Hey, Chris here from Ensenada, Mexico... May 8...
Many nurses my professional organization, the Hispanic Nurses Assn have been staffing the 1000 Smiles Foundation quarterly surgical outreach in Ensenada. A part of the Rotary Intl, this group has been doing cleft lip and palate repairs for 'low resource' kids in Mexico for quite some time. My friends have been pressing me to join the outreach for quite sometime... formal credentialling with the Mex Gov't took awhile... the credentials came thru, and I went for the intense 2-day trip.
Day 1 was mainly Pre-op screening of the patients by the surgeons, and fully stocking and checking out the equipment for safe patient care by the nursing staff (9 nurses). There were also dentists doing general dentistry for dozens of people. The clinic was my favorite type of chaos, people everywhere...
Day 2 was 'up before the sun' and in OR for 12 hours... our team did 14 cases in 3 Operating Room suites at Hospital General Ensenada. The American team came from 7 different states, joining the Mexican team of docs and nurses from Ensenada. I was primarily part of the Post Anesthesia care team, but also circulated in active cases. There were also the dozen other 'needs doin' now' things, including act as translator and communication laison, and help with the anesthesia delivery. 14 cases, some taking 4 hours of operative time...
As the sun set over the Ensenada bay, we all boarded the bus back to San Diego... 13 kids able to be discharged, one staying the night for observation in the General Hosp. A great day, we all agreed... and most fell asleep, exhausted, for the 3 hour trip back.
The high-tech, highly trained team (all volunteers) provided surgical care for kids who would have ZERO chance of such in Mexico, due to their 'least of these' economic status. Cleft lip/palate repair is not a one-time shot, but requires dozens of surgeries over a number of years for the multiple EENT issues... and 1000 Smiles has facilitated hundreds of kids to receive this complex level of long-term care.
A good part of my nursing career has been in scrubs and 'up to my elbows' in long-and-difficult cases over the decades, so this 1000 Smiles work was quite a joy to me (yeah, I really do like the work!)...
Of course, my first Post-Anesthesia kid out had a rough time waking up, requiring a full 45 minutes of 'that's all I did, one-on-one'... SOOO 'game on'... but she did great, and it was a joy to hand her over... all awake and doing great... turn her over to a mother weeping openly with relief and gratitude in post-op/pre-discharge...
Great weekend, happy in scrubs, again...
your bro, Chris
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