Julia Little, daughter of Dr. Scott Little and Kristin Raymond, was invited to participate in a Medical Mission trip June 7-14 to Guatemala. She is an upcoming Senior at DeKalb County High School, and is contemplating a career in Medicine.
She was part of a team of Doctors, Surgeons, Nurses, and Assistants, who were sponsored by Health Talents International under the leadership of Rick Harper. The team members came from various states. They worked at Clinica Ezzel, a Hospital in Guatemala. She accompanied her Step-Father, Nurse Anesthetist Brian Raymond, of Lexington, Kentucky. Raymond is also a native of Smithville.
Julia’s main focus of the trip was working in Post Op. (especially in the Children’s Ward) and as Translator for the patients. She was allowed to “scrub in” at five different surgeries and got a real taste of the Operating Room procedures. The Medical Team actually did 75 surgeries in five days!. One day they set up a mobile location away from the Hospital on a front porch of a building. This was a screening clinic where they did Vitals, Blood work, etc. Julia especially enjoyed interacting with the patients at the Hospital and teaching them to play UNO. One little 4 year old who lived by the Hospital, came in every day for her special time with Julia.
On their last day of the Mission, the Team went to the Market in Antigua, where some of the people recognized them as being part of the Mission and insisted on giving them free trinkets from the Market.
When asked to sum up her feelings about the trip, Julia replied, “Beside getting to experience first hand the joy of helping to make people whole and well again, I came home with a firm belief that missions such as I was part of are vital to the needs of the World!. A few people can make such a big difference in the well-being of such grateful and loving recipients in only a week’s time. That’s how it is with God’s Love, once you experience it, you’ve GOT to Pass it On”, she said.
Archived News & Obituaries