Discovering a New Meaning Through Giving Back

By: Matthew Pitton

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Zacapa, Guatemala with a group of four ATI employees for 10 days of treatment, travel, exploring and inspiration. The trip was coordinated between ATI’s Global Reach program and Hearts in Motion, an organization that provides assistance to people in need from other countries. I wish I could give a detailed account of everything that happened, but I will try to highlight some of the most memorable events that occurred during the week.

The first thing that struck me was how well we got along as a group. Having only five people in our small group, we bonded quickly during our four-hour drive from the airport to the Zacapa region. We had a mix of both clinicians (PTs and PTA) and support staff (Tech and PSS) from all over the United States. It was great to hear stories from other ATI clinics and the consistency of how we practice even though we live in different regions. We learned fun facts and hidden talents about each other, celebrated a birthday and encouraged one another when heights or a long hike proved to be a challenge. It was great to have such a wonderful group of dedicated people working to make the lives of others better.

I wasn’t sure how the clinical days would go, but I quickly learned that each day would bring new challenges. We traveled to different towns and sites each day, sometimes loading up the “clinic” in our van before heading out for the day. We treated people in schools, on benches or desks and even did an evaluation on a patient laying in a hammock in her home. We learned that adaptation is key, and to be creative when we didn’t have the usual tools or comforts of our clinic. We saw a variety of patient populations, including many children with developmental conditions, people with neurologic conditions including strokes and gunshot wounds and a general array of patients with orthopedic conditions. Even though I haven’t treated pediatric patients in years, everyone was willing to provide advice or tips to create a successful outcome. We also had multiple people there who were bilingual to help translate which made it easier to converse with the locals.

During the trip, we had a chance to explore and visit different communities and landmarks. We landed and traveled through Guatemala City, which is the urban hub of Guatemala, spending time in different rural villages in the area, meeting locals and making home visits to middle class and rural homes. Our trip ended in Antigua, a tourist destination and former capital of Central America. There we ate local food, explored the cities by foot and hiked an active volcano. We even had the chance to partake in a local city festival. Everyone was so welcoming and hospitable in all the places we went and they went out of their way to make sure we had a great experience. 

I had a great time on this service trip and can’t wait to do something similar in the near future. ATI Global Reach and Hearts in Motion ensured that we were well taken care of, and took care of most of the details of travel for us. I would highly recommend this experience to those who are looking to provide service to others as well as experience new and different cultures.