Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa doctor cares for those in rural Guatemala

Kate Feibusch, MD, returns at least twice a year to rural Guatemala – a place where she had planned to spend two years volunteering back in 2000, but ended up staying for 12 years instead.

“I wanted to work somewhere where I could have an impact on people’s lives,” said Feibusch, a family medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa. “Once I got to Guatemala, it was amazing, the best time of my life.”

In Guatemala, Feibusch trains community health workers to provide basic medical care in the rural villages of Petén, the most remote state in the country. She has worked in several areas of Petén, and now works in El Naranjo, near the northern Guatemala border with Mexico.

“The area where I work in Guatemala is deeply impoverished. Most don’t have indoor plumbing. Most have dirt floors. The farmers have limited access to health care,” Feibusch said.

Kaiser Permanente recently honored Feibusch with the 2021 David Lawrence Community Service Award in recognition of the volunteer work she has done in Guatemala over the past 22 years. She also received $10,000 to donate to the organization of her choice.

Currently, 48 Guatemalan health care workers provide care to 28 villages. They go through a three-year training program. The health care workers learn how to suture, screen for diabetes and provide treatment for those suffering with bacterial infections.

“I’m honored to receive the award,” she said, “and it’s a terrific privilege to work side-by-side with the community health workers in Guatemala. They are amazing souls, rich in spirit and intellect.”

In 2017, Feibusch launched Petén Health a nonprofit organization dedicated to training, equipping, and supporting the community health workers in and around El Naranjo.

Petén Health’s first major project was to work with the community health workers to design and build a center for their work, complete with classrooms, dorms, and a medical clinic. This center was built in 3 years with $250,000, including donations from many Kaiser Permanente physicians and employees. Last year, 6,700 patients were seen at the clinic, and many more were helped by community health workers in their homes and villages.

“The center has made a huge difference,” Feibusch said. “It’s become a hub of activity in the region.”

After Feibusch moved back to the United States with her two young daughters she joined La Clinica, the bilingual module at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa.

But she returns at least twice a year to Guatemala. She keeps in touch with the healthcare workers weekly, providing consultations on health issues in the community.