Interview with Nick: Getting to know Guatemala & Obras Sociales
There are only a few more days till Operation Walk Pittsburgh’s 2022 mission in Antigua, Guatemala, begins. This will be our seventh trip with our partner hospital Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro. We are sending 74 team members that have volunteered to help the cause and provide their services to patients in need. In today’s article, I had the amazing opportunity to interview one of our most valuable members, Nick Langston. Nick is the Program Director at Operation Walk Pittsburgh and is essentially the man pulling all the behind-the-scene strings to make this mission successful. Throughout this blog, you will learn more about Nick and his experience with previous missions as well as his thoughts on Antigua and our partner hospital. If you are interested, keep reading down below!
How many years have you been a part of the team?
I’ve been on the team for about four and a half years. I started in April of 2018. This upcoming mission will be my 4th. We missed 2020 because of the pandemic.
How did you hear about this job opportunity?
I saw the job posting online and applied. At the time, I’d been a year out of graduate school, and I was working at the University of Pittsburgh as a coordinator for a big USAID monitoring and evaluation contract the university held for the reduction of extremist thinking programming in West Africa. I’d been in the Peace Corps in Rwanda before graduate school and also worked in Thailand and Japan. I loved, and still love, the ability to travel and explore as a part of work, so the job at Operation Walk was really appealing to me. And more than anything, I appreciated the mission-driven work. Feeling like I could make a small difference in the world has always been important to me. Plus, if I got the job, I would be able to keep Pittsburgh as my home base. I had fallen in love with the city and didn’t want to move to Washington, D.C., which seemed more and more likely.
What were your expectations for the missions, and were they met? Exceeded?
Hmmm. That’s a good question. I think I wasn’t sure what to expect. One thing I know now…now that I can look back at my first mission trip with hindsight…is that I had no idea what a tremendously huge undertaking coordinating a trip like this is. That first year I had a LOT of support from the team leaders and my co-workers, who all did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to getting supplies and shipping, coordinating with the host hospital, recruiting a volunteer team, and fundraising to pay for it all. With more and more experience, more responsibility was transferred to me, and I can say that it’s been a steep learning curve. I didn’t have any experience in healthcare when I started, and I’ve basically had to learn the entire total joint replacement pathway, from start to finish, down to the most important details, so that everything will be in place for the team to provide up to 65 joint replacement surgeries during a mission and so that the patients themselves have the best possible outcomes. It’s a lot of work to pull it all off. But it’s also tremendously rewarding. In a way, I guess my expectations were very much exceeded. I won’t forget seeing patients before surgery for the first time…in so much pain and discomfort…who walked out of the hospital a couple of days later able to walk again without debilitation or limitation. It’s an incredible thing to be a part of.
How would you describe the city, the community, the streets, the shops…
Oh gosh. Antigua is a great town and an incredible community of wonderful people. Everyone there is so welcoming and warm. It’s a special place that I look forward to returning to each year. Surrounded by volcanoes and rich with historical significance, the city is a mecca for international tourism. The city is full of color and life and has a ton of old-world charm. I always say that I’d like to go there for a personal vacation…but so far, it’s only been for work. Someday, I’ll get my chance. I love walking up to the city square and getting a coffee or scoop of ice cream, then sitting on a park bench. There’s so much life and activity all around. People are friendly and stop to say hello and ask how I’m doing. They’re eager to make conversation. We’ve always felt that Antigua is the team’s home away from home. And each year, it really does feel more like home for me.
What are your thoughts on the hospital? Do you think it is managed well? Describe the building and its workers.
The hospital is incredible. It’s run by Franciscan Friars, and the whole operation is set up as a complete social service net for the community. Not only do they offer low or no-cost clinics and basic medical care for community members, but mission groups are hosted 50 weeks out of the year to provide surgical services like joint replacements, heart surgeries, maxillofacial surgeries, burn care, and more to people in need who travel from all corners of Guatemala for the opportunity. They also serve as an orphanage and specialized care center for community members with severe physical and mental disabilities, and they offer services and protection for women who are victims of domestic abuse. It’s truly an inspiring place to be and work. The staff there are some of the most caring and dedicated people I have ever met. They work harder than anyone, and yet they are always smiling and jovial. So many of the people there have become friends over the years, and we think of each other as extended family. We keep up with one another throughout the year, not just during the mission week.
The hospital also just underwent extensive renovations and an expansion. Now, instead of 4 operating rooms, they have 8, as well as increased capacity in their recovery wards so that more people can be served during a given mission. We’re scaling up from 4 operating rooms to 5 this year, with plans to jump to 6 in 2023. It’s great to be a part of their mission, and it’s a wonderful partnership we’ve formed. As they grow, we’re excited to grow with them.
Did you find any difficulties while you were there (i.e., the language, cultural barriers, stress…)?
For me, the trip is pretty stressful. It’s the busiest week of the year, and I always feel like it’s a miracle to pull off a mission without any snags. But the team really comes together for one another and for the mission. We’re a family, and we care about one another. We’re able to lean on one another, and we have an incredible time when it’s all said and done. I think it’s a special thing that our organization has fostered this sense of community and connectedness among its team and volunteers. In spite of language barriers, we also share those bonds with our Guatemalan counterparts, too. I’m exhausted each time I come home after a trip, but I’m also totally committed to starting the planning for next year. I live for the challenge and the joy of the work. I can’t wait to get back down there again for Mission 2022.
We are all thrilled about our upcoming 2022 mission trip to Antigua, Guatemala. Although stress levels will be high, so will our excitement. The support we get from our donors and volunteers is what makes missions like these possible. We would like to thank everyone for the support we have received so far, and we cannot wait to go on the Operation Walk Pittsburgh 2022 trip in just a few days! If you would like to support the mission and help patients be relieved of their bone and joint pain, please consider donating by clicking the button below.