Mission 6 Complete – November 2016

Mission Summary:

• 10 free successful surgeries for children by our team. This time two cases were scoliosis and the others were a variety of orthopedic problems ranging from trauma to several different deformities.  This marks the first mission focused on a variety of orthopedic problems, not just scoliosis. All patients did well. 
• Two additional nurses were trained in postoperative care of the scoliosis patient. They received a certificate and have been given the task to pass on there knowledge to 2 additional nurses so that there could be continuity.
• Multiple POP team members participated in painting the walls of one of the rooms in the orthopedic ward. It was a true transformation.
• We visited our beloved Lisbeth Garcia in her home. Lisbeth has been thriving since her surgery in St. Louis. She is working on perfecting her English so that she can one day come to the United States to study. She wants to be a pediatrician!
• We also visited Yonalfrin Diaz in his home. He the next patient coming to St. Louis for corrective surgery for his severe scoliosis. He has a condition called Neurofibromatosis I. It always amazes us to see how these patients live day to day.
• We also visited Omar, a child we cerebral palsy that we have been sponsoring for the last 2 years.  They live in a remote area in the mountains.  The mom cooked dinner for all of our team in appreciation!
• Our President, Dr. Madelyn Stazzone gave a lecture about POP to over 200 nurses at the Universidad Nacional Evangélica.
• As always, each of our patients received a stuffed Teddy bear wearing a POP logo t-shirt.

Our challenges for the week:

• The operating rooms are still being renovated and the hospital is running on just two rooms. The director of the (Hospital) graciously granted us one room during the week of the mission. Thank you Dr. Rosa Morel!
• Due to the heavy rains in October and November, there had been flooding all through the island. In addition, the roofs were leaking throughout the hospital. The original room that was going to be used for as an ICU for our more complex patients had to be switched because of a leak.  We had some leaking in the recovery area for our less complex children as well but it was contained.

Below are a few images of our trip: