Anesthesiologists, Ishai Erez, MD, and Jeffrey Johnston, MD, will be heading to Guatemala April 21 – 28th with Faith in Practice. Faith In Practice is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian organization that seeks to improve the physical, spiritual, and economic conditions of the poor in Guatemala through short-term surgical, medical, and dental mission trips and health-related educational programs.
This will be a return trip for Dr. Erez. Attached photos are of Erez and Johnston last year caring for a young Guatemalan girl who received a tracheostomy.
“I volunteer on these trips because its an easy way to use my specialized skill set to help our global community,” said Erez. “Being born in the U.S. to stable loving parents with stable incomes who valued education means I won the birth lottery. I was provided every opportunity to succeed. The poorest people in Guatemala struggle in ways I can only imagine. Going down for one week to facilitate surgeries seems the least I can do.”
Each year, more than 1,200 medical professionals and support personnel from across the United States and world travel to Guatemala, paying their own direct expenses to serve the poor through Faith In Practice. Each year, nearly 900 Guatemalan volunteers work beside our volunteers in this endeavor. Faith In Practice teams see more than 25,000 patients annually. Our volunteers serve through a variety of teams that are connected, providing a continuity of care in the context of short-term medical mission.
