ABOUT
The Mayan Health Initiative (MHI) is a registered 501(c)3 organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with local operations in the state of San Marcos in Guatemala. Led by Dr. Bill Ahrens, former head of Emergency Pediatrics at the University of Illinois Medical Center, and governed by a US-based board of directors, MHI was founded to strengthen the capacity of its partners to provide quality medical care to the region’s most vulnerable children and families.
VISION
Children in the western highlands of Guatemala will have fair access to adequate medical care, nutritional support, and rehabilitation.
MISSION
Bring health care to the poorest children in Guatemala though both large medical missions and project-based interventions and local partnership to produce meaningful impact that can change the trajectory of a life, a family, and, and furthermore their community.
OUR APPROACH
Through community-based grassroots efforts, MHI supports programs that actively reach out to the poorest in Guatemala. We developed a team of Guatemalan medical professionals to serve the region of San Marcos an the “Altiplano”. The capacity of these health care providers in various disciplines (nurses, therapists) is strengthened by providing training and updates. By cultivating and growing the local talent we aim to bring the needed skills and services and to provide quality medical care. MHI currently provides funding and technical assistance for four core initiatives in Guatemala’s western highlands: Rehabilitation, Nutrition, Medical Relief, and Feto-Materal Ultrasound.
OUR STORY
Dr. Bill Ahrens, the former head of Emergency Pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, moved to Guatemala in the spring of 2011 after working there for 15 years. During this time he met and became friends with John Sweeney, a Chicago businessman who traveled for many years in Guatemala and volunteered with medical groups in the country. Bill was mentored in his transition to Guatemala by Jane Buellesbach and Marylou Daoust, Maryknoll sisters/physicians who have worked in Guatemala for decades. John and Bill decided to form The Mayan Health Initiative (MHI), with the goal of improving the lives of malnourished children and children with disabilities in the rural mountainous area of San Marcos province, known as the “Altiplano”.
Coincidently with the formation of MHI in 2013, the public health system in Guatemala collapsed, especially in the rural areas. Most nurses lost their jobs. MHI was thus fortunate in being able to hire Mario de Paz, who has an advanced degree in public health/nursing, and years of experience working in the western highlands. His first language is Mam, the local dialect. With the help of Mario’s expertise MHI started a program focusing at treating malnourished children ages 0 to 3 years, the age in which brain development is most vulnerable.
The therapy program offered by MHI was started in response to the large number of children with different disabilities that were coming to the pediatric clinics offered by Dr. Bill in San Jose Ojetenam and San Miguel Ixtahuacan, two municipalities in the western highlands. None of these children had access to therapy due to the distance and cost associated with traveling to only available center in Guatemala city. The MHI therapy centers offer physical, speech and occupational therapy.