Rotaplast Missions

Departure Day- Not yet finished

 
Our final day in Apan was a busy, but very gratifying,one, enhanced by a visit to one one of Mexico's most treasured architectural sites. However, there was much to do before departing Apan.

We held our final clinic in which the pediatricians, surgeons, nurses, and dentists evalutated many of the returning patients, removed stitches and bandages, and consulted them as to how they were feeling and diagnosed any effects from the procedures of the previous 8 days. Some patients and families repeated journeys of many miles to see our team one last time. Surprisingly, we had more than we expected and many greeted us with smiles and hugs of gratitude.

Some of us went on another assignment. On medical missions, one never knows what can happen. Earlier in the week we had been approached by a teacher and his wife who wished to know if any of our team members could come to their school to talk about the importance of education, which we were honored to do.

While some teachers had become jaded to the prospect of a higher dropout rate, Saul, a teacher in his late forties, who was born in Apan, was doing whatever he could to combat  students leaving school. When we arrived, we were told to wait a few minutes in the principal's office, as the students were assembling. When we finally entered the hall, we were greeted by more than two hundred students and their teachers, and a dais had been set up "Oprah style" for the esteemed visitors from los Estados Unidos. With Saul providing translation, we told the students our own life stories, and how lifelong education had been a cornerstone of our success. We also told them to set their goals high and to remain undeterred from achieving the highest level of education possible to achieve their dreams.

After a brief but earnest question and answer period (So how long do you study to become a doctor? What are your hopes for the nation of Mexico? If  you are giving your services for free, how do you live?) it was time for an enthusiastic picture session, and warm good byes.

As we rode back to the team hotel with Saul, both of us reflected on the visit to the school as being an unexpectedly treasured moment at the very end of our mission in Apan. And we also wondered if, because we went the extra mile to make time for the visit, we had changed at least one life, in ways that had nothing to do with medicine.

We departed Apan around 11 am for our last night in Mexico City, before catching flights to various destinations home the next day, but not before visiting the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. Many climbed one or the other and some both.

 

 8 Year old Teresa Fernandez

 

Dr. Stan Bloustine removing her bandages

 

Comforting a a child

 

Learning the value of education

 

Our team on last morning

The mothers of Hildago

 
 As in so many other Rotaplast missions, it's the mothers who bear the burden of bringing their chidlren to the clinic to be evaluated to determine if they are a candidate for reconstructive surgical procedures; many times travelling six to eight hours; not knowing if they will be able to get their young child approved for surgery. Often the fathers of this very rural region are working and are unable to get the time away to assist.

Every Rotaplast volunteer has witnessed the anguished look of the mother holding her loved one, waiting in the clinic, at the pre-operation routine, and the anxious hours of surgery and recovery. Often they spend the night with their child in a recovery ward, usually sleeping in a chair, awaiting the next morning's pre-discharge evaluation.Nothing is more moving than watching the mother hand off her child to the head nurse or physician for surgery and nothing more heart warming than the smile she radiates that greets her child in recovery and her reaction to the doctors' approval for discharge.

In the cleft lip and palate procedures, the mothers know that this is only the first of many ordeals they will be facing as the child matures. However the correction of the stigma of such a birth defect has given the family new hope as they face many more hours of corrective and psychlogical follow-ups.

Here are some mothers of Hildago that we met this week.

 
 

 

The strength of our patients

Today we had a very full schedule, and the team continued to adapt to an environment which certainly would have been easier with our supplies at hand. At this point, however, we have done so much without our supplies, we are resigned to soldier on our way...

We continue to be amazed at the strength of the children here. They come to the frightening and unknown world of the operating room without a single tear, hop onto the table, and go to sleep under the mask of anesthesia, as if they had done it a hundred times before.  When they awake, they are similarly calm and, often, even cheerful. One boy even came in “high-fiving” the surgeons and asking several questions.

We had a few extra patients show up, and rather than make them wait, we used two surgeons in one operating room to achieve extra efficiency. Most of the patients scheduled had birth defects involving extra fingers and toes, and so our hand surgeon would begin the case and do most of the surgery, while our head and neck specialist would close the wound so the primary surgeon could move on to the next case. This resulted in enough time savings that we were able to squeeze in the extra cases with considerable ease.

At the same time we were doing our cases, we provided anesthesia backup so that our Mexican Rotary colleagues would be able to do their cases, which was a nice way of thanking them for helping us as they have all week, particularly lending us a number of their surgical instruments.

All in all, it was a very good day for our humble effort to improve the lives of the people of Hildago. We did a good number of cases on persons with no other access to such care, with minimal resources, all the while acting as a disciplined and cohesive team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a difference a day makes

 Luis Eduardo Huerto Lugo and his mother, Maria, travelled 50 miles when they heard of the Rotaplast mission in Apan. Luis, only 13 months old, was born with a bilateral cleft and lip palate and was evaluated by the volunteer medical team of pediatricians, surgeons, and dentists on the first day of clinic valuations and was  scheduled for reconstructive surgery the very next day.

Luis and his mother spent the evening at Hospital General del Altiplano and were discharged the following morning after a post-surgery evaluation. Of course, like all Rotaplast patients, he will be evaluated one more time before our team leaves Apan on the 27th of October.

Its probably safe to say that Luis Eduardo and his family have had a very good week.

 

 

Luis Eduardo's clinic evaluation photo, Tuesday, October 19th

 

Luis and his mom, Maria, upon being discharged, October 21st

Apan - A Grand Welcoming

 

An early morning sunrise greeted us in Apan on "Clinic Day" as we made our way to the Hospital General del Altiplano. Awaiting our arrival were over 100 families, some having travelled from as long as six hours.. Our medical records team processed the perspective patients with great efficiency, after which they were evaluated for vital signs and assessed by pediatricians,surgeons,and dentists, before being photographed and scheduled for surgery. Their ages ranged from 6 months to 75 years.

A grand welcoming celebration took place in the hospital parking lot with addresses by the First Lady of Hildago, Trustees of Fundación Gigante, and many local dignitaries and politicos acknowledging appreciation of our mission and its volunteers.

 

 

 

 

 

Day One - Apan, Hildago, Mexico

After meeting at SFO with uncanny organization and logistics, those of us leaving from the West Coast and our 26 boxes arrived after an all-night flight to be greeted by our fellow volunteers arriving from other points amongst clear skies and morning sun in Mexico City.

After smooth sailing through customs, our supplies hit a snag and were held in the airport by officials until the next day while we travelled by bus with Jose Ernesto Fuentes Borboa  of La Foundacion Gigante, a major benefactor of this trip, and were greeted by Norberto Fernandez, Director of Desarrollo Integral de la Familia.

After a brief orientation trip to Hospital General Del Altiplano, our 18 medical and 9 non-medical volunteers retired to our hotel, Hotel Real de Apan, for a brief social hour and early retirement to prepare for our first busy day ahead at the clinic.

   
Checking in at SFO

 
Rose Marie Joyce, Mission Director, and Dr. Bill W. DeSharzo, Mision Medical Director

 
Team entering Hospital General del Altiplano