Friendship, Fellowship, Partnership: Building a Sustainable Bridge to Antigua

Through our partnership with Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro, Operation Walk Pittsburgh has fostered a partnership that allows us to sustain and grow our mission from year to year. 

Over the last ten years, Operation Walk Pittsburgh has traveled to four countries in Central America: Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama. The community of staff, patients, and team members collaborate in order to make the efforts come to fruition.

In Antigua, Guatemala, our partner hospital is Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro, or Obras Sociales for short. Through five missions to Antigua alone, our team has returned there and over time, developed relationships with the administration and staff. 

We are grateful for the warmth with which we are received in Antigua each year. As Director Anabela Morales said in her speech to new travel team members, Obras Sociales welcomes its visitors as part of its family.

Knowing that we will be coming back to Antigua in the future allows us to more intimately understand the culture, customs, and care experience of our patients, which helps build capacity and drives the ultimate success of missions. Throughout the year, we communicate and coordinate with Obras Sociales about trip logistics, and while in Antigua, we spend time learning from the staff there and learning what we can improve upon in the future. 

With this bridge we have built-in conjunction with Antigua and Obras Sociales, we can optimize our care delivery system, provide follow-up support, and invest in a community that we have come to call our home away from home. 

As we reflect upon the Antigua 2019 mission and prepare for the next mission, we look forward to seeing our growing Operation Walk family in Guatemala once more.