I first want to share something that I feel is very important for you to know before you read this: If it were not for the grace and guidance of God, none of what you are about to read could have been accomplished. And as you read this, please know that my thanks goes to many more people than I could ever name.

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What have we been doing with your support, help and prayers over the past eight years?

1. We have taken on the medical and dental care for over 137 remote Mayan villages in the Rio Dulce, Izabal region of Guatemala. We try and get to each of these villages at least every three months. Some times it is impossible due to heavy rain, with flooded rivers and dangerous roads. Some villages can only be accessed by boat, or 4x4 pick up, or just long heavy hikes into the jungle, but with out this help these people when they get sick just die.
   
   
   
   
2. We built a cement bridge by hand in 5 days for a village that had no way for my bus or emergency vehicles to enter the village. A team of men and women came and hauled rocks and cement and steel for 5 days straight until it was finished.
   
   
    
   
   
3. We have built bathrooms with hand washing sinks so the people, students and teachers could use a bathroom instead of using the ground. This has dramatically affected the health of this village. Here the village had a dedication of the Bathrooms. I went and found a lock on the doors and asked the chief why? He said Dr Bryan we would never use the bathrooms before we dedicated them to you. So I feel pretty important the there are out houses named after me.
   
   
   
4. We have established vitamin programs that have changed children’s mental capacity to learn and are now some of the brightest and smartest students in the area.
   
   
   
   
5. We have brought to Guatemala the only Mobile Medical/ Dental Clinic that can go into villages and take medical and dental teams to give the only medical and dental care these villages receive. This bus was flown in by the U.S. Air Force for free. This bus is also in service as a mobile hospital in the event of a natural disaster such as hurricanes, earth quakes, flooding and mud slides. Local Guatemalan business men help keep it maintained and fix for service for free.
    
    
   
   
    
   
6. We have received two ambulances for emergencies. One was donated to the local fire dept and our clinic / Emergency Room uses the other.
    
   
   
7. We established the only Emergency Medical Clinic in the area. We are the first line of emergency care for the people who cannot even afford a bus ride to the government hospital one and a half hours away.The Emergency Room is in service 24 hours a day 7 days a week and we take care of trauma victims, to burn patients to delivering many babies. We have a pharmacy and all services and medicines are given for free.
   
   
   
   
8. We are the training officer and training facility for the local fire depts. To teach them emergency medical care.
   
   
   
9. We are now authorized by the Ministry of Health of Guatemala to practice medicine in all areas of medicine with the proper equipment and qualified doctors. As a paramedic I have been granted permission to practice medicine. This includes general family type medical treatments as well as providing emergency care.
   
   
   
    
   
   
10. Along with the TelMed Company of Simon King we have worked together to donate and install 5 Telemedicine pieces of equipment that works as a video conferencing system to my clinic and 4 other government hospitals in Guatemala. I can call for back up help not only from doctors in Guatemala but also doctors from the States and even an OB/GYM in Haiti! This is like having a doctor over my shoulder when I really need a real doctors help. This also lets the Guatemalan doctors in the government hospitals communicate and see and get consultations from USA hospitals when they need help from specialist. This is revolutionizing medicine in Guatemala.
    
    
    
    
11. We have built a dormitory that can sleep and feed 20 people. So this lets us bring in teams of medical and agricultural people who come and help the people of Guatemala.
    
    
    
     
    
    
    
12. The dorm has a training room on the third floor that is used by the teams at night for relaxation or praise and worship or just down time to talk and go over the day’s clinic. It is also used for training the fire dept and once a month we hold a three day class for 15 Comadroni’s (midwives). These are the people in the village that help deliver babies when they cannot get to us in time. We are teaching them emergency medical care and emergency childbirth. They stay in the dorms at night and are given three meals a day at no charge. They are used to sleeping on a mat on a dirt floor with insects and only eating tortillas. Imagine how much they love sleeping in a real bed with no bugs and three good meals. Then at night I show them a movie with pop corn. ( They don’t want to go home)
    
    
    
    
13. We helped establish a feeding program in the area with a local pastor David Alvarez and his church from Guatemala City. They are the ones that do the real spiritual work. Along with feeding the kids once a month they also teach leadership skill, Bible principles and general hygiene. We do the Medical/Dental and Agricultural work which opens doors for local national Pastors like David Alvarez and Pastor Carlos Carrannza to go in and do the spiritual work.
    
    
    
    
14. We have established the first experimental home gardening program in the area. The people here do not believe they can grow any crop other than corn. We have shown them with our own garden that vegetables they do not have or cannot afford can be grown in their back yard with some work and perseverance. This will not only improve their health by having vegetables but they may actually be able to sell the extra and make some income. This is our second crop coming up now.
    
    
    
    
    
15. We have established a team partnership with medical schools such as LSU (Louisiana State University Medical School for physicians) but we even have Nursing schools like Clayton State College of Georgia who have an actual Junglemedic Medicine class. Each of the students are required to spend 10 days out of the course here in Guatemala going into the jungle with me to do medical care and teaching to the Mayan villages. This is not only great for the villages but it is a life changing experience for many of the students. (I have had students including men come to me privately with tears in their eyes saying this has changed their life and change their entire purpose for choosing medicine.)
    
    
    Medical Students from LSU
    
    
    Nurses from Beth-Israel Hospital Boston
    
    
16. We host one or two teams a month to do medical, dental or now agriculture. In between the clinics and building gardens we take care of emergencies at night. Many of the people have never had an opportunity to help deliver a baby or suture a leg and for them it is an experience of a lifetime.
    
    
    
    
    
17. We have done medical clinics in villages in almost every part of Guatemala but are primary area is the Rio Dulce Izabal Region. We have seen in the last eight years over 115,200 patients. Now let me make a note here. Not all patients were seen for life threatening diseases or injuries. Some walked 8 hours to our clinic to get some Tylenol and worm medicine. Some just wanted someone to care for them. But that is OK. When I see a woman who has to carry 100+ lbs of wood on her back five miles to her home to cook with, by golly she is going to get some pain meds. And when I can she is going to get vitamins and a hug to let her know someone out there loves her. When Americans come here to give out free medical care and medicine these people cannot believe it. They will kill their only chicken and make soup for the team just to say thank you. When you come on a team you work hard and sweat and some say why would you pay to go and work and sweat and go into the jungle for people you don’t even know?

             

But when one of these kids who has a raging fever and an infection that would have killed them is saved, most people say, “Bryan it was worth it.”
Again, I just want to say I am not listing these things to say hey look at us or what we have done. It was 100% God and people like you who either came here and helped or sent support so we could go into the jungle, or people who prayed and God heard your prayer.

I cannot thank you enough and may God Bless you and yours.