Funda Emi COVID-19 Relief Guatemala
As the pandemic raged across the globe, we reached out to all our beneficiaries to assess the situation on the ground and find ways in which we could provide immediate support.
Funda Emi is an organization based in Guatemala focused on prenatal care, high-risk pregnancies and premature births. They operate a full maternity clinic in a remote village in eastern Guatemala called Santa María Cahabón, which the Foundation For A Better World has supported. Funda Emi employs surgeons, doctors, nurses, educators, nutritionists and a wide array of healthcare workers. As such, they were keenly aware of the incredible strain the COVID-19 pandemic was placing on these workers in Guatemala’s substandard public hospitals.
After speaking with Funda Emi’s leadership and a number of doctors working in Guatemala City’s hospitals, it became abundantly clear that the shortage of PPE in the country was extreme. Doctors and nurses complained publicly about the lack of minimum protective equipment when treating patients with COVID-19. We received reports of minimal safety protocols employed in the hospitals. Shortages of ventilators and hospital beds. Rising numbers of cases. Record numbers of deaths. A real crisis unfolding that was severely underreported and grossly misrepresented by the government.
The team at Funda Emi submitted a proposal to oversee and manage the delivery of PPE and medical equipment to five of the largest public hospitals in the country. We were honored to support them in this endeavor.
Five public hospitals with greatest need:
Hospital Roosevelt
Hospital San Juan de Dios
Hospital de Salud Mental “Dr. Federico Mora”
Hospital Nacional de Cobán
Centro de Salud Santa María Cahabón.
Funda Emi held meetings with representatives from each of these hospitals who were overseeing the COVID response to find out what supplies were most needed. In the end, with funds provided by the Foundation For A Better World, Funda Emi was able to purchase and deliver the following items:
We are continuing to actively monitor the situation on the ground in Guatemala. While it can be difficult to get an accurate representation of the true case count in the country, we are confident that through partnerships with organizations such as Funda Emi, we can get a sense of where help is truly needed and step in to support the most vulnerable among us.
