Rotaplast Missions

Nagamangala, India - Medical Team

 
I saved this article about the medical staff for last. I have been with them from the first day clinic to the  last day of surgery, photographing each team in action. I have such a deep respect for every member of the medical team, for their amazing talent, and professionalism, for volunteering their time and skills to change the lives of so many, and for the compassion they show to every one of their patients.
Equipment Sterilizer - Rotarian Kimberly Vellenkamp is responsible for sterilizing all of the surgical equipment for 3 surgery teams, a big job! Kim always greets you with a big smile and jokingly told me, "I can't believe I volunteered to do this job, I don't even clean my own house!"

Anesthesiologist - Dr. Norma Klein, Dr. Divya Chandra, Dr. Basavaraj Nagappala , and, Annette Chenevey - CRNA are responsible for the patients' health during surgery and constantly monitor the condition of each patient through surgery and into recovery. Their concern for every patient was heartwarming. 

 

O R Nursing Staff - Head Nurse Diane Mohan, Carol Hager, Johanna Jagil, and, Rosemarie Richer have the pressure cooker job of assisting the surgeons in the operating rooms, and appear to be cool, calm, and collected, during every procedure. They are very good at their jobs, and keep everything running smoothly in the O R.

Recovery Room Staff - Cynthia Ideker RN, Anne Meier Pryzbylkowski ARNP, and Cheryl McBeth Volunteer stabilize each patient after surgery and prepare them to go to post-op. They get the joy of seeing many a tearful reunion when the parent sees their child for the first time after surgery.

Pediatricians - Dr. Collin Yong and Dr. Mary McBeth have the monumental task of checking each patient to make sure they are healthy enough for surgery, checking each patient in recovery to make sure they are healthy enough to transport to post-op and checking on the condition of patients in post-op.

Post-op - Rotarian Vicky Wallace is in charge of post-op. She checks in on each patient, alerts the medical staff of any problems, and tries to keep the families as comfortable as possible.

Surgeons - Dr. Rebbeca Jackson, Dr. Oyun Garid, and Dr. Sudarshan Reddy, are just plain amazing! What they do truly changes the lives of their patients and gives them a chance at a better life. With many missions between them, they have changed the lives of hundreds of people and exemplify the true meaning of Service Above Self.

Nagamangala, India - Meet the Quartermaster

Mission Quartermaster - PDG Bob Sanchez from Rotary district 6400 in Michigan is the quartermaster for the Nagamangala mission. The job of quartermaster involves making sure the staff has all the supplies it needs to keep the mission going. There are many challenges to this job, so the quartermaster must be resorceful and creative to find solutions for the many requirements to keep the mission moving forward. Bob also helps with the patient transportation and keeps the hospitality room well stocked for the tired team at the end of each day. This is Bob's 3rd Rotaplast mission, and his favorite part is seeing the parents reunited with their child and the happiness it brings to the family.

Nagamangala, India - Mission Dentist

Dentist - Dr. Mabel Garcia Mattos from Uruguay is on her 32nd mission with Rotaplast. She is the mission Dentist and is a wonderful caring lady. To date on this mission, she has completed, 11 extractions, 9 fillings, 12 impressions, 2 elastic bands for bi-laterals, 2 extractions in the O R and the most important accomplishment has been getting the local dentist to agree to give follow up care after we leave.  More procedures are scheduled over the next 2 days and she has 43 patients scheduled for follow up on Wednesday.
 Mabel was such a joy to interview and when asked about her work with Rotaplast, she wants people to know that she feels she receives so much more from her patients then she gives and feels so blessed that she has been given the opportunity to serve.

Nagamangala, India - Surgery day 5

The Team is running like a well oiled machine and has completed over 70 surgeries. We are running low on some supplies, but with this resourceful group we will get by.
Watching the operating room team this week has been absolutely amazing! The surgeons, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Garid, and Dr. Reddy perform life changing surgeries and although it is routine for them, their skills are magic to the non medical staff. It is amazing to see the transformations.

It is almost overwhelming, the number of patients that have come through the OR.
I have watched many parents hand over their babies to the medical staff, with much concern in their eyes, and wait for what must be an agonizing hour or two during the surgery, only to be overcome with emotion when they see their child for the first time after the surgery. My favorite part is going to post-op every day to take pictures and having the parents show me their child with great pride.

Patient Transportation Team - Is made up of Rotarian PDG Neil McBeth, Rotarian Don Lundy, and,Rotaian Sadashiv Koushik.
The Transportation team is responsible for picking up each patient from pre-op and escorting them to surgery,helping with any odd jobs that need to be handled during surgery, transporting the patient from surgery to recovery, and transporting the patient from recovery to post-op.They are the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. They all enjoy the interaction with the patients and families and are always available to help.This is one of the most physically demanding jobs on the mission, but also one of the most rewarding.

I have 3 updates to share with you! Baby Jayaram has moved to the discharge ward and his lip looks wonderful!

 Siddegowda, the 8 year old boy,with the cleft palate has been moved to the discharge ward and still has swelling on his face,but is up and running around the ward, and is my shadow when I make my rounds.

Thriveni, the 22 year old girl has had a tough couple of days with lots of pain, but today she was sitting up when I came in and said she was feeling much better! She can move her fingers on her right hand and lift her arm up which is a big improvement.I keep warning her to give it time and let it heal, but I can only imagine that after 10 years of not having use of her right arm, she wants to give it a test drive.

Last night the Swami 3 (3rd in LIne) made a surprise visit to the post-op ward which brought a lot of excitement to the ward. It was really uplifting for the patients, and families!

Behind the Scenes

 A couple of behind the scenes cases that are being spearheaded by Rotarian Vicky Wallace and mission Dentist, Dr Mabel Garcia Mattos. The first is a small mal-nourished baby with a cleft lip and palate that was to small and weak to under go surgery and had to be turned away. The baby was so weak that it was appearant that it would not survive, so Mabel and Vicky worked with the local Pediatricion at the hospital to start a feeding program to improve the baby's weight and health. They purchased special high nutrition food from the pharmacy and started the baby on a diet that if followed will probably save the child's life.

The second case is a beautiful 12 year old  girl that it was suspected has severe hearing loss. Mabel and Vicky arranged for a hearing specialist to examine the girl and make recomendations to help her. Vicky also has the local medical staff looking into the possibility of hearing aids. She is scheduled for surgery for a cleft palate on Monday. 

Nagamangala, India - Thriveni Shivannagowda

Thriveni Shivannagowda is a 23 year old girl with severe burns over her upper torso and contractures to her right shoulder and right wrist. She was injured when she was 13 years old by a fire from a kerosene stove that ignited her scarf and clothing and she has lived with scars and pain for the last 10 years.

In 2009 Rotaplast surgeons released her neck contractures, treated burns on her arm, and she has returned to have thecontractures released on her arm and wrist.  The hope is that the surgery should give her some use of her right arm and hand.

Thriveni and her mother traveled 90 kilometers to be here for the Rotaplast surgery. She was educated through 9th standard (11th Grade), and has improved her English from the internet, reading magazines, and television. She helps her family with the housework, and says she is a really good cook!

The Surgery started at about 5:30 pm and was not completed until 11:00 pm. It was a long process of relieving the contractures and reconstructing those areas. A skin graft was taken from her stomach and used on her wrist, and arm. Several rods were inserted to keep her wrist in place. It was amazing to watch the skill of Dr. Rebecca Jackson, Dr. Oyun Garid, and the rest of the medical team in action! The end result should help this wonderful young lady have a better quality of life.

Earlier during the day I had told Thriveni I would be with her in the operating room and be there when she woke up after if she wanted me to. She said she would like that, so I stayed in the room during the surgery, and was there when she woke up.
She pointed to her right shoulder and asked,"Did they do surgery on this arm?" I replied yes. Then she pointed to her right wrist and asked," Did they do surgery to this arm?" I again replied, yes. Then she said,"ok, thank you" and went back to sleep.

I can't imagine the pain this young lady has gone through from her burns, and her willingness to have the surgery done knowing there will be more pain is so brave of her.
Thriveni has a wonderful sense of humor, and a great attitude. It was a real joy to meet her.

Nagamangala, India - Sept 1 - Surgery Day 3

At our 7:00 am breakfast, everyone was in good spirits and ready for the busy day ahead. With 4 surgery tables in use today everyone is expecting a very busy day. The O R Nurses were already busy setting up the surgery rooms and came over for a quick bite of breakfast before returning to  their morning tasks. The first round of surgeries in the morning seem like a hurry up and wait game for the non medical staff and the post-op staff, but once the first round of surgeries are finished,
it is non-stop action for the rest of the day. The post-op ward is busting at the seams with patients and tomorrow they will transfer many of them to another ward.
 Today was the first of the long surgery days to come with up to 19 scheduled each day. Our last sugery ended at 11:00 pm and by the time we got her through recovery and into post-op it was mid night.

Nagamangala,India - Siddegowda Kempanna

Siddegowda Kempanna is an 8 year old boy who has come for a cleft palate repair.  Siddegowda and his mother traveled for 3 hours by bus to get here and have been here since Saturday.  He was born with a cleft lip and palate and had the lip repaired when he was 10 months old and a preliminary palate repair in 2009 and has returned for a final repair. He has speech impediments as a
result of his palate and hopes to improve his speech after the repair.
He is in 3rd standard in school and likes Kannada (local language) and English class. He enjoys playing video games! His father is a farmer and grows sugar cane and Siddegowda has an 11 year old sister.
  Siddegowa came through the surgery well with no complications. I stopped by post-op this morning to see him and was greeted with big smiles from him and his mother. Even though we don't speak the same language, a smile says it all!