Amigos Hospitalito Atitlán,

We hope you are enjoying the end of summer with your friends and family. Dr. Mark LePore, Dr. Massoud Javardi, and Dra. Maria Matsuda are volunteering again. It is great to have such wonderful friends return.

There is FABULOUS news for the people of Santiago Atitlán! K’aslimaal, the Board of Directors of Hospitalito Atitlán won FIRST PLACE in the Fundación Juan Bautista Gutiérrez grants competition. The prize, Q500,000. was awarded at a ceremony on August 19th. The grant requested the money to complete phase II of construction so that if all goes well, HA will move to the new building by January 2010. The prize will double to ONE MILLION QUETZALES when matched by the Kendeda Fund. This is the highest award given for humanitarian work given in Guatemala and opens doors for other funding opportunities. Read more about the awards on the BLOG.

A Rotary International matching grant written by a Salem OR Club for medical equipment has just arrived. The new anesthesia machine is already in service and other new equipment will be arriving soon. The total grant was more than $84,000!

Club Rotario Guatemala Oeste delivered the second part of the donation of medicines from the Queen of Spain on August 15th. The three donations will total 52,000 Euros ($82,000).

Medical Director Dr. Juan Manuel Chuc and K’aslimaal treasurer Lyn Dickey will be at the University of Pennsylvania for a Friend/Fund Raising events on September 23rd and 24th. If you know of anyone in the Philadelphia area who may not be on the UPenn guest list, please let us know.

The July UTZ Update was not sent out, because the first Hospitalito newsletter was sent in its place. If for any reason you didn’t get the July newsletter, you can read it at www.hospitalitoatitlan.org and please subscribe on the website, so that you will be sure to receive future newsletters.

Please keep us in mind… there is urgent need for OB coverage in September, as you probably already know. Thanks for your help in this matter.

Thanks and Take Care,
K’aslimaal and the Staff at Hospitalito Atitlán