Guatemalan villagers journey hours for care at Franciscan hospital

Published: 2004-06-25

ANTIGUA, Guatemala (CNS) -- Early in the morning, before the sun heats the thick, tropical air and burns away clouds atop nearby Atitlan volcano, Juventino Sapon wakes and sets out in the dark from his home in the remote village of San Marcos la Laguna. Sapon, a 62-year-old Mayan, is scheduled for cataract surgery at Brother Pedro Social Services Hospital in the former capital, Antigua. The journey to Antigua -- 75 miles by foot, boat and bus -- will take Sapon and his oldest son, Juan, nearly five hours. For a farmer such as Sapon, much-needed medical care begins with this journey. At the Franciscan-run Brother Pedro Social Services Hospital in Antigua, the two men wander through the city-block-sized maze of corridors, wards, waiting and operating rooms to the ophthalmic surgery clinic, where Sapon waits for his preoperative evaluation and impending surgery.

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