Friday, February 12, 2010
As the team packs and readies for the trip home, we can’t help but wonder whether or not the Firestone hospital physicians, led by the wonderful Dr. Sherman, will be able to operate in the coming days on many of the patients we have been unable to serve. Every day as the team arrives and departs from the hospital, a crowd of mothers with babies, and fathers with children attempt to get our attention by indicating a hernia or saying “I am sick, doctor”. Hopefully we’ve been able to attend to all of the lips and palates that have sought our help as there is literally no doctor in all of Liberia trained to operate on these conditions. During our stay the Liberian doctors have been able to shadow our Dr.’s, especially Dr. Steve Muehlstadt, to the point where Steve said by the end of the week “these guys will be able to do hernias themselves”. As one of CSI’s foremost missions is to train medical professionals wherever we go, this is great news.
The CSI team has done a great job of conserving supplies and figuring out way to make them last the entire week. Sutures were used sparingly. anesthesia conserved, and IV tubing stretched in order to meet the needs of 4 times the patients we planned for. Out of nametags, we wrote the names of patients on masking tape and affixed it to the front of each child as well as their parent as pre-op always hosted a mélange of patients, parents, younger siblings and guests. In addition, not a single day went by without a number of people making their way past hospital security and up to the bench outside pre-op in order to beg for treatment. Most of the time we were able to accommodate, although often we could not due to human or technological resource constraints.
As we reflect on the people we have been blessed to serve here in Liberia, every team member has remarked at least once or twice about the incredible human kindness and patience in the people of this battle torn country. Perhaps it is a function of living with limited resources, and as a result each gesture of caring and compassion is met with gratitude. Smiles are genuine; words of gratitude come from the heart; tears of thanks are rooted in the souls of these people with “eyes that see a thousand miles” as our team photographer Bill commented. We were especially glad to have the chance to repair hernias in three children from an orphanage. And Dr. Steve even managed to help the son of the man who runs the local woodworking shop, promising to do his best to return in the future to help his other son.
So much of what we have been able to accomplish is directly related to the generosity of Firestone, in particular the vision of Dan Atomitis. Several years ago he started talking to CSI about the possibility of a team coming to Liberia, and following his trip to Hermacillo with a team, Dan kicked into high gear making this week happen. Staff and resources were readied, and the CSI team has been the grateful beneficiary of everything from wondereful accommodations, daily meals, transportation support and most importantly the undivided attention and commitment of the people and facilities of the Firestone hospital. Every nurse, physician and support person pulled out all the stops to be sure trash was emptied, rooms were allocated, regular patients moved, OR’s prepped and professionals tuned to make CSI’s visit the educational opportunity it promised to be. We are thankful to each and every person for going overboard to make the week as productive as possible.
We can’t help but wonder what is next for many of the patients we have come to know. Austin, whose parents abandoned him to live and be raised by his grandmother, has new skin grafts on his legs which were badly injured. Wellington, the little 4 year old boy has newfound use of an arm that was badly scarred by a burn. Stephen and Courage and Morllay and many like them no longer have hernias, and Saturdayma, the 17 year old woman with a cleft lip and palate has been healed and returns to school. The three boys from the orphanage were operated on and we hope to be able to return in the future to help those we could not fit into the schedule.
And as the team left in vans for the airport, we made one final stop at a neighborhood soccer field. Dr. Kofi Boahene and team youth member Anna Koppel hopped out and kicked two brand new soccer balls out to the kids playing on the field. This led to an epidemic of waving hands and screams of “thank you” as we made our way down the road, filled with the hope of returning to this country of wide-eyed children and their parents who love them.
The CSI team has done a great job of conserving supplies and figuring out way to make them last the entire week. Sutures were used sparingly. anesthesia conserved, and IV tubing stretched in order to meet the needs of 4 times the patients we planned for. Out of nametags, we wrote the names of patients on masking tape and affixed it to the front of each child as well as their parent as pre-op always hosted a mélange of patients, parents, younger siblings and guests. In addition, not a single day went by without a number of people making their way past hospital security and up to the bench outside pre-op in order to beg for treatment. Most of the time we were able to accommodate, although often we could not due to human or technological resource constraints.
As we reflect on the people we have been blessed to serve here in Liberia, every team member has remarked at least once or twice about the incredible human kindness and patience in the people of this battle torn country. Perhaps it is a function of living with limited resources, and as a result each gesture of caring and compassion is met with gratitude. Smiles are genuine; words of gratitude come from the heart; tears of thanks are rooted in the souls of these people with “eyes that see a thousand miles” as our team photographer Bill commented. We were especially glad to have the chance to repair hernias in three children from an orphanage. And Dr. Steve even managed to help the son of the man who runs the local woodworking shop, promising to do his best to return in the future to help his other son.
So much of what we have been able to accomplish is directly related to the generosity of Firestone, in particular the vision of Dan Atomitis. Several years ago he started talking to CSI about the possibility of a team coming to Liberia, and following his trip to Hermacillo with a team, Dan kicked into high gear making this week happen. Staff and resources were readied, and the CSI team has been the grateful beneficiary of everything from wondereful accommodations, daily meals, transportation support and most importantly the undivided attention and commitment of the people and facilities of the Firestone hospital. Every nurse, physician and support person pulled out all the stops to be sure trash was emptied, rooms were allocated, regular patients moved, OR’s prepped and professionals tuned to make CSI’s visit the educational opportunity it promised to be. We are thankful to each and every person for going overboard to make the week as productive as possible.
We can’t help but wonder what is next for many of the patients we have come to know. Austin, whose parents abandoned him to live and be raised by his grandmother, has new skin grafts on his legs which were badly injured. Wellington, the little 4 year old boy has newfound use of an arm that was badly scarred by a burn. Stephen and Courage and Morllay and many like them no longer have hernias, and Saturdayma, the 17 year old woman with a cleft lip and palate has been healed and returns to school. The three boys from the orphanage were operated on and we hope to be able to return in the future to help those we could not fit into the schedule.
And as the team left in vans for the airport, we made one final stop at a neighborhood soccer field. Dr. Kofi Boahene and team youth member Anna Koppel hopped out and kicked two brand new soccer balls out to the kids playing on the field. This led to an epidemic of waving hands and screams of “thank you” as we made our way down the road, filled with the hope of returning to this country of wide-eyed children and their parents who love them.
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