Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital (ALMH) is providing health care aid to people in Guatemala through a generous donation to the Common Hope organization. The hospital donated 31 boxes of medication, valued at more than $6,000, to Common Hope, offering specific drugs requested, along with vitamins and antacids. A team from Common Hope, made up of residents from the Western Springs area, took the medications to its clinic in Guatemala November 1–10.
Common Hope promotes hope and opportunity in Guatemala, working with the people there to improve lives through education, health care, and housing. "This is the second year ALMH has donated medications to Common Hope," said David Tsang, pharmacy director. “The physicians at the clinic put together a wish list of ten drugs,” he said. “We evaluated which ones we could send and which ones would be cost-prohibitive, and then put the packages together. We tried to do our best.”
Tsang said, "Tim Cook, ALMH CEO, has been very supportive of the effort and Common Hope’s mission." He added, “Part of our mission is to promote wellness. We try to provide quality health care wherever we can, even if it is to a needy country. They lack the resources, and we have the means to do it, so it works out well for everyone.”
Conni Ainslie, pharmacy buyer, said the hospital sent oral diabetes medication, multiple vitamins, and adult-strength aspirin. “Because the diet there is high in fat, the number one disease is diabetes,” she said. “They also have high blood pressure, which is a precursor to heart attacks. We also sent TUMS, an antacid that is also a good source of calcium.”
Ainslie said Common Hope team members had an open spot on the team and invited her to go along. “I’ve always wanted to do something to give back,” she said. “I want to be there in the clinic to help people. I told them to count me in next year.”
It’s great to see an employee touched by this mission, Tsang said. “That’s even better if we can contribute more than materials and labor,” he said. “I think all of us have a little bit of charity in our hearts.”
Julie Busch, public relations specialist for Adventist Midwest Health
