WV Wellness Center – The Story
Dr. Louis De Peña was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1954, the son of American parents who provided him with dual nationality as both a Venezuelan National and an American Citizen.
At the young age of 14, his parents decided to retire to the Lake Atitlan area in the highlands of Guatemala in Central America.
After graduating from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City as an MD, he went on to acquire an additional medical degree in the USA where he studied at Kaplan University. He took the medical boards while working full-time as a surgery technician at the Santa Rosa Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Upon his return to Guatemala he worked with the Ministry of Health in association with a Swiss NGO “Vivamos Mejor.” He was in charge of 16 clinics around Lake Atitlan that were established with the cooperation of the Canadian embassy. His activities during this time where were published by the reputable “Revue” magazine’s 12th anniversary issue of 2004.
In December of 2004, Dr. De Peña miraculously survived a serious helicopter crash. His survival was possibly an indication that he was meant to continue his mission of helping the poor in need of medical care with even more emphasis. Of the crash he says, “It was like being born again!” Many people approached him saying that he was saved from death because God’s plans for him included a greater purpose for his life.
Dr. De Peña eventually decided to build his own clinic, comparable to any quality clinic in the USA. For this endeavor he rented two locations in the nicest commercial center in Panajachel, one of the main towns around the lake. A week after completing a top of the line clinic, Hurricane Stan arrived to leave major destruction all around Lake Atitlan. At the time, Dr. De Peña, lived in Santa Catarina Palapo, the next village over from Panajachel. As a result of the hurricane he was stranded in Santa Catarina as the road washed out and he was left isolated from his own clinic in Panajachel.
As the only person available with medical expertise in the small village of Santa Catarina, he remained there, attending the public who were in dire need of medical care. In addition, he helped them to obtain food and other primary necessities. During this isolated predicament, he received help from some friends who supplied via helicopter the desperately needed items for his own village to survive the crisis.
Once able to return to his clinic in Panajachel, Louis discovered the people there where in dire need as well. Sadly, and as might be expected, nearly all the tourist had left and only folks without the means to afford their healthcare remained in Panajachel. Dr. De Peña had an opportunity to care for many people in need. It was necessary for him to purchase medicines with his own personal funds, destabilizing his own economic wellbeing.
As a consequence of this circumstance, Dr. De Peña returned to the U.S.A. to generate income after being forced to close his own clinic in Panajachel. In order to generate quick and reasonable income, he decided to qualify for a “Class A” driver’s license by taking a 15 day course. This plan, although designed to address an emergency situation, allowed him to travel across the country and get to know the beautiful U.S.A. in all the lower 48 states. He was afforded the opportunity to see the U.S.A. almost in its totality, excluding only Montana and North Dakota.
Back again to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, Dr. De Peña opened up a medical service for a local NGO. He soon, however, realized that there wasn’t any concerted effort in the establishment to promote the clinic as they did not focus on healthcare.
In response to that, he moved on to opening the Lake Atitlan Wellness Center in a beautiful facility in Panajachel which was donated. In 2017, he approached Worthy Village with the interest of being acquired by the like-minded NGO. Dr. de Pena now serves the medical needs of thousands of impoverished Maya as the Medical Director of the Worthy Village Wellness Center.
