Hospitalito Atitlán Santiago Atitlán, Sololá Guatemala Medical and Administrative Staff of Hospitalito Atitlán – March 2008

Panabaj Facility Abandoned for 15 years, the structures were renovated and equipped to provide 24/7 Emergency Services, Outpatient Consultations, Surgical Suite, Imaging, Laboratory and Pharmacy. Renovation of a 20 bed Inpatient Ward was in process when the facility opened on April 1, 2005. Six months later the buildings were in the direct path of the disastrous mudslides caused by Tropical Storm Stan.

The Hospitalito Atitlán staff with the assistance of volunteers and generous donors, reopenned a temporary Hospitalito at a former backpacker’s hotel. Fifteen days after the disaster, the Hospitalito Atitlán began providing much needed hospital services to the people of Santiago Atitlán.

With the support of donors, K’aslimaal, the local governing board of the Hospitalito Atitlán, was able to purchase safe land near town and begin planning for a permanent facility. David Schele of the Austin, TX architectural firm, Felder Group, donated his services to design a new Hospitalito. Working closely with K’aslimaal’s Construction Committee and the medical staff, David refined the drawings. The first structure, an Ancillary Services building, went to bid and commenced construction in February 2007.

OUR FUTURE In 2004, Drs. Will and Celia Van Wisse met with K’aslimaal members who were investigating the possibility of reopening the Hospitalito Atitlán. There were few resources. At the time, no one knew where the medical personnel, reconstruction money, medical equipment, etc. would come from. The Van Wisse’s, surgeons at the National Hospital in Sololá, knew the desperate need for hospital services on the western shore of Lake Atitlán. Dra. Celia advised the group not to focus on what they didn’t have, but rather, “Dream your dream and you will make it happen.”

Pueblo a Pueblo Inc.
2006