Our last day was bitter Sweet! We completed  our last surgery and received our sterilization machine (autoclave) delivery to the hospital. It was held  up in customs and we were thankful to have help from the Rotary club of Santiago to release it out of customs. We also held  nursing and physician conferences. We held a press conference with the DR news which will air there in a few days. During the press conference we also had a reunion of the patients from previous years. It was a inspirational to see how the surgery improved their lives both physically and emotionally. The patients from last year all keep in touch and are good friends. A few of the previous year’s patients came up to the ICU to visit our current patients. They held their hands, showed them their scars, applied lip balm on lips and offered their support. We heard from a few patients that they now because they were healed want to help others and become nurses and surgeons. One young woman is becoming a nurse and wants to work at the same hospital where we do our mission to work with us. She was interviewed by our journalist that joined our trip. Our journalist will create a three part series on our mission that will air on Fox News. Please stay tuned.  In the evening we were invited to the home of one of the ladies who is in the volunteer office at the hospital. We all enjoyed the paella! We danced and sang kerokee and had a wonderful time with the Dominican team. We had a very successful mission 2015. We accomplished 9 successful surgeries, redecorated the family waiting rooms, completed our teaching lectures and all of the moments will forever be in our hearts. We will be sharing these moments with you after our blog on on website and social media. Thank you all for coming with us on our journey. We will hope you enjoyed reading our blog and that you will see why we do what we do. Thank you for your support and for coming on our trip with us. 



Sincerely,

POP MissionTeam 2015

The day was filled with positive energy! Two patients had surgery, two went the step down unit and two were well enough to be transferred to the orthopedic unit. Tomorrow is our last surgery and completes our mission.  We had physician and nurse lead conferences today as well. 

Additionally, we had a debriefing meeting tonight and as a group had the opportunity to say a few words about the mission trip. Words can not express how greatful we are of having this opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of the childten. Our supporters have made it possible to help get us here to provide this service. Thank you for your continued support of it wasn’t for you we couldn’t do what we do. 



Today was a day of accomplishments! Our 2 boys Elvis and Rafael did so well they were moved out of the ICU! Our 2 girls Audrey and Rosaura are doing well and our last patient of today Lisbeth our youngest at 11 years  old is recovering this evening from her surgery.

Our nurse and physician lecture series were received very well. We also have had the opportunity to see how much our renovated  family waiting room is being appreciated. 

Today we lost power in the unit for a couple of minutes. The operating rooms were spared fortunately. This is a common occurrence as it happened on our last mission trip in June. Our day started before the dawn and ended after 11 PM. We are constantly having to assess and ask for medical supplies  and medications. We are lucky that our director Dr. Madelyn Stazzone works with the volunteer  staff to procure the needs items. 

Here are today’s pictures.