Visit the Obras Sociales Hermano Pedro Hospital and Orphanage web site.

Since 1993, Faith in Practice has concentrated its efforts on providing medical services at Obras Sociales Hermano Pedro Hospital and Orphanage in Antigua, Guatemala. It is a place unlike any other - a multi-service facility providing a home, and care for the elderly and orphaned, the mentally challenged and chronically ill. Over three hundred people ranging in age from a few days to over ninety live at Obras Sociales Hermano Pedro permanently. In addition, Obras Sociales Hermano Pedro offers a school for the handicapped children and a nutrition center where malnourished infants and children are treated. Services are offered to the public through a medical and dental clinic, a small basic clinical lab, a pharmacy and a physical therapy department. Used clothing is also sold at minimal cost to the poor while also providing a little extra income for the hospital. The surgical operating facility functions only when groups such as ours or Guatemalan volunteers staff it. HP takes up an entire city block close to the center of town and includes a church which adjoins the facility.

The hospital is rich in history. The first hospital in Antigua was founded by Hermano Pedro Betancourt, a Franciscan priest in the early 1600’s in a small thatched hut near the present site of the Belen Convent. This Belen Hospital was just north of the Quinta de Las Flores Inn where Faith In Practice volunteers usually stay. Brother Pedro became known for physically picking the sick and abandoned up in the streets and carrying them to his hospital in his arms or on his back. He often roamed the streets ringing a bell asking for donations to feed and clothe those in his care. He wore the rags and tattered clothing of those that he served. The selfless Franciscan is beloved by all Guatemalans. Over the next three hundred years the hospital was destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt many times. In 1984, the Franciscan priest Guillermo Bonilla, felt called to follow in Hermano Pedro’s footsteps in ministering to the poor, sick and outcasts of society. He rented small homes to house the abandoned elderly and orphaned children and appealed to the citizens of Guatemala for help. Eventually he began rebuilding the ruins of the hospital destroyed by the 1974 earthquake and the present day hospital facility continues in the Franciscan tradition of taking in those who need help and care. The hospital receives no government support and relies solely on donations. It is operated by the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church and is presently directed by Padre Jose Contran.

Hermano Pedro’s tomb, now a shrine, is in the transept of San Francisco Church three blocks from the present hospital on 2^nd Avenida and 7^th Calle.

The present Hermano Pedro has approximately five hundred beds (including cribs) and is routinely a permanent home to over four hundred people ranging in age from just a few days to over ninety years. Most who live at Hermano Pedro have chronic disorders such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, mental retardation, Alzheimer's disease, polio paralysis, deafness and blindness, and senile dementia.

The surgical facility was built in 1992 by Federico Rivero in honor of a young boy who died of leukemia. Faith in Practice has donated much of the operating room equipment, fixtures and furniture within the operating area. The operating facility is air conditioned. Only steam sterilizing is available in small sterilizers at the present time. Patient monitoring is to U.S. standards and electrocautery is available. An operating microscope and arthroscopic equipment are on the premises. Central oxygen and medical gases from oversize tanks are fed into the operating rooms. The facility also has dressing rooms, storage areas, bathrooms, a cleaning equipment room and a lounge.

The recovery room is an open room that accommodates six patients and adjoins the operating room. It is also used as a preoperative preparation room. Central oxygen is available as well as portable suction. Four vital-signs monitors for the recovery room are on the wish-list of Faith in Practice.

Faith in Practice usually brings three surgeons and completes thirty to fifty operations per week, depending on the type of surgery being done. The hospital after-care unit for surgical patients has a men’s and women’s ward which can accommodate approximately twenty patients total. Most patients are kept no longer than three days after operations. These patients are cared for by the hospital's permanent staff in cooperation with Faith In Practice nurses and operating surgeon.

The medical clinic is open to the public Monday through Friday and a half-day on Saturday. It is staffed by the permanent staff of four to five physicians who also treat the hospital's permanent residents. Surplus supplies are donated to the hospital for clinic use by Faith In Practice teams. The clinic has four examining rooms, a waiting area and reception desk. The clinic is used by the medical mission teams to triage and select the patients for surgery.

The nutrition center treats malnourished infants and children and instructs the family prior to the child returning home. Children are brought to this center from all over Guatemala. It was started by the owner of Dona Louisa’s Restaurant, Louise Wheeler, who is a nutritionist.

The dental clinic has three chairs although only two are functioning at this time. Usually there is a dentist employed by the hospital who works half time. Often patients are brought in from the outside or from the surrounding villages for dental care by Faith In Practice dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants. Dentistry continues to be a much needed service by the general public.

The physical therapy department usually has one physical therapist on staff. We are working to supply additional physical therapy equipment to the hospital and to bring additional physical therapists to the hospital periodically. Our physical therapists routinely teach new techniques and ways to care for the residents to the caregivers in the hospital.

A primary school is attached to the hospital providing education to children with special needs. Special education programs for children who are mentally delayed are not provided by the government. Children and young people who are physically impaired are transported to public schools. Currently the only vocational training program is sewing which is taught in the "tailor shop" on premises. The hospital hopes to offer English and computer classes in the future.

The services provided by Faith In Practice teams are offered free of charge. Our goal is to provide quality care to those that we serve, utilizing the most current and proven techniques possible in the setting provided. Patients are asked by the hospital to pay for lab work done at the hospital and to make a donation to the hospital for their surgery. Often the fees amount to as much as 500Q for the surgery and lab fees. Faith in Practice often pays for the lab fees of a patient and makes a small donation to the hospital for those patients who cannot pay. Faith in Practice also pays for traveling to the small villages in Guatemala to examine and schedule surgery patients. In addition, many patients must be transported to the hospital for their surgery and home again by Faith in Practice. These expenses are paid for by fundraising during the Faith In Practice "off season" and by donations from participants, churches and companies.