In March 2010, the Hearts in Motion organization will be taking a trip to Zacapa, Guatemala, to provide health care to patients of all ages.

Dr. Mark Paxton, a maxilliofacial surgeon from Spokane and WSU alumnus of 1976, presented the trip to Zacapa and the 20 slots available for WSU students last night in the CUE. His passion is to repair cleft lip and cleft palate in patients and has been working with HIM for almost 20 years.

Cleft lip and palate occurs in one in every 700 newborns and constitute the fourth most common birth defects, he said.

In Guatemala many people with these birth defects don’t have access to adequate medical care, so they never get it repaired and therefore can’t get jobs or function in society normally. They can’t even drink a glass of milk without it shooting out their nose, Paxton said.

When the team arrives in Guatemala, a line forms that seems to go on forever, Paxton said. The team has to screen the potential patients, and with the help of a translator, gets to decide who receives treatment and who must return home.

“The hardest part is telling someone that you can help them, but you can’t help their son or daughter and knowing that many of those children will go home and die,” Paxton said.

Along with the excess number of patients, there are very limited supplies. You have to bring everything you will need for the week, Paxton said. Paxton also said that, on some occasions, students board the plane in a wheelchair, or Paxton himself will use a walker to have the ability to supply one more wheelchair or walker to the people in need. Because the area is so limited on supplies, it is almost impossible to buy a wheelchair or walker when it is needed, he said.

Students involved with the program return home with experiences they will carry for the rest of their life, Paxton said. One student who had been to Zacapa twice with HIM spoke about his experience with the program.

“You’ve got the surgeons and interpreters, and all of these people working together. Being involved is beyond words,” Patrick Pacyga, a pre-dental student said.

Part of the whole experience is just getting exposure for the issue as a whole, Pacyga said. The issue itself is often overlooked in countries outside of the problem. The severe lack of medical supplies causes the students and volunteers with HIM to improvise.

“We did surgeries and extractions on student desks with the surgeon wearing a rock climbing head light,” Pacyga said.

The lack of traditional conditions doesn’t stop the group from helping out. Last year, eight students from WSU attended the trip, and Paxton said he hopes to increase that number each year.