Guatemala Team
Merlyn Cholotio
Administrator
Merlyn is originally from San Juan la Laguna. Before working for Casa Materna, she spent several years working for the municipal government in the women's rights department as an administrative assistant to the mayor. Merlyn has been instrumental in engaging the community and raising awareness about the need for maternal/child care in this region of the country. In 2016, she completed the Saving Mother’s School of POWHER and has been our community educator since then. In her free time, Merlyn likes to accompany her father in his fields to care for his crops.
Lesbia Cholotio
Midwife
A Sanjuanera, Lesbia has been attending births in the community with the endorsement of the Ministry of Health since 2008. She graduated as a nursing assistant in 2010, and in 2014 and 2016 she completed the Saving Mother’s School of POWHER. In 2016, Lesbia participated and completed two courses entitled “Helping Mothers Survive – Hemorrhage after Childbirth”and “Helping Babies Breath.” Lesbia is also a graduate of the Midwifery School for Midwives. She currently works at Casa Materna providing prenatal care, and attending and assisting in births. In her free time, Lesbia dedicates herself to artisanal crafts.
Melina Morales
Midwife
Melina started learning about midwifery at the age of 15, helping her mother who is a recognized midwife in her community. She completed her training as a professional midwife in Mexico in 2015, where she worked for over two years in various hospitals and as a midwife providing home births. Melina currently works at Casa Materna as a midwife in charge of childbirth and providing prenatal care. She also works as the project manager for the Camotán Clinic, providing prenatal care in the different towns of the dry corridor. She is originally from Chichicastenango.
Johana Oneida Alvarez
Midwife
Johana is a professional nurse and midwife certified by the Ministry of Health since 2018. In March 2016, she completed the courses “Helping Babies Breath” and “Helping Mothers Survive” and graduated from Saving Mother’s School of POWHER. Johana completed her bachelor's degree in nursing and currently works at Casa Materna performing prenatal visits, ultrasounds, and attending and assisting in births. Johana lives in San Juan with her husband and in her free time likes to go to the gym.
Chusita Criado de Coxaj
Birth Assistant
Chusita completed the Saving Mothers School of POWHER and has been a professional nurse since 2018. She joined the Casa Materna team in 2018 as a birth attendant and facilitator. Chusita lives in San Pedro with her husband and daughter who was born in the Casa Materna in 2018. In her free time, Chusita likes to play with her daughter.
Lesly Hernandez
Birth Assistant
Lesly joined the Casa Materna team as a birth attendant in August 2018. She graduated high school in 2014 and started nursing school in 2018 before becoming a full-time birth assistant and facilitator at Casa Materna. Lesly provides prenatal care to mothers and postpartum visits at home. She is a professional nurse, having graduated from the Pan American University of Guatemala. Lesly is originally from San Juan la Laguna and likes to read in her spare time.
Joselyn Ajqui
Birth Assistant
Joselyn is originally from the aldea, Pasajquim. She graduated as a nursing assistant in 2016 and completed the Saving Mothers School of POWHER in 2019. Joselyn is currently studying nursing and works for Casa Materna as a birth assistant and facilitator, providing prenatal care and postpartum home visits to patients. She also is the facilitator in charge of prenatal control in the aldeas. In her free time, Joselyn likes to play basketball.
Gilda Evelin Socop Ixcol
Community Facilitator
Gilda is Casa Materna’s Community Facilitator for the aldeas of Palestina and Pasajquim, and she also works in Santa Clara la Laguna. She has been working as a Community Facilitator for the last 7 years, since Casa Materna began. Gilda enjoys caring for pregnant women, stating her greatest feeling of accomplishment comes when she is able to see healthy mothers with their newborns. Gilda hopes to study nursing in the future in order to continue to provide maternal health care to expecting mothers. In her free time, she likes to take walks and explore new places.
Doña Maria
Housekeeping
Doña Maria has been cleaning Casa Materna for the past three years. Not originally from San Juan la Laguna, she moved here when she was 15 years old, where she later met and married her husband. Before Casa Materna, Doña Maria worked cleaning for the Puesto de Salud. In her free time, Doña Maria enjoys spending time with her children and sewing traditional Guatemalan garments.
Manuel Tambriz Garcia
Security
Manuel was born in San Juan la Laguna and still lives there with his wife and three of his four children. Before Manuel started at Casa Materna as a security guard in 2019, he worked as a security guard in the municipality of San Juan la Laguna. Manuel has experience working as a cotton cutter, machine operator, stonemason, and weaver. In his free time, Manuel likes to play soccer and participate in church events.
Isabel Slettebak
On Ground Director
Isabel is from Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She received her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Maryland and her Master of Science in Public Health, with a concentration in Global Health, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Isabel has lived and worked in several Latin American countries, including as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in the Dominican Republic. She loves animals and has a Dominican cat named Waldi.
Volunteer Team
Dr. Erica McElroy
Executive Director
Dr. Erica is a Christ follower, wife, mom of four and has practiced as an emergency physician with Geisinger Health System in Central Pennsylvania since 2005. For three consecutive years, starting in 2000, she traveled to Guatemala with her church, Christ Wesleyan, providing medical services to indigenous people around Lake Atitlán and other parts of the country. . She vowed to one day return to Guatemala in a capacity that allowed her to offer opportunity and services to Guatemalans using sustainable models of care. From 2009-2012, Dr. Erica expanded her international experience by working in China with the organizations Show Hope and New Hope Foundation, organizing greatly needed medical services and surgeries for medical needs orphans who had limited access to quality care. She left this work to care for her expanding family including an adopted son from China. In 2014, through her church and the San Juan la Laguna mayor’s requests for help, she became aware of the great need for improved maternal healthcare in Guatemala and discovered an existing proven model of care called Casa Materna which had been started by the organization Curamericas. When she couldn’t find an interested midwife or obstetrician to spearhead this project, she stepped into the role. She worked closely with the San Juan municipality and local midwives, and these relationships led her to key players including Jessical Oliveira and the School of POWHER. After two years of collaboration, planning and God’s leading, a Casa Materna was opened in San Juan la Laguna which would serve several villages around Lake Atitlán as well as provide outreach, care and education in other regions of Guatemala. Dr. Erica remains the Casa Materna project director and works closely with the Guatemalan on-ground team as well as the US based volunteer staff.
Dr. Jessica Oliveira
Medical Director
Jessica Oliveira is currently an Family Medicine Physician Assistant and Associate Professor at FIU Herbert Wertheim's College of Medicine, working to mitigate the social determinants of health and improve the well-being of underserved communities in Miami-Dade. She has also served as the Director of Guatemala for Saving Mothers since 2009 and founded the Saving Mothers School of PowHER in 2014. Dr. Oliveira is the Medical Director and Co-founder of the Casa Materna San Juan La Laguna, a rural birthing center in the Western Highlands of Guatemala that provides free services for the local indigenous families. She received her Doctorate in Medical Sciences at Lincoln Memorial University in 2019 and a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies at Seton Hall University in 2007. She has been an advocate for women and underserved communities globally and has worked abroad with Medical Mission Group, Basic Health International, Uganda Hold, and Refuge International.
Allison Cotner
Finance Director
Allison first joined Erica on a mission trip to San Juan la Laguna in May 2016 to prepare the Casa Materna clinic space for the babies who would be born there later that year. She was inspired by the team of women on-ground who are passionate about improving the health outcomes for mothers and babies in their community. She also loves that this project follows a sustainable model by employing local staff and equipping them with the knowledge and resources to care for their patients. Allison worked for a decade in management consulting and IT project management before taking a hiatus to raise her three sons. When she is not operating the taxi service for her kids, Allison enjoys running with her husband, Russ, and growing massive amounts of basil in her garden.