Less than one year after graduating from Temple College, she is going on her first such trip.
The 2016 surgical technology graduate will be part of a 45-member surgical group that is going to Antigua, Guatemala, March 18-25 to provide surgical care for Guatemalans who have no access to such services. The group will include teams from several different surgical sub-specialties. TePoel will be a part of a plastic surgery team that will focus mainly on doing cleft palate and lip repairs during their time there.
The trip has been organized by Faith In Practice, a Houston-based organization that focuses on organizing medical mission trips to Guatemala.
“When this opportunity came up, I jumped at it,” TePoel said. “It is something that God has placed on my heart to do for a long time and He has opened those doors up for me.”
TePoel has been working at Scott & White Medical Center in Temple since she graduated. She assists with a wide variety of surgeries, but her “home” service is plastic/reconstructive surgery.
TePoel said anyone interested in donating to her trip may do so here: https://donate.faithinpractice.org/fundraise?fcid=867938
She hopes this will be the first of many mission trips she does – both in the United States and abroad.