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And in that team is Dr Magdalena Garcia - the hospital's newest general surgeon. But before she became a doctor, she was a nurse, fresh out of UB, and starting her career at the KHMH. Over two decades later, she's grown in her field and in the hospital she calls home. Courtney Menzies stopped by the KHMH today and heard about her journey from nurse to surgeon. Here is that story.

At age 21, Dr Magdalena Garcia started her career as a nurse at the KHMH. 21 years later, she is still employed at the hospital, except now she has been trained as a general surgeon.

Dr Garcia's story started in sixth form when her father got sick, which made her switch career paths from a teacher to a medical professional. She graduated from UB's nursing program in 2002 and never looked back.

Dr Magdalena Garcia, Trained As General Surgeon, KHMH
"After I graduated, I went to work here in KHMH under, at that time, it was Matron Hemmans. That was a director here of the nurses in KHMH, and she brought me under her wing and along with the nurses here in this institution. So I worked for a year and I decided that I wanted to give back more. So I pursued a career in medicine. So I went to study. I got the scholarship from Belize, and I got that scholarship to go to Cuba, and I did, general medicine. So I graduated there in 2006, I graduated, I came here, did an intern internship for a whole year, which is a program that has been instituted for all the doctors that graduate all over the countries, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, they come here. So I did my one year internship in KHMH and then I worked here as a medical officer for eight years. Then under the directive of Doctor Lisa Johnson, who is now the dean of University of Belize. She gave me an opportunity, along with the other doctors that graduated here and went to pursue further studies in the different departments here in KHMH. So the opportunity I was one of the persons that got the opportunity. So I went to pursue general surgery."

And that was in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Still, she continues her studies with one goal in mind: to return to serve Belize. It's been 3 weeks since she's been back and she says it was all worth it.

Dr Magdalena Garcia, Trained As General Surgeon, KHMH
"Well, the gratitude and the sincerity of seeing patients smile with you even though they are sick in their bed, they give back by telling you thank you. And that goes a long way for me. From being a nurse. I have never stopped being a nurse. I have never stopped being a medical officer. And now as a specialist, soon to be acting and working here at KHMH, most of the people are proud of me here because they have seen me rise from the nurses, being a doctor and now a specialist, that I can change people's lives."

And her passion project is treating patients with advanced diabetes and hopefully lessening that number of amputations the hospital records.

Dr Magdalena Garcia, Trained As A General Surgeon, KHMH
"Most people here are affected and what brought me to become a surgeon as well was the amputations. That happened every year because of diabetic patients. And, we need to have more prevention protocols instituted in the polyclinics so that the patients are well taken care of, preventative measures are taken so that when they come to a tertiary level, which is KHMH, we don't come here only to facilitate amputations, but to also give them more care so that they can stay, not only give them more years to work, because it's mostly younger population that are being affected, and it also affects everyone on a whole, Social Security, because you know, these young people cannot work. They are incapable. And, years of time, the work. It affects on every level socially, economically, financially. So that's the reason why I want to make a change, not only for them, but for also other types of patients that we treat here in KHMH."

And Dr Garcia now passes on her knowledge to the other nurses, encouraging them to to pursue their passions.

She's an important building block in KHMH's surgery team, which is now more advanced than ever.

Dr Magdalena Garcia, Trained As A General Surgeon, KHMH
"Well, from when I was a nurse and from I know myself, I always encourage anyone that wants to continue studying. I do promote and if there's any way I can help, if there's a suggestion, if there is a way where they can go and ask for help or get scholarships, I always advise them to go. I always advise anyone if there's any way I can help or point them towards someone that can make their dream a reality, I am that person. So, for myself, I want to thank the board members of KHMH who actually made an impact on myself and not only for us, but for other doctors that were here around that time, which was they gave an opportunity for a specialist in gynecology, for a specialist in anesthesiology, for a specialist in radiology, for a specialist in pediatrics, two specialists in pediatrics and myself in general surgery. So KHMH has its own specialists here in for us to treat as a team."

While she has completed her education, Dr Garcia is awaiting the completion of some paperwork to be officially recognized as a general surgeon.