Medical Care Guatemala

Giving hope to children who are starving and badly in need of medical care in Guatemala was the goal of a benefit Friday for the Santa Ana-based Humanitarian Outreach Programs--Esperanza (HOPE). About 150 guests attended the first-ever Doctors' Mission for HOPE Benefit Dinner at the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center in Costa Mesa. The benefit was staged to support a HOPE project that will send a team of 35 doctors to Guatemala in October.

A local plastic surgeon was part of a team of medical personnel that left Thursday for Guatemala to provide reconstructive surgery for patients who have birth defects and other physical abnormalities. Dr. Hootan Daneshmand of Santa Ana was part of a group of 28 surgeons, nurses and support staff to provide free surgical help and share medical information with local doctors at the Hospital de la Familia in Nuevo Progreso.

The ferry churned past their hotel without slowing, wind-frothed swells smacking the hull in the darkness. As the craggy shoreline of Guatemala's Lake Atitlan faded to a few weak twinkling lights, the ferry captain ignored the demands of Leslie Baer and her husband that he take them back to their hotel. Hours later, the boat stopped at the far end of the lake. Finally, the captain spoke. If the Orange County couple wanted to get to their hotel now, it would cost them more, much more.

Under the unfamiliar hospital lights, Pantaleon Benitez sat expressionless, like a wrinkled, walnut-colored Buddha, holding his warped wooden leg. It had been 42 years since a train sliced his leg off at the knee, and 20 since Benitez, who is "75, maybe older," carved himself a new one. Now, some white-haired American was strapping a prosthesis on his aching stump. And it wasn't costing him a quetzal. He stood up, bobbed up and down, and grinned. "Not so heavy," he said. "And soft."

Mickey Mouse has made children laugh for 60 years, but later this year he's moving into a more serious business: saving them. Walt Disney Co., Mickey's creator, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, announced Tuesday that they will begin a pilot project in Guatemala by the end of the year using Disney characters to educate parents and children about disease and sanitation.

Under the unfamiliar hospital lights, Pantaleon Benitez sat expressionless, like a wrinkled, walnut-colored Buddha, holding his warped wooden leg. It had been 42 years since a train sliced his leg off at the knee, and 20 since Benitez, who is "75, maybe older," carved himself a new one. Now, some white-haired American was strapping a prosthesis on his aching stump. And it wasn't costing him a quetzal. He stood up, bobbed up and down, and grinned. "Not so heavy," he said. "And soft."

A local plastic surgeon was part of a team of medical personnel that left Thursday for Guatemala to provide reconstructive surgery for patients who have birth defects and other physical abnormalities. Dr. Hootan Daneshmand of Santa Ana was part of a group of 28 surgeons, nurses and support staff to provide free surgical help and share medical information with local doctors at the Hospital de la Familia in Nuevo Progreso.

The ferry churned past their hotel without slowing, wind-frothed swells smacking the hull in the darkness. As the craggy shoreline of Guatemala's Lake Atitlan faded to a few weak twinkling lights, the ferry captain ignored the demands of Leslie Baer and her husband that he take them back to their hotel. Hours later, the boat stopped at the far end of the lake. Finally, the captain spoke. If the Orange County couple wanted to get to their hotel now, it would cost them more, much more.

Giving hope to children who are starving and badly in need of medical care in Guatemala was the goal of a benefit Friday for the Santa Ana-based Humanitarian Outreach Programs--Esperanza (HOPE). About 150 guests attended the first-ever Doctors' Mission for HOPE Benefit Dinner at the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center in Costa Mesa. The benefit was staged to support a HOPE project that will send a team of 35 doctors to Guatemala in October.

Mickey Mouse has made children laugh for 60 years, but later this year he's moving into a more serious business: saving them. Walt Disney Co., Mickey's creator, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, announced Tuesday that they will begin a pilot project in Guatemala by the end of the year using Disney characters to educate parents and children about disease and sanitation.