Health Talents International

Founded in 1973 in Birmingham, Alabama, Health Talents International is a non-profit Christian organization that works within the Churches of Christ to promote medical evangelism in developing countries. As Christians, we feel that God expects us to use our talents, medical and otherwise, in His service. (Matthew 25). Through medical evangelism in Central America, HTI will nurture self-supporting and self-replicating bodies of Christ. Our programs include: training and teaching programs, ABC and scholarship programs, medical, dental and surgical clinics, and the MET program.

Through medical evangelism in Central America, HTI will nurture self-supporting and self-replicating

Goal One: Recruit, identify and prepare two students in 2022 that we can scholarship and send to dental school beginning in January of 2023.

Goal Two: Construct a hospital grade, environmentally safe sanitation treatment plant at Clinica Ezell and upgrade our clinic license to an accredited hospital license.

Goal Three: Expand our ministry reach, steadfastly following our core practice of providing primary medical and dental care to the under-served; going to new communities and identifying centralized locations

Our Guatemala nurses and physicians attended and hosted a training program conducted by Faith in Practice in early August. The training included certification, recertification and extension classes for our staff that have been previously trained on VIA. GYN, Dr. Patti Baiza, FIP IVAA director and another GYN from Guatemala City provided the in-person training at Clinica Ezell and we scheduled more than three hundred patients, allowing an average of sixty patients per healthcare professional being certified, or recertified.

2020/2021 Adaption Activities: Health Talents adapted to the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic at several levels. Financially, one team member took early retirement, one an unpaid leave of absence and one senior team member in leadership took a volunteer pay cut, resulting in salary reductions of $77,564. Several Guatemala team members were unable to continue working due to comorbidities and those positions were not filled, saving an additional $20,000+. Our mobile medical and dental team care to rural communities was suspended for much of 2021 and we transitioned to providing care from fixed locations, Clinica Caris and Clinica Ezell. Though this required many patients to travel further for care and limited our activities in most communities, we were able to reach 40-50% of our patients. Furthermore, by limiting care to these central locations, we were able to avoid large gatherings of patients who typically travel with their families, thus avoiding virus spreader events. Procedure were put in place that allowed us to triage patients, maintain safe social distancing and the necessary PPE precautions. Traditional evangelism in homes, i.e. one on one teaching, was not allowed at the onset of 2021 and our evangelists used Facebook Live to encourage and share the gospel. Some of those restrictions have abated and our evangelists, with masks and social distance care, are once again visiting patients in their home. Childcare ministries, such as our ABC Program and scholarship programs were enhanced by providing additional food supplies to help offset the loss of income with so many unable to work. Those food deliveries, in the past involving large gatherings were limited to smaller gatherings over a longer period time. As a result of local transportation options being reduced, and for a period not allowed, we provided transportation for employees to come to work using our four-wheel drive vehicles.