7 Years of Relationships at Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro

This year marks our twelfth mission trip with Operation Walk Pittsburgh. It will also be the team’s seventh voyage to Antigua, Guatemala, and to our host hospital, Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro. Working alongside Obras staff for nearly a decade has taught the team a great deal. Our strong bond with the Obras team is one of the reasons we return year after year and is critical for our shared mission to help to restore patients’ mobility. What makes this relationship special? Let’s explore below.

1. Trust

Planning a trip of this magnitude takes a lot of preparation, but also a lot of trust. The people we trust the most are our colleagues at Obras. Being nearly 3,000 miles away from Antigua, we put a lot of trust in Obras staff to help us with the preparation of our Mission. When we ship down the fourteen palettes of our surgical supplies, we trust the team in Antigua to make sure everything is put safely in their warehouse. When we start looking for patients, we trust Obras to find suitable patients in need of a joint replacement surgery. They evaluate them, prepare them for surgery, and take care of them post operatively after our team has returned to the United States.

2. Shared Mission 

The Mission of Operation Walk Pittsburgh is to provide life changing education, service and surgery completely free of cost, to patients in need around the world. Obras Sociales’ mission is to deliver high quality primary and preventive care to Guatemalans who don’t have healthcare access. With both organizations having these shared goals, the teams are able to work together towards the same outcomes.

3. Collaboration and Teamwork

Our main goal each Mission is to provide free, life changing joint replacement surgeries. Obras works diligently to help us achieve this goal. They are with us, patients, and families as partners to help to assemble and prepare operating rooms and teams, the recovery wards, and even non-clinical activities while we are at the hospital. They work alongside us to ensure that patients receive the best care and outcomes.

Without our longstanding relationship with and trust in Obras and their team, we wouldn’t be able to complete our mission. If you want to experience this relationship firsthand, apply to be a member of our 2022 travel team. Learn more and apply here.