International Children's Heart Fund
	Guatemala 1992, 2004, 2010
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"This Letter is being dedicated the day following the return to Guatemala.  On Saturday, October 23,1992,  where myself and April Ithier, a surgical technician at UMass Medical Center, embarked on a one-week trip to Guatemala.  We arrived the evening of October 23rd, 1992 .  We were met at the Guatemala City Airport by Mark Cohen.  He is a medical student in Guatemala City.  He is very adept at English and we had no problems getting through the airport and customs.  All of the five boxes arrived without difficulty.  We spent the evening in Guatemala City at Mark Cohen's father's home.  The following day we were met by Dr. Ramirez. He then drove us to Quetzaltenango.  This was a three-hour drive through some pretty mountainous area.  However we arrived safely.  On Monday, October 25th we then went to the general hospital.  For the next four days we did a series of operations.  In total we performed six thoracic procedures. On Friday, October 29th we made  final rounds and had a ceremony at the hospital at which time they presented both myself and April a plaque of appreciation"

In February, 2004 a trip to Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango was undertaken. A tour of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Facility was done with host Aldo Castaneda, a world renowned Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon.  Aldo has returned home to develop a state-of-the-art Center for Guatemala and Central America.  A visit to the General Hospital and TB center in Quetzaltenango generated several future projects, to include ATLS training for two of the General Surgeons, and improving General Thoracic Surgery capability.

	In November, 2010 a short trip was made to Guatemala City. Dr. Aldo Castaneda (Upper left) has made considerable progress in the development and growth of pediatric cardiac surgery. Over 500 operations are performed annually.