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Partner for Surgery originated from Todd Peterson’s Peace Corps experience in Guatemala. Todd, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paquip, Chimaltenango from 1998-1999, realized the need for surgical care in rural (mostly Mayan) communities but found that many people from these rural communities:
- don’t have experience with major medical care;
- are afraid of health centers & hospitals;
- are discriminated against because they are indigenous and poor;
- don’t know about opportunities available to them;
- don’t have the financial resources to pay medical bills;
- don’t have access to transportation and often had never left their community before;
- only speak their Mayan language and don’t understand the Spanish spoken in hospitals.
Affected by the amount of disabled villagers, Todd investigated several local hospitals that would provide surgical care to poor Guatemalans and came across Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro (OSHP) in Antigua. A handful of patients received surgical care at OSHP and were freed from their former disabilities.
In January 2001 his father, Frank Peterson, visited his son. Frank quickly realized that there was no infrastructure between Guatemala’s rural communities and the volunteer international surgical teams that come down to reach out to the most impoverished. Motivated by Todd’s experience, Frank took an early retirement from the U.S Department of Navy to co-found Partner for Surgery, on the premise that good health is a prerequisite for equitable economic development.
In May 2001, Partner for Surgery was incorporated in Mclean Virginia, USA. The Internal Revenue Service has designated Partner for Surgery a 501(c)(3) non profit.
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