Monday, January 19, 2009
Today was an exhausting and exciting day. It was our second day of surgery and we still haven't received all of our freight. Thank heavens we brought a lot of medicine and supplies with us when we came. We are trying very hard to get our equipment here but the red tape is overwhelming and we have city officials, regional officials and hospital officials trying to help us. We finally got all of the papers prepared, and of course were done long ago in the states, but "we needed only one more signature." Our freight handler, Alejandro, has taken a week's vacation to help us but to no avail. We still need "the signature." Finally we got it, only to find that the prepared letter, one of four, had 2008 instead of 2009. Back to the drawing board!
The mantra in the OR and on the ward is, "It's in Lima." We're proceeding with borrowed equipment which is declared safe by our bio-med tech Dustin, as well as our anesthesiology team headed by Dr. Zipporah Gathuya. That team of pros consists of Dr. Jason Pope, Dr. J. D Stamler whom I declared a pediatrician yesterday. The other crucial member of that team is CRNA Lynn Randall. Las Mercedes Hospital's Director Dr. Serrano, is opening up the hospital for our use and success. They've found supplies for us, have found a place for us to keep our supplies, have a break, take a rest and let our clients sit while waiting for screening or their children to come out of surgery. Of course, our two heroines are Coty Lazo and Monica Hurtado who are everywhere. They help with publicity, getting patients, housing and feeding those patients and even find diapers and other supplies for them. All of this is in addition to Coty spearheading the effort to release our freight, to no avail.
Some of our patients come from a long way away as Las Mercedes is a regional hospital. One patient whose picture will be posted later is Carlos Cruz Alvarado, age 24, is from a small town near Olmos which is 4 hours north of Chiclayo. Carlos has worked as a field hand most of his life and didn't want surgery in his cleft lip when he was young because he was afraid. His cousin, Jose Gabriel Pupuche of Olmos convinced Carlos that his life would be better if he had his lip repaired, so Carlos finally agreed to come to Las Mercedes when he heard the radio broadcast telling of the CSI mission.
He still feared the surgery but bravely went ahead when he saw how trusting the younger patients and their families were. You can see for yourself how handsome Carlos is now, and how much happier his life will be. Cousin Jose will accompany Carlos back home to the happy relatives awaiting one of their favorite members. Jose came back the morning after the surgry to thank all of us for what we did for Carlos. He promised photographer Sally Lannin that he would keep in touch and asked herto send before and after pictures of Carlos.
Carlos and other patients were "recruited" and transported by a miracle worker named Maritza del Pilar. A nurse, Maritza is responsible for bringing 16 patients and parents from the Puira
area. She pre-screened them and arranged with Monica Hurtado for them to stay at the Military College Dormitory. The only problem was that "the babies were being eaten alive" and needed netting. The only mosquito netting that the team could find belonged to Jason and Emily Pope, a doctor and nurse from Vanderbilt University who are team members. They gladly gave up their netting for the use of the children and we hurriedly found some mosquito spray. Surgical lead Dr. Tim Lander and Clinical Coordinator worked with other surgeons Dr. Les Mohler and Dr. Dan Danahey to rearrange surgical schedules in order to get the babies done early.
Not all of our patients go into surgery with total assurance that everything will be OK. A case in point is 11 year old Ovin from Jaen, a twelve hour ride from Chiclayo. His father was very nervous and became aggitated when the surgery was not "right now!" He said that he was going to take his son home, along with the frightened brother and mother. They started to leave and Juana, the City Hall Social Worker assigned to our mission shouted, "Close the door! Nobody is leaving. Get the Gringas." The security guard blocked the door while pediatrician Dr. Chris Bowron gave Ovin a sedative to calm him down. Then, like angels, team members Maria Ferrara and Brandon Randall appeared and talked the family into staying. Fortunately for us and Ovin, Mariam Brandon and Chris are Spanish speakers and they managed to calm the entire family down. However, it did bring a few smiles to the lips of onlookers when team members had to pry Ovin's fingers from a chair and pull him from under a table where he had sought refugee. " Muy dramatico" said the guard as Ovin went to surgery, which as the picture shows, was a great success. Ovis's family is thrilled and can't thank us enough for insisting on repairing his lip. He was discharged by Dr. Dave Tetzlaff and Dr. Bowron this morning.
After an exhausting and hot day at the hospital, several of our team leaders got together tonight and decided with the approval of CSI Board and team members Lora Koppel, George Steiner and Mary Batinich, that we would not continue to fight for our freight, but would ask that it not be cleared and sent home. Mary will go to Lima tomorrow night to make arrangements for that. We love Peru, we love Chiclayo, we love our patients and in country health professionals and volunteers, but the customs issues are difficult at best. They seem to change every two years or so and if we return to Peru, which we'd all love to do, it would only be if we could bring in most of our supplies and be escorted by a diplomatic or customs representative. Our Children's Surgery International Board Chair John Zak and Administrator Sue Baysden are waiting for a full report before recommending to the Board what our future might be in Peru.
Sally Lannin is coordinating her excellent photos with our blog so that you will be able to see the results of our stories.
Mary Batinich , 19 January 2009, Chiclayo, Peru
The mantra in the OR and on the ward is, "It's in Lima." We're proceeding with borrowed equipment which is declared safe by our bio-med tech Dustin, as well as our anesthesiology team headed by Dr. Zipporah Gathuya. That team of pros consists of Dr. Jason Pope, Dr. J. D Stamler whom I declared a pediatrician yesterday. The other crucial member of that team is CRNA Lynn Randall. Las Mercedes Hospital's Director Dr. Serrano, is opening up the hospital for our use and success. They've found supplies for us, have found a place for us to keep our supplies, have a break, take a rest and let our clients sit while waiting for screening or their children to come out of surgery. Of course, our two heroines are Coty Lazo and Monica Hurtado who are everywhere. They help with publicity, getting patients, housing and feeding those patients and even find diapers and other supplies for them. All of this is in addition to Coty spearheading the effort to release our freight, to no avail.
Some of our patients come from a long way away as Las Mercedes is a regional hospital. One patient whose picture will be posted later is Carlos Cruz Alvarado, age 24, is from a small town near Olmos which is 4 hours north of Chiclayo. Carlos has worked as a field hand most of his life and didn't want surgery in his cleft lip when he was young because he was afraid. His cousin, Jose Gabriel Pupuche of Olmos convinced Carlos that his life would be better if he had his lip repaired, so Carlos finally agreed to come to Las Mercedes when he heard the radio broadcast telling of the CSI mission.
He still feared the surgery but bravely went ahead when he saw how trusting the younger patients and their families were. You can see for yourself how handsome Carlos is now, and how much happier his life will be. Cousin Jose will accompany Carlos back home to the happy relatives awaiting one of their favorite members. Jose came back the morning after the surgry to thank all of us for what we did for Carlos. He promised photographer Sally Lannin that he would keep in touch and asked herto send before and after pictures of Carlos.
Carlos and other patients were "recruited" and transported by a miracle worker named Maritza del Pilar. A nurse, Maritza is responsible for bringing 16 patients and parents from the Puira
area. She pre-screened them and arranged with Monica Hurtado for them to stay at the Military College Dormitory. The only problem was that "the babies were being eaten alive" and needed netting. The only mosquito netting that the team could find belonged to Jason and Emily Pope, a doctor and nurse from Vanderbilt University who are team members. They gladly gave up their netting for the use of the children and we hurriedly found some mosquito spray. Surgical lead Dr. Tim Lander and Clinical Coordinator worked with other surgeons Dr. Les Mohler and Dr. Dan Danahey to rearrange surgical schedules in order to get the babies done early.
Not all of our patients go into surgery with total assurance that everything will be OK. A case in point is 11 year old Ovin from Jaen, a twelve hour ride from Chiclayo. His father was very nervous and became aggitated when the surgery was not "right now!" He said that he was going to take his son home, along with the frightened brother and mother. They started to leave and Juana, the City Hall Social Worker assigned to our mission shouted, "Close the door! Nobody is leaving. Get the Gringas." The security guard blocked the door while pediatrician Dr. Chris Bowron gave Ovin a sedative to calm him down. Then, like angels, team members Maria Ferrara and Brandon Randall appeared and talked the family into staying. Fortunately for us and Ovin, Mariam Brandon and Chris are Spanish speakers and they managed to calm the entire family down. However, it did bring a few smiles to the lips of onlookers when team members had to pry Ovin's fingers from a chair and pull him from under a table where he had sought refugee. " Muy dramatico" said the guard as Ovin went to surgery, which as the picture shows, was a great success. Ovis's family is thrilled and can't thank us enough for insisting on repairing his lip. He was discharged by Dr. Dave Tetzlaff and Dr. Bowron this morning.
After an exhausting and hot day at the hospital, several of our team leaders got together tonight and decided with the approval of CSI Board and team members Lora Koppel, George Steiner and Mary Batinich, that we would not continue to fight for our freight, but would ask that it not be cleared and sent home. Mary will go to Lima tomorrow night to make arrangements for that. We love Peru, we love Chiclayo, we love our patients and in country health professionals and volunteers, but the customs issues are difficult at best. They seem to change every two years or so and if we return to Peru, which we'd all love to do, it would only be if we could bring in most of our supplies and be escorted by a diplomatic or customs representative. Our Children's Surgery International Board Chair John Zak and Administrator Sue Baysden are waiting for a full report before recommending to the Board what our future might be in Peru.
Sally Lannin is coordinating her excellent photos with our blog so that you will be able to see the results of our stories.
Mary Batinich , 19 January 2009, Chiclayo, Peru
posted by Childrens Surgery International at 2:15 PM
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