Mission Completed…

Our MOA team just recently completed it’s second surgical mission to Escuintla, Guatemala which was very successful! What a great team!! I was continually amazed by their clinical skills, motivation, dedication and compassion. They were never too tired or burdened to do one more case or see one more patient, regardless of the lateness of the day or level of fatigue they were experiencing.

Many of the patients had been hospitalized for several weeks with serious fractures that required surgical repair. In Guatemala, the family of a patient requiring surgery is given a prescription that states the type(s) of implants required and if the family is able to collect the funds for the implants, the patient will then eventually undergo the necessary repair. Unfortunately, many of the families are unable to raise the funds to purchase the implants and are frequently discharged home without receiving definitive treatment of their fractures, often leading to a debilitating, life long impairment. Thru the very kind donations of our team and supporters, we were able to provide the needed hardware to repair their fractures, hopefully returning them to a life without physical limitations. Dr. Terry Mueller and I were quite busy repairing fractures that were several weeks old. The most challenging were the femur fractures that were greatly shortened with significant early bone formation around and in the fracture site.

While orthopedic procedures may have constituted the majority of the surgeries done during our visit, the rest of the team was quite busy as well. Our facial plastics surgeon, Dr. Mike Majmundar performed some very difficult facial reconstructions. One 17 year old young man was so extremely disfigured that he had not been to school in several years because of the severe taunting that he had to endure. After 5 hrs of surgery, the transformation was nothing less than miraculous. Several cleft palates were evaluated and surgical treatments offered. One of the children presented with multiple physical deformities felt to be related to a chromosomal abnormality. One of his problems resulted in deformity of and inability to close one of his eyes, resulting in chronic exposure conjunctivitis and keratitis. Dr. Majmundar very nicely corrected his deformity, allowing the youngster to be able to fully close his eyes. Our gynecologists (Drs. Kenneth Palmer and Willis Lanier) performed several hysterectomies, greatly improving the quality of life for the women that were treated. One uterus was extremely large, approaching the size of a football.

We were fortunate to have our own anesthesia staff with us on this trip to make all of this possible. Dr. Ramon Matos and CRNA Ron Woodward did an exemplary job of making our patients comfortable and providing superb anesthesia services. Our support staff was instrumental in allowing us to perform our surgeries. Harriette Hodges (Surgical tech), Susie Woodward, R.N. and Frank Hachmuth (Physician’s Assistant and fill-in Surgical Tech) rose to the occasion to insure that all the instruments and supplies were ready and available and then assisted the surgeons during the procedures. We were initially scheduled to do surgeries on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. However, there were two patients that we had evaluated earlier in the week and simply hadn’t been able to attend to their surgeries in the time allotted; the team members that were needed to complete these surgeries readily volunteered to give up their free day to return on Friday to complete our surgical commitments.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of the staff at the Hospital Regional de Escuintla for all their hard work and late hours that they worked to make it all happen. While we severely over burdened and disrupted their system and normal work schedule, the staff worked late into the nights, long past their normal quitting time so that we might continue our work. For that, we are sincerely grateful.

I can’t express in words what it was like to work with this dedicated and talented team. You guys are the best!! Thank you for taking time away from work and family to share the talents that God had granted you to take care of patients much less fortunate than we. It was truly an honor to work with this wonderful group of professionals!!!

Ed Atwell, M.D.
President

Mission Photos

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