– CHP Volunteers –
Who We Are
Michael Mallahan
Volunteer
Medical Teams Abroad Leader
Since 2003 Dr. Mallahan has been a passionate team member since his first experience serving with a Ear, Nose & Throat Surgical team in Guatemala City. He has served on more than 35 team trips, taking on a team leadership role in 2007 after anesthesiologist Dr. Don VanNimwegen encouraged him to step forward in service. He now coordinates in-country meals, lodging and transportation for the teams, meeting with host physicians and coordinating with our in-country partners in care. Mike strives to continue to emulate Dr. Don’s leadership.
Sid Siegel
Volunteer
Volunteer
Sid is our medical team’s logistics coordinator and a Mill Creek Rotary Club past President. Sid’s organizational skills and calm personality get things done and knows where everything is at all times, before, during and after the trips. Sid took the initiative to broaden our service model to children when he brought forward the pediatric wheelchair project. He coordinated a custom wheelchair service project for children in a rural area of Guatemala. He recruited Rotary volunteers, secured funding from a matching Rotary District Grant and coordinated the team’s work providing 30 custom made and fit chairs to children with Cerebral Palsy and other neurologic disorders.
Ellen Haggerty
Volunteer
Ellen has been an early supporter of the Children Health Project from the very beginning and has traveled with our medical teams a number of times. Ellen acquired a severe to profound hearing loss as a young child. She was finally identified with a hearing loss at 5 years of age. Ellen knows the struggles of children with hearing loss and is dedicated to making a dramatic difference in children’s lives around the world with the gift of hearing. Ellen has provided funding to initiate newborn hearing screening programs to help with early identification and getting hearing aids on children as early as possible. Ellen continues to be involved in multiple initiatives to bring hearing help to children globally.
Jeff Adams, M.D.
Volunteer
Otolaryngologist
Dr. Adams has served as an Ear, Nose & Throat surgeon in Guatemala since 2001, leading the recruitment and coordination of surgical staff and medical students. Dr. Jeff mentors the surgical team and oversees pre-med and medical students. Under Dr. Jeff’s guidance, six U.S.-based and two Guatemalan physicians have entered medical practice.
– CHP History –
Our timeline
12.02.2000
First trip to Guatemala
Our group began back in 2000 with Dr. Don VanNimwegen’s vision of care for children with little access to medical and surgical care. Through an organization, Healing the Children, Dr. Don join ENT surgeons Dr. Ron Krueger and Dr. Jeff Adams. Along with a dedicated group of surgical nurse professionals, the team served many children from poor families from throughout Guatemala. Over the next few years we realized that we needed to bring our teams to serve the families in the communities where they lived. Our teams have now provided more than 600 surgeries to children in need in rural areas of Guatemala.
12.02.2025
Education and Training to Guatemalans to serve
Over the last 20 years, our audiology team members have trained Guatemalans to serve children with hearing loss in 8 different rural areas of the country. Doctoral students from the University of Washington, Gallaudet University and University of Texas Dallas have become the instructors and trained 20 Guatemalan hearing healthcare providers. These new professionals now serve children in their local communities throughout the year. Now they are able to train others to expand services to other parts of Guatemala.
12.15.2025
Newborn Hearing Screening realized in Guatemala
Through the direction and oversight of Dr. Patricia Castellanos, babies are now getting their hearing checked within the 1st month of life in many parts of Guatemala. Children are identified early and getting the help they need. Through generous Rotary Global grants, newborn hearing screening is spreading throughout Guatemala. We are excited to learn that the Government Ministry of Health will be taking on the responsibility of funding the screening and covering hearing aid services in 5 different hospitals. In 2026 more the 15,000 children will be screened for hearing loss.