Mission Complete

We have just completed our last day of surgery, and we were able to help approximately 142 patients. Our team of 17 people boarded the bus this morning at 4 AM for a 5 hour bus ride back to the airport in San Pedro Sula. The staff of the Hospital Anibal Murillo Escobar were extremely welcoming and grateful for our assistance. We all enjoyed a cake on Friday that the staff purchased in our honor. The WSF brigade will return to San Pedro Sula in November for another mission trip. For more information on how you can help us, please contact us at (717)232-1404 or mail@worldsurgicalfoundation.org. You can also find us on Facebook!

Our Mission

The World Surgical Foundation provides medical care in developing countries around the world where healthcare is not available or affordable to the population. The Foundation is funded by donations from individuals, businesses, and other non-profit humanitarian organizations. The doctors, nurses, and volunteers pay their own way, and the WSF uses funding to send medical supplies to our destination countries/hospitals. For the Honduras trip, the WSF spent $10,000 in shipping to send an ocean container with one infant/child ventilator for San Pedro Sula and an electrocautery machine, one dozen crutches, two portable procedure lights, and two anesthesia machines for the Hospital in Olanchito. The refurbished ventilator that was purchased for San Pedro Sula cost $6,000. Brand new ventilators are around $50,000. We also shipped vaporizers for the anesthesia machines for $500 each. The anesthesia machines and procedure lights were donated by Pinnacle Health Systems, and the electrocautery equipment was donated by Valley Labs.

Another cost that the World Surgical Foundation funding covered was the approximately $18.50 charge to admit a patient in the Olanchito Hospital for about 80 of the patients that could not afford to pay the fees. Some people had already paid around $8 for bus fare to come from La Ceiba, a city about 3 hours from Olanchito, and didn’t expect to pay the hospital fees because they had heard that the WSF Brigade was here doing surgery for free. Unfortunately, we only got to see less than half of the people who paid to come see us. It is heartbreaking to see, but we don’t have the time or resources to help everyone.

One piece of equipment that we don’t travel without is a portable anesthesia machine that works with an oxygen tank to drive the gasses without electricity. We are currently working with two in Honduras, and it has allowed us to perform a second surgery in a room that already contains one table and anesthesia machine. These machines cost about $5,000, and we only have two currently. With donations, we would like to purchase more so that we can operate anywhere from the mountains to the jungle.

Thursday

The WSF performed 32 surgical procedures today. It was our intent to do at least 5 more, but some patients had high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and had something to eat before surgery, which creates an aspiration hazard with the anestesia equipment. In addition, we had a power outage from 6:30-8:30 PM, so some surgeries had to be postponed until tomorrow.

We had two surprises during surgery today. The first was found in Scarleth Zelaya, who had a Dermoid cyst on the back of her head. The surgical staff found that the mass, instead of water as they originally anticipated, contained hair and a milky substance. They felt that it may have been a twin that never developed in utero.

The second was found in Jorge Meza Duenas, a 19 month old boy whose parents brought him to Dr. Alvear to find out why he had trouble learning how to walk. He had swelling in his right testicle which was initially thought to be a hydrocele (fluid filled sack), but it turned out to be a tumor (teratoma) consisting of brain tissue and some tumor tissue that may have been his twin in utero. The team believes that the tumor was probably cancerous, but it was cured because Dr. Alvear removed the whole mass, including the blood vessels.

Tomorrow will be our last day of procedures before packing up and heading for the airport at 4 AM on Saturday. We hope to help at least 22 more patients before we need to pack our bags for home! Please keep us in your thoughts for a safe day of travel on Saturday!

Helpful Hands

Corina Aguilar is a representative working with us from Fundamar, Fundacion Margie. Fundamar is a non-profit humanitarian organization founded and run by Deputy (Congresswoman) from the Department Atlantidad Honduras, Margarita “Margie” Dip. She has been with us since we got to the airport, helping us to find a safe ride, organizing meals, translating, and supporting us in any way possible. She will be with us all seven days from 7 AM until we are finished with dinner (around 9 PM), and will return to her normal job on the Monday after we leave without a break. She has been an integral part of our mission and has helped us in countless ways. She represents an organization that collects donations of medicine, food, toys, sports team uniforms, walkers/crutches/wheel chairs/canes, and many more items for the underprivileged people of Honduras and the city of La Ceiba. Donations are collected from businesses, people, and other foundations with the intent of supporting the Honduran people.

Amel “Melly” Oseguere is another person who has been a huge help to our team while in Honduras. Melly is an 18 year old Florida native who is vacationing in Honduras to see her grandmother and other family members. She speaks both English and Spanish, which has been a huge help to our team. She told me that she speaks Spanish at home with her family, but speaks English at school. Melly graduated last June from high school, and plans to attend college in Fort Lauderdale starting in August to study to become a hemodialysis tech and ultrasound tech.

Melly was asked to help us by Dr. Valladarez, our host here in Olanchito. She also heard of our arrival from Ericka, the owner and chef of El Mezon, the restaurant that we have had dinner at every night. On a side note, the food here has been AMAZING! Ericka has been a gracious host, and is a fantastic chef.

Melly told me that she enjoys being here to obtain more experience in her field. She also enjoys learning new things, meeting new people, and helping the people of Honduras. She has been invaluable to us, as she not only helps to translate, but she helps us with side jobs such as buying souvenirs, exchanging money, and many other things!

Pictures to make your heart melt

Synergy

Work is becoming more routine at the Olanchito Hospital as the teams fall into a pattern. Teams are working more efficiently and operations have become more seamless. We are experiencing good synergy with local staff on all of our teams, especially the gynecology team, which is comprised of mostly Honduran staff working with Dr. Pepe Misas.

Dr. Misas explained to me today that local OBGYN doctors are not receptive to our presence and have not been willing to collaborate with us in any way. Our only interaction with an OBGYN physician from Honduras was with a Cuban physician who is here for two years. We are also working very closely with the Chief of Surgery, Guillermo Valladarez, who is our host this week.

A reason for the feeling of dissent may be due to the fact that they delay the surgeries the type of surgeries that we are performing so that the patients are forced to pay for them in the private sector, although all of the patients that we cared for are living in destitude and cannot afford to pay for the surgery.

26 procedures were completed today, including hysterectomies, cleft lip repairs, burn scar revisions, facial deformity correction, cholecystectomies, hernia repairs, and hypospadius repairs. Dr. Wolf was eager to help one 13 year old boy fix his nasal deformity, which was attempted once before by a Honduran doctor with the incorrect procedure. His classmates bully him and call him a chimpanzee due to his flat nose. Dr. Wolf was able to repair his nose so that he will only have a small scar on the tip of his nose.

The first day

The brigade got an early start today in preparation for our first day of surgery. After a quick breakfast, the nurses and staff from the World Surgical Foundation and the Hospital Anibal Murillo Escobar began prepping the operating rooms as a team. Due to space restrictions, each operating room had two surgeons working in it. Dr. Domingo Alvear and Dr. Peter Rovito worked with Anesthesiologists, Dr. Veneranda Alvear and Dr. Roger Bucs. Dr. Robert Wolf worked with Diana Davidson, CRNA, and Dr. Jose Misas worked with a crew from the Hospital in Olanchito. Each OR could be found with more than 13 doctors, nurses, and medical personnel in them at a time, plus two patients! The space is quite tight, but the focus of the mission allowed everyone to push through and help so many people who would not have been able to afford to receive the care otherwise. It would be difficult to mention all of the procedures that were performed today, but we’d like to give you a small taste. Dr. Rovito repaired several hernias, removed a mass from a patient’s arm, and covered an emergency appendectomy. Dr. Domingo Alvear performed corrective surgery on two little boys to repair a hypospadius, performed a circumcision on two other little boys, and corrected several hernias on pediatric patients. Dr. Misas performed several hysterectomies, a biopsy, and even stepped in to assist on an emergency cesarean section yesterday! Dr. Wolf corrected several unilateral cleft lips and palates, released contractures from a burn, and many other plastic surgery procedures.As you can see, the team did an amazing job completing over 30 procedures on our first day! Some members of the group were at the hospital for more than 13 hours! There is truly a sense of doing whatever needs to be done in order to help the people of Olanchito, La Ceiba, and many other towns from which people have traveled to see the doctors of the WSF.

My apologies for not posting more pictures. We have so many to share, but the internet connection is quite slow. We will post them to Picasa separately and will give you the link in a future post.

Prepping for Surgery

The evaluations and operating room setup occurred at the hospital today. We were escorted to the hospital by the military guards. The medical equipment was unloaded from the bus, and we enjoyed a pancake breakfast at the hospital. After that, everyone began laying the foundation for the rest of our mission. The nurses, Anesthesiologists, and several volunteers unpacked our equipment and got each of the two operating rooms set up to host two surgeries at a time for the next five days. I’ve spoken with two doctors today after their schedules were set, and each of them have upwards of 35 surgeries scheduled for the week. I spoke with Dr. Robert Wolf, Plastic Surgeon today about which cases he feels will be the most challenging this week. He informed me that he has two brothers with bi-lateral cleft palate and cleft lip combinations to perform this week that will be both difficult and time consuming. He also has quite a few cleft lip surgeries and cleft palate surgeries lined up, along with scar contracture release procedures to remove burn scars that seem to cover the bodies of so many people here. There is not working electricity in many homes, so several families cook over fires that cause these burns. He also saw a baby today who had chemical burns all over his body. It is truly heart wrenching.

Dr. Wolf also shared several stories of patients that he is eagerly anticipating helping. One is a teenage boy who has a congenital alar deformity in his nose, which causes his nose to appear flat. This boy has already received one surgery to attempt to fix the issue, but the incorrect procedure was performed. He will be performing an open tip rhinoplasty to re-form the cartilage and allow the boy to have a “normal” appearing nose. This made the mother cry with joy when she heard that her son would receive the surgery that will resolve his problem because they boy has been enduring endless bullying at school and his classmates compare him to a chimpanzee.

I also worked with Dr. Domingo Alvear, Pediatric Surgeon, today as he screened his patients for the week. There were several patients who had to be referred to the Hospital in San Pedro Sula when the World Surgical Foundation returns in November 2011 due to the need for a pediatric surgeon to provide follow-up care after procedures are completed.

On Dr. Alvear’s schedule this week, you will find surgery to repair hernias (both groin and umbilical), circumcisions, removal of cysts, and so much more. One little boy will receive surgery to remove the tumor from his thigh which could be a sarcoma. Dr. Alvear will send this tumor for pathology testing to be sure that it is not cancerous. If so, the boy will need to see an oncologist, and he will likely need to receive radiation or chemotherapy. We certainly hope this is not the case, but unfortunately, this type of care is virtually unavailable here.

When I asked Dr. Alvear what was one of the more unusual cases for the week, and he described a six year old girl who has been stooling through an ectopic anus since birth, which is located between her anus and vagina. Dr. Alvear will be able to transpose the anus to its normal location, allowing this little girl to toilet like everyone else.

We are also joined on the mission by Dr. Peter Rovito, General Surgeon, and Dr. Jose “Pepe” Misas, an OBGYN-Oncology Surgeon. I will profile these doctors’ cases in a future post. Until then, thank you so much for your support and for following our mission!

Arrival in Olanchito, Honduras

Yesterday, after a very long day of travel, the group of doctors, nurses, and volunteers from the World Surgical Foundation arrived in the valley where Olanchito, Yoro, Honduras is located. After flying into San Pedro Sula Airport, we loaded our medical supplies and suitcases onto a bus and climbed aboard another and set out for Olanchito with our military escorts. It is my believe that the bus ride was seriously underestimated by most, but after about 6-7 hours on the bus (we lost track of time after a while), we arrived at our welcome dinner with Olanchito’s Mayor, a government diplomat, the Director of the Hospital, and several others who welcomed us with a delicious dinner! Please check back for future posts on our experiences and success stories in Olanchito!