Meet Nancy
Nancy Thompson is a non-medical volunteer who has seen the growth and impact of Faith In Practice on healthcare in Guatemala during her nearly two decades of service that began in 2004. She knew of Faith In Practice from friends who were already involved with the organization, and in 2004, Nancy was considering fulfilling options for her soon-to-be retiring husband, Dr. Peter Thompson, an obstetrics/gynecology surgeon. She felt that the Spanish-language fluency she gained while growing up in Brownsville, TX, along with her husband’s medical expertise, would allow them both to serve the patients in Guatemala through Faith In Practice. Within a month, Nancy and Peter joined a surgical team to provide gynecological surgery to patients at the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro hospital in Antigua, Guatemala. They quickly realized that not only was serving with Faith In Practice something they wanted to continue with, but they were also driven to help expand Women’s Health medical care in Guatemala.
While volunteering on the surgical teams, Nancy recalls that Peter noticed the prevalence of cervical cancer in the Guatemalan patients he saw was significantly higher than what he encountered in his years as a surgeon in the United States, and she remembers him stating that he had seen more cervical cancer in one week than he saw in his 30 years of practice in the United States. She states this sentiment was shared by other medical volunteers on their teams.
Nancy explained that because of these observations, and after identifying a practical way to evaluate and treat pre-cancerous cervical lesions, she and Peter started forming their own medical clinic teams several times a year to travel throughout Guatemala to perform visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) evaluations for Guatemalan female patients. Lesions identified with VIA were treated with cryotherapy, and all of this was performed within the same patient visit. This VIA-CRYO process was and still is an efficient, effective way to detect and treat pre-cancerous lesions on the cervix, including during the 794 Estes Medical Clinic team with whom Nancy most recently volunteered as an interpreter in Jutiapa, Guatemala, held in February.
Although she has participated with surgery teams in the past, Nancy describes interpreting in the Women’s Health clinic on a medical team as her “comfort zone” now. Since 2018, Nancy has served with Terry Estes’ medical clinic teams, and she describes Terry Estes and her team as, “a very tight, and very successful mission trip,” and says she enjoys volunteering with Terry. Nancy admits that participating in Share The Mission is one of the components of volunteering that “doesn’t come easy for her.” However, every time she volunteers, Nancy is amazed at the ongoing generosity of her friends in supporting Faith In Practice and her team through Share The Mission.
When asked about the changes she’s seen over the past 20 years volunteering with Faith In Practice, Nancy responded that there has been a lot of growth. “Everything has been improved since the beginning,” says Nancy, and she says she’s seen more organization among the teams throughout the years as well.
When reflecting on her early years volunteering with Peter on surgery teams, Nancy recounts, “I would tell Peter many times that he could get a better interpreter [than me]. But he very wisely realized that if he kept me on the team, he wouldn’t have to retire [from Faith In Practice].” She had a fond look on her face when Nancy said, “I smile when I think of this because the day before Peter had the stroke that ended his life three days later, he had called Linda and signed up for yet another year.” Nancy concluded by saying, “For me, in hindsight, it was the happiest 20 years of our lives to be able to work together.”
If you’re passionate about volunteering, we invite you to explore exciting opportunities at www.faithinpractice.org/volunteer and discover the various impactful roles available. Join us in making a difference!
Our Women’s Health Program
In addition to providing women’s healthcare (pelvic exams, cervical cancer screenings, prenatal vitamins, and health education) during medical clinic missions, Faith In Practice has become one of the leading trainers in cervical cancer screening techniques. Every year, we train 40 – 60 local Guatemalan health providers on how to detect and treat pre-cancerous cervical cells on the spot using VIA-CRYO. The health providers we train serve women throughout Guatemala, often in the more remote and hard to reach areas of the country.
During one week of training, 20 – 30 providers will receive curriculum instruction in the morning and practical application during the afternoon under the direction of a certified gynecologist. Upon successful completion of the theoretical and practical elements of the course, they are certified in the technique and can start performing the procedure in their local communities. Faith In Practice provides direct patient care to 250 women during one VIA Cryotherapy training week.
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