 |
|---|
| Home |
|---|
| About Us |
|---|
| Principles |
|---|
| Mission Teams |
|---|
| Volunteering |
|---|
| Photo Gallery |
|---|
| Team Blogs |
|---|
| News |
|---|
| Gala 2010 |
|---|
| Events |
|---|
| Donate |
|---|
| Contact Us |
|---|
713-484-5555
|
Faith In Practice: Team Blogs
Teams can post a web-log (blog) or diary of events and experiences during their trip to Guatemala. To view one of these logs, select one from the following list:
WORDS OF APPRECIATION FROM YOUR
DALLAS GUATEMALA TEAM FOR
FAITH IN PRACTICE
Our Team from the Metroplex landed in Dallas on Saturday afternoon filled with awe and gratitude for the work that had been accomplished during the week in Guatemala but made possible only because the vast multitude of support we received from supply and financial donors, families, friends, and prayer supporters. It takes more than a village – it takes the charity and love of many persons to make possible our week in Antigua at the Obras Sociales del Hemano Pedro Hospital.
Pictures on the Faith in Practice web site show you our team in action. The rest of the story is summarized below:
A new addition to the Dallas Team this year was a full dental team that included dentist Dr. Roy Smith and oral surgeon Dr. Larry Stewart, who set the pace for the team constantly finding new locations to handle patients, the clinic, the hallway and the OR. Dental assistant Anne Amacker, hygienists Patty Litterer and Jill Gill managed the patient load that included 152 patients. By the numbers they pulled 140 teeth and handled about 60 fillings. Dr. Stewart also handled two cases in the OR. Jill Gill recruited and led the Team and along with Patty Litterer also visited a local school and taught about good dental care in 5 classrooms to about 125 children.
Dr. Murray Fox and Dr. Daryl Greebon, our gynecologists, handled 33 cases during the week, relieving the pain and discomfort of these women who could not otherwise afford or have access to these procedures. Their smiles and relief after discharge from the hospital after their overnight stays were wide and broad and filled with the quiet gratitude so typical of this culture.
Dr. Steve White and Dr. Ted Peters, our orthopedic surgeons, handled 45 cases that included everything from a total hip replacement, lots of knee arthroscopies, correction of a child’s club foot, and many hand surgeries to relieve or repairs deformities or injuries. Dr. White handled many arthroscopies and ACL injures while Dr. Peters worked on many hands and children.
Dr. Jim Gill served as OR chief and led the anesthesia team that also included Dr. Doug Unger, Jack Freeman, Martin Simpson, and Larry Stephens, CRNAs, who handled our patients anxieties and provided perfect care for our patients in the OR. They skillfully stretched our anesthesia supplies to handle our heavy patient load.
Our OR staff supporting the surgeons were the key for our surgeons handling a record number of cases for the week. We were fortunate to have Debbie Burns, working on a nurse practitioner degree and Teresa Salyer as RN & D with their special skills; Omar Alvarenga, Sue King, Marcia Lemay, Debbie Parker, Paulina Pizana, Lisa Price, Julie Walker, and Peggy Walsh on hand as nurse circulators, and scrub technicians who used their expertise in both medical and diplomacy skills in assuring sterile environments and procedures that equaled what they do in the U.S.
Handling the stresses and anxieties of patients – as well as their joys – was our Pre-and Post Op staff of nurses led by Gerry Orler. Her nursing staff included Betty Boon, Sandy Dacus, Beverly Gollan and Georgie Weston. With Eirene Beltran as their translator and assistant they handled all of the cases, adapting to local customs and availability of medications and equipment.
Kathleen Soper, one of our nurses, served as Patient Advocate this year, the communication link between patients and families, following up with families on doctor instructions to assist in providing extended stays at the Casa de Fe, the Faith in Practice owned facilities for families and patients – a Ronald Macdonald house type facility.
We are pleased that no patient complications occurred or were reported before we departed on Saturday morning. It's a tribute to our great medical team and the generosity of so many that contributed the supplies that they needed to do the work.
Our spiritual leader for the week was Pastor Dave Jobe who led the team with inspirational music and devotions each morning at 6:15AM and then proceeded to the hospital to pray with patients and their families. He often helped out with transporting patients and providing comfort and for families outside the OR. He found our supply of Spanish bibles in high demand, especially those that allowed children to used crayons for some of the bible stories. As servants of God’s love in Guatemala we all received many blessings.
Whitney Whitsell was our Team Cook this year and was a fantastic rookie team member who quickly made the kitchen at the Quinta de las Flores her own (in her words – this is my kitchen now). She kept us well fed, healthy and included a gourmet meal using her culinary school skills.
Team members rotated with food prep and cleanup and the breakfast shift – at 4:45 AM every day. Gay Van Osdall, one of our Faith in Practice facilitators, an experienced Team cook, showed Whitney where to shop in Guatemala for the best in bakery goods, meat and poultry as well as her way around the huge local market.
Rounding out our support staff, was Paige Litterer, our Team Photographer who each day recorded our work with photographs at the hospital, OR, clinics and with our dental team. At night she worked the computer to select and upload the pictures that have been loaded to the FIP web site that tell part of our story. She is “burning” a CD that will be a larger record of the many faces, sights and joy of our work this year. John Van Osdall, also a FIP Facilitator, mastered the new computer system for patients records developed for FIP. Yes, computer based patient medical records are now happening by FIP at the OBRAS! John and his wife Gay were consultants for many aspects of our work!
Lori Exline and I had the privilege of working with this Team in its preparations this year, serving as Team Administrator and Assistant. While Lori could not make the trip to Guatemala she continued to serve as Journalist by email for the Team and assisted in uploading pictures to the website. Handling the finance Manager’s job, a natural after my first career in banking, was a part of my job this year as well as the privilege of serving as the Administrative Leader while in Guatemala. When you have a team of highly dedicated and highly-skilled professionals it’s a joy to see everyone performing at the heights of their skills for the benefit of others.
Guatemala is a nation of contrasts. Contrasted against its rolling green hills, lush flowers and gardens, calla lilies growing like giants, all types of flowering vines, fruits double in size to what we receive here in the states, ripe and full of flavor, there exists such poverty among the majority of the population. Public health care is limited to emergency care or care for those who are victims of violent crime. Stab wounds take precedence in the emergency rooms.
The work of the Franciscans at the Obras and of Faith in Practice teams both at the Obras, and with many village teams that go to villages to provide care – and now opening its first regional clinic in Patzun a few hours from Antigua – make Faith in Practice the second largest provider of medical care in Guatemala. We were privileged to be a part of it all for the week and so were you in providing your contributions: money, medical, surgical, and anesthesia supplies, computer or office supplies, prayer support, care for family, children, and pets while we were away, or as employers who let us have the time away!
We thank you! On behalf of the quiet, humble, poor in Guatemala, who bear their suffering and poverty with dignity and express great love for the care provided for them!
Christina Tomczak
--------------
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Dear Friends-
I am happy to report the team’s energy level is at an all time high today. As we suspected, the triage process and yesterday’s first day of surgery were both record setters for our team. Dr’s Peters, White, Greebon, and Fox together performed a total of 18 surgeries and plan to have an even busier remainder of the week.
Currently there are a total of 75 surgeries on the books. Christina Tomczak and her administrative team are singing the praises of the fourth operating room! With these new facilities our doctors can provide care they could not two years prior. Everyone is ecstatic at the thought of being able to treat more patients and safely take on more complex cases. One of the more touching cases yesterday was that of a little boy who grabbed a motorcycle muffler and severely burned his hand. In the photo at the link below you can see Dr. Peters performing a skin graft. This procedure will allow him increased mobility in his fingers.
Hearing Paige Litterer retell this story to me late last night reminds me of the packing party we held on the 18th. I can remember watching my husband and brother-in-law, who are not even members of our team, help move trunks from my garage to Willow Bend Church. They were both dressed for Church and were wearing suits. I think of our Doctors work so hard to get our supplies donated and Christina Tomczak who works tirelessly to keep us all organized. These seemingly small efforts all came together perfectly (as God’s love always does) in the moment that Dr. Peters gave the handsome young man in the photo better use his hand. WOW! The same thing happened time and time again yesterday within the walls of the Obras. Also photographed is a woman who received a much needed surgery for her clubbed foot.
The dental team also had big numbers yesterday-13 on Sunday while the medical team was doing triage. And, on Monday they treated 36. Jill Gill reports that they “had kids hanging from the rafters.” The dentists and hygenists only had two dental chairs to work with. It seems a fairly sophisticated system was organized in an assembly line of sorts with Dr. Stewart numbing the patients, then moving them to the next stop. After a while they had so many numb patients in process, lost count, and had to write their treatment on their hand with a SHARPIE!
Dr. Stewart also did a frenectomy and a lip shave on a patient who appeared to have cancer of the lip. The procedure was preformed in the pre-op area under local anesthesia. Thankfully she left smiling in spite of the sutures and a fat lip. Our amazing dental is planning to see her for follow up Thursday. We are all praying for a speedy biopsy which normally takes 15 days to get back in this area of the world. As the dental team left the clinic yesterday afternoon they passed many of the patients they had just treated. The patients were being loaded into on a very old trunk with an open trailer. They all waved and smiled and the whole team felt God's presence during that moment. They seemed to be saying well done servant.
There has also been an increased emphasis on training this year. I learned from Dr. Runyon just a few days ago that several local Guatemalan physicians will be going to Orlando for the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons Seminar for lectures and workshops in a few weeks. As the care we provide here increases, the team is also providing local doctors with more training in 2007. Dr. Rynyon says, “We are very excited to host them, and show them that the podiatrist is the specialist of the foot and ankle in the US and in Guatamala. So we can help as many of their countrymen as possible and help to train the surgeons in Antigua.”
Whitney our cook and recent culinary grad is doing well and keeping our team well fed. Gay has assumed the role of “Sous Chef” and is proving to be a huge help in feeding our tired and hungry group. We all appreiate your support and encouragement as we continue through our mission.
Be sure to check the photo link daily, as I’ll be routinely posting photos.
Sincerely,
Lori L. Exline
PHOTO LINK
http://www.faithinpractice.org/gallery.php
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Hello Friends of Faith In Practice-
I’m happy to report that Team 146 has arrived safely in Antigua, Guatemala! What a relief it was on Friday evening to have every trunk, team member and piece of luggage accounted for. The flight was short and uneventful for the most part. Only 3 hours from gate to gate and thankfully, since Antigua is in the same time zone, jet lag is rarely an issue. After arriving after 10 pm and spending the night at Hotel Los Pasos, (http://www.hotellospasos.com ) most of the group immediately swung into action. There is always so much to do on our first day. Trunks to unpack at the Obras where we’ll be treating patients, exchange money, shopping for food supplies, checking in at Casa de Fe, transport luggage, and visit with the previous team.
Although yesterday was a busy one, I was thrilled to learn that most of the first time team members found some time to take a walking tour of Antigua with Elizabeth Bell, one of the city’s best. They are understanding the culture here, and appreciating it! The gentleness of the people is truly the only way we can fully complete our mission and provide the comprehensive care our medical team is known for. Paige Litterer, our team photographer and I are working on sending photos along with the next update. The photos of the walking tour are worth seeing.
Late yesterday afternoon, our energetic group finally got settled into the hotel(http://www.quintadelasflores.com ) where they’ll stay for the remainder of the trip. For many of our veteran team members arriving at this hotel is much like a homecoming. The staff is familiar, and fellowship and camaraderie here is what makes the Faith In Practice tag line so true. It really is a “Life Changing Medical Mission”. The work we do here changes the lives of the patients we serve and also changes the team members who do God’s work in delivering the care. It’s a magical thing that can only be experienced first-hand. I know that I speak for the group when I write that they were all relieved to settle in and focus on the heavy caseloads that are just around the corner.
As I write this update, the team is working intensely to triage the sea of patients who were waiting for them this morning when they arrived at the Obras. This process always amazes me. There are several small rooms set up with make-shift curtains and a check in desk of sorts. Each triage room is half the size of my office and is very, very crowded. Normally there is a patient, family member, doctor, nurse and translator present in each room at all times. I’m so thankful for the talent of our doctors. Most of the cases are due to a lack of prior medical care. A broken bone that has gone untreated, a deformity that might have been surgically corrected at birth, an ovarian tumor that has not been removed, and many beautiful smiles that have never received dental care. I can imagine how difficult it must be for our docs to make a diagnosis and treatment plan under these conditions. The doctors typically receive little to no medical history and do not speak the language. Yet, some!
How in spite of the obstacles, the medical care is of the same high quality a patient would receive in America. Last year through the operating room remodel at the Obras, we were able to add an additional OR. Our team is expected to perform more than 40 surgeries this week. The team will surely be exhausted when they meet back at the hotel for dinner tonight!
Thanks so much for your kind words of encouragement and your prayers. They have meant the world to our team. I will continue to pass your messages along to the group, and will write soon with my next update. Until then, I will remain In His service.
Lori Exline
|
|
|---|