so every little bit helps,” he said.
The MJIMM has worked for years with DfG and its Assiniboia-based chapter, but the organization recently asked the medical team to purchase the sanitary kits from Guatemala to support its new DfG chapter, said Thorpe.
Purchasing supplies there also helps the JMIMM team since members don’t have to haul down a ton of supplies that are usually heavy, he continued. That’s also why it hopes to acquire enough money beforehand to purchase the stoves in Guatemala.
None of the money goes to team members since they must pay their way, Thorpe said. Instead, all raised funds will cover translators, in-country transportation, accommodations and food.
“We donate our time (while) we’re not paid for any of the work (or) humanitarian aid we provide,” he added.
The MJIMM members will take some equipment with them, while they will also use existing equipment — some of which they left from previous trips — at the hospital and clinic.
Thorpe has attended several trips and noted that it’s warm in the daytime and freezing at night since Patzún is in the mountains. Meanwhile, the team will serve indigenous Guatemalans of Aztec descent and Latinos descended from the original Spanish pioneers.
“We (sometimes) need a Spanish translator that can translate into a local dialect. So sometimes you need two translators, so you can lose a little bit in the translation,” he chuckled.
Thorpe often becomes emotional during the trips because of how grateful the residents are for the smallest things the team does for them. He noted that one woman came to the clinic after walking nine hours in the dark from her village.
The doctor added that it’s also satisfying to watch kids kick around soccer balls that the team brought with them.
The medical team can also be found on Facebook.
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