Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the Cascade Medical Team? This all-volunteer team, whose participants pay their own expenses, was formed in 2002 as a means to improve the health of the Mayan people of the Guatemala highlands. The team has provided medical and dental care to more than 14,000 Guatemalan adults and children and performed more than 1000 surgeries. The team has also installed hundreds of simple energy efficient cooking stoves in Guatemalan homes, helping prevent burns and lung diseases. In 2009, the team began installing HELPS Gravity Water Filters, an inexpensive in-home purification system desperately needed in a country where most water sources are contaminated.
To learn more about the Cascade Medical Team, click on the following link: YouTube – Cascade Medical Team.
What is the Cascade Medical Team Foundation? The Cascade Medical Team Foundation is a tax deductible not-for-profit organization whose purpose is the raise funds and promote public awareness of the Cascade Medical Team’s activities and mission. Like the medical team it supports, the CMT Foundation is an all-volunteer organization. All donations it receives are put to work promoting the team’s health care mission.
Who is HELPS International? HELPS International, organized in 1984, is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that partners with individuals, businesses, corporations, local and national governments to alleviate poverty in Latin America. HELPS integrated programs include: medical care, education, community and economic development, and agricultural innovations in order to improve the quality of life for the indigenous people of Latin America. HELPS is the parent organization of the Cascade Medical Team, one of ten medical teams that travels to Guatemala on an annual basis. Together these teams have provided assistance to the indigenous people of Guatemala in the following areas:
- Medical: To alleviate medical problems in Guatemala's rural indigenous areas, HELPS International believes in providing US hospital standard healthcare from highly trained medical/surgical teams to the rural population. Alleviating suffering through medical care promotes a positive healthcare attitude among the rural population, and serves to lessen the burden on major medical centers in the cities.
- Community Development: The cornerstone of HELPS International's development philosophy is the belief in an integrated approach with a variety of HELPS programs in order to assist communities in the developing world. HELPS recruits volunteer groups to implement such projects as school construction and the installation of ONIL stoves, potable water systems and concrete floors for homes.
- The ONIL stove: For centuries the indigenous population, the Mayan, have cooked their meals using open flame three-stone fires on the floors of their one room homes. This traditional method of cooking is the cause of rampant medical and environmental problems throughout rural Guatemala. After an investigation of the cultural and technological factors surrounding three-stone fires, HELPS International developed the "ONIL" Stove: a durable stove that minimizes smoke and burns, and reduces wood use by 70%.
- Water Filter Program: The HELPS Gravity Water Filter is a practical solution to the need for safe drinking water everyday in rural communities, and during emergency relief efforts. Safe drinking water is often very scarce, or only available at great expense. The gravity water filter uses two containers: a person simply pours the water into the top container where it then filters to the lower container through a ceramic purification element, providing up to 10 gallons of safe drinking water every four hours. The initial assembly is easy and the setup time is about 15 minutes.
You can learn more about HELPS International on the web by clicking on the link Helps International.
Why go to Guatemala to provide health care? Statistics show that Guatemala is the poorest county in Central America. Te large population of ethnic Mayans which CMT serves has been ignored and oppressed for centuries. They are vastly under-served in regards to medical and surgical care. The Guatemalan government does not have the resources to meet this need but is willing to allow organizations such as Helps International to bring medical personnel and supplies from outside the country to help the Guatemalan People. Our partnership with Helps International provides the essential in-country support CMT needs to carry out its annual mission.
Where does the Cascade Medical Team go in Guatemala? The Cascade Medical Team's yearly mission is housed at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Altiplano, located just outside the city of Sololá, Guatemala. The modest college campus provides the team with facilities for a small hospital and clinic, dormitories for men and women and a gymnasium that is used for meals and general meetings. While the setting is beautiful, situated on a plateau overlooking Lake Atitlan in the highlands of central-western Guatemala, it is a region of extreme poverty. During each year's week-long medical mission, people come from many miles around, usually by bus or on foot, seeking medical attention. Beginning in 2011, CMT also plans to send a medical team to San Juan Sacatepequez, located north and slightly west of Guatemala City.
What is the role of PeaceHealth and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Centers? PeaceHealth is the parent organization for Sacred Heart Hospital and has recently moved to a new campus at RiverBend, in Springfield, Oregon. McKenzie-Willamette Hospital is also located in Springfield and together they serve the greater population of Oregon's southern Willamette Valley. Both hospitals have supported the Cascade Medical Team by donating some equipment, supplies and “in-kind” services. In addition, Sacred Heart has provided the team with facilities for storage and preparation for the yearly missions.
Interested in volunteering for a CMT Mission? Click on the Mission menu tab to the right of this page for information on the Sololá mission.
How can I help the Cascade Medical Team? Donations are gratefully accepted and may be sent to:
The Cascade Medical Team Foundation
P.O. Box 1545
Eugene, Oregon 97440
