by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Feb 19, 2014 | Community, Guatemala, Healing Stories, Health, Volunteering, Volunteering Abroad, Writing
We take a chicken bus to the hospital in Sololá, Guatemala. The emergency room is simple: 5 beds in a row sheltered by curtains. The sanitation conditions are questionable. There are no respirators (patients are bagged manually, all through the night) or fancy medical equipment. The emergency room is a bustling gathering place for the daily misfortunes of any of the 500,000 residents of Lago Atitlán.
My classmates and I, fresh from the airport, are dressed in navy blue scrubs, shiny and new from Walmart. I have a stethoscope around my neck: a Littman Cardio III. I’d guess that it’s the most expensive stethoscope in the hospital. It’s also auscultated the least amount of hearts; I’d be willing to bet that too.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Feb 26, 2013 | Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Community, Guatemala, Health, NGOs, Photography, Travel, Travel Stories, Volunteering Abroad
By the time the trucks pulled up to the clinic in Santa Catarina, a Mayan village outside of Panajachel on Lago Atitlán, the line of people waiting stretched all the way down the block. Aged anywhere from 4 months to 93 years, some of the patients had traveled miles to get there and some had been waiting for hours. The sight brought to mind North American youths waiting outside of Best Buy for the new iPhone to come out. It´s so astounding what our priorities have become. Many of the patients who quietly waited on the cobblestone street for the clinic to open had never seen a doctor in their lives, grinning and bearing their way through years of chronic illness and pain.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Feb 13, 2013 | Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Community, Culture, Travel, Volunteering, Volunteering Abroad
My scrubs, stethoscope and 50 pounds of supplements to donate to the Guatemalan clinic are packed and I’m ready to go! Today I’m off for my medical brigade to Guatemala with Naturopathic Medicine for Global Health (NMGH) where a group of students from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and I will be seeing patients in a free clinic outside of Panajachel that caters to the Mayan community. I’m so excited and grateful to have received this amazing opportunity. Before I leave I want to send a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated to my cause! I’ll be back on February 24th, the day after my birthday, with (hopefully) some amazing stories and insights from my trip to share. See you all soon!
by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Nov 30, 2012 | Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Community, Guatemala, South America, Travel, Travel Stories, Volunteering, Volunteering Abroad
So, in February of 2013 I will be packing up my medical equipment and heading to Panajachel, Guatemala to embark on my first ever medical brigade with Naturopaths Without Borders (NWB) and Naturopathic Medicine for Global Health (NMGH)!
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 8, 2012 | Art, Balance, Colombia, Culture, Empathy, Family, Healing Stories, Listening, Love, Naturopathic Philosophy, NGOs, Photography, Psychology, South America, Travel, Travel Stories, Volunteering, Volunteering Abroad
As mentioned before, naturopaths are not necessarily defined by our toolbox of modalities. What, then, does define us as a profession? As we witness a rise in the demand for complementary and alternative medicine, and with it, the rise in something called the “Holistic Medical Doctor”, what sets naturopathic doctors apart?
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