Our late-night preparation paid off. Today we held our conference with 33 physical therapists to teach them how to properly use our standing frame. Scott kicked off the meeting by introducing the Stand With Me team and its history and explaining the goals of our convention. Next, Dr. Cheff, with Thomas translating, outlined cerebral palsy, the complications it can bring forth, and the main treatment goals that physical therapists should aim for. Her concise explanation helped some of the less-experienced physical therapists and health workers better understand how children with CP are affected by it.

Next, Sergio, a Hope Haven physical therapist, went over the standers themselves. He discussed the three different types of standers, their usage and treatment applications. After Sergio, Patricia Duff, our guest speaker, spoke about the psychological effects and benefits of therapeutic devices like our pediatric standing frame. She explored the need for effective communication in children who can’t speak or write, stressing that they need a voice as well. In her presentation, she described several ways to communicate with children who can’t speak or write, such as tracking their eyes to interpret responses to questions or using printed pictures to allow the child to formulate ideas and basic sentences. Ilse gave her presentation next, describing the treatment plan for a patient in a stander and how to apply to receive a stander from Stand With Me. During the lunch break, our visitors toured the factory to see our workshop and facilities. Afterward, four families arrived who agreed to allow us to demonstrate the fitting process to the therapists. Scott, Thomas, Ilse, and Sergio each led a group of therapists. All four families gracious enough to allow us to demonstrate with their child received standing frames, and the therapists learned how to properly handle a patient in a Stand With Me standing frame.

By 4 o’clock, all four frames had been delivered and every therapist had been given their certificate of completion of our training course. To celebrate a successful day, the team traveled to Xenacoj one last time before they would depart for the weekend. They met some locals who were associated with Hope Haven in their former work and tried even more delicious local food. An early turn-in compensated for last night’s late-night preparations, but the success of the day was well worth it.

​

Today was our last official day of our clinic. Dr. Cheff, Thomas, and Jan treated about 20 patients today. Some of the patients were families receiving standers, of which there were 8 today. The clinic ran efficiently, with each team member having a specific task. Dr. Cheff and Thomas sat with patients to diagnose and treat them. Thomas used his Spanish-speaking skills to translate for Dr. Cheff, who used her 28-years’ medical experience running a family clinic in Oldtown, Maine to treat each of our patients. Jan interacted with and managed the patients in the waiting room. As they arrived, she would take down their name and place them in line to see Dr. Cheff. Jan’s Spanish-speaking ability has improved dramatically by speaking with incoming patients; she went from only being able to say a few words to carrying a basic conversation in just three days! Dr. Cheff and Thomas worked together to effectively communicate with, diagnose, and treat every patient. Their ailments ranged from simple, musculoskeletal pain caused by hard work to respiratory issues in children who would receive standing frames. The clinic was a great success, as we were able to help over 50 people by providing pertinent information and treatment!

The rest of the team continued to work in the workshop in the morning before heading to Guatemala City to look for new sources for parts. In the city, they located a CNC factory that will create an updated template that will save on materials and time. Our current templates are slightly outdated in relation to the design we use and require the technician to move and reset its position in order to create the layout we need, but the new version will be fully up to date. Another leap in cost efficiency will be the new hinges the team found in Guatemala City. The new hinges go for 30 quetzales less than the previous hinges! Overall, we reduced the cost of each stander by nearly $5!

Tomorrow, we’ll be hosting a conference for nearly 40 physical therapists who receive and give out our standing frames. Emory, Thomas, and Trey were in the workshop late, brainstorming case-by-case modifications that families or therapists could make to the standers. Scott and Riley joined them for some late-night preparation to ensure that the morning goes as smoothly as possible.

​

Our first weekday was a busy one. After meeting with the Hope Haven staff and sharing a morning prayer, Dr. Cheff, Jan, and Thomas opened the clinic for the first time. They treated 11 patients in total today, including factory workers, their families, and residents of Xenacoj. Jan managed incoming patients, while Thomas and Dr. Cheff worked directly with patients. The workshop team, comprised of Riley, Emory and Scott Sr., welcomed Trey to the workshop today as they improved and updated our standing frame design and production process. They made several strides today in cost reduction and are planning on updating some tools with Riley’s new library of CAD drawings and designs. Riley and Scott updated Erick, our Shop Technician at the Hope Haven workshop, on new ideas they’ve had since they were last in the workshop. We’re hopeful that these new improvements will boost our production and help us reach even more children who need standing frames!

In the evening, we all pitched in to prepare for our conference on Thursday. We worked together to create forms for physical therapists to fill out to gather more information and data on our standers after our patients receive them. Tomorrow, we’ll be able to communicate directly with patients and their families to refine the information we gather. We’re looking forward to delivering standers to eleven families tomorrow morning and continuing to run our clinic!

​

We began our first full day with an unexpected early start at sunrise. Riley and Scott expertly prepared scrambled eggs for the group before our first morning meeting, wherein we laid out our plans for this week. Scott explained how we will go about hosting a conference with 30 physical therapists this Thursday, our plan for updating and streamlining the production process for the standers, and our goals for expanding the project in the future. After our breakfast, we moved on to learning about the resources we have already available to us and those that we will be developing to bring Stand With Me to new heights.

After a detail-packed morning, we began getting to know the area and traveled to the nearby town of Xenacoj! There, we visited the local markets and bought locally-grown lychee, watermelon, and pineapple. We spoke to some locals about their farms and businesses, learning about the crops they plant and the land around us. We also traveled to San Lucas to pick up some supplies for the week. At dinner in San Lucas, we even bumped into some acquaintances of Dr. Cheff from Bangor! Back at the factory, we watched the transformational film “Brother Bear” while snacking on Riley’s famous brownies before turning in. Tomorrow, we plan on returning to Xenacoj to attend a church service and preparing for the busy week ahead.

​

This year’s team converged at Newark Liberty Airport. Riley and Emory took the train in from Maryland, interns Trey and Thomas arrived from Connecticut, while Scott, his parents, and Dr. Sue Cheff drove from Maine. At the airport, we bonded over Chinese food and hangman before boarding our flight to Guatemala City.
Our late-night arrival in Guatemala went without a hitch. We landed around 10:30pm and promptly met with a good friend of the project and Hope Haven employee, Brian. Scott, our project director, braved the weather and safely conducted us to our destination in Xenacoj, Hope Haven. Upon our arrival, Hope Haven’s director, Mark Richard, showed us around the compound and to our rooms. We also revisited the Stand With Me portion of the workshop for a brief look around. The shop appears to be in good shape and is ready for more updates. After a midnight raid on the pantry, we chose our beds and rested in preparation for the busy week ahead of us.
Word of the day: gratuity

Tomorrow our team will assemble at Newark airport and begin our 3 week journey to Guatemala. Our goals are to 1) update our current workshop, 2) host a successful physical therapy conference to teach about standing therapy and how therapist can interact with our organization, and 3) to follow up with our patients and therapist currently using our standing frames.

We have a stellar team this year composed of 2 high school students (Thomas Fitzgerald and Trey Walsh), 2 college students (Riley and Emory Lieber), 1 law student (Emily Donaldson), 1 medical student (Scott Mitchell), 1 doctor (Dr. Susan Cheff) and 2 general helpers (Scott and Jan Mitchell). ​

Along the way we will be creating a manual on how to replicate the efficient standing frame workshop, expanding our web-presence, increasing the amount of data that we get back about each patient, and of course recording many of the incredible stories of people who use and interact with the standing frames. It will be an action packed trip and we hope that you will come along with us for just a few moments each day by taking a min to read our daily blog and weekly newsletter. To sign up for our weekly newsletter press here. Remember to bookmark our blog!