What a team!

Our mission teams spent the day getting ready for four days of surgery.  We are going to be working with patients at Gallares Memorial and Ramiro Community Hospitals.  We are also setting up a medical clinic in the large central courtyard of Tagbilaran’s city hall.  Everyone will be welcome.  Here, we’ll be checking vital signs, like their temperature and blood pressure.  We will also be checking their cholesterol and blood sugar levels.  And for those in need, MMF sent a lot of commonly used medications we’ll be giving away at the clinic.  We’ll also have an arts & crafts station set-up complete with crayons, markers, coloring books, stickers and other things to keep them busy while the families wait in the long lines.

  I’d like to tell you a little about the physicians on this mission.  

Dr. Trudi Grin is our Medical Director.  She and her husband, Dr. Milton Grin, are ophthalmologists in Olathe and Leawood.  Between the two of them, they’ve been on 16 MMF missions.  They will be running the eye team at Ramiro Hospital.  Dr. Trudi will be performing surgeries on children with eye misalignments (strabismus or crossed eyes).    Dr. Milton will be performing cataract surgeries.  The Foundation is so grateful to the Grins not only for the hundreds and hundreds of surgeries they’ve performed throughout the years, but for their leadership helping to guide the growth as MMF goes to other developing countries.  The Grins are amazing examples of the true meaning of giving back, and have the unique ability to teach others - like their three children.  By exposing them to this kind of mission work so young, it became second nature to them and part of their lives as adults.  Their daughter, Cara and their new son-in-law, Doug Cowan, is with us on this mission.  They met on an MMF mission in Romania several years ago.  Their oldest son, Ben, used his only vacation time this year for a mission trip on his own.   

 

Dr. Doug Cusick is our mission’s plastic surgeon.  Dr. Doug has a private practice in Leawood and this is his 21^th mission and 4^th time to the Philippines.  He and his wife, Barbara began going on missions even before he became a physician in 1982.  He and the plastic surgery team will be working at Galleras Memorial and primarily operating on children and young adults with cleft palates & lips and scar  deformities.  Dr. Cusick works in conjunction with the plastic surgery society and this is the second time we’ve been able to use grant money due to his relationship with Smile Train.  Dr. Cusick is a natural teacher and is actually using this mission as an opportunity to mentor Doug Cowan, who is in third year of his ENT residency at KU.  

Dr. John Hubbard is our mission’s anesthesiologist.  Dr. John practices at Truman Medical Center.   He has been on numerous MMF missions and he is the co-president of the Medical Missions Foundation board.  He is here with his wife, Cindy, who is a nurse anesthetist.  Together, they work as a team to make sure our patients are safely put to sleep for their procedures.   Today was also the day to screen all the surgery patients to make sure they are physically able to withstand the procedures and that our medical teams have all the necessary equipment to perform them successfully.   

Here are a few of today’s patient stories to share with you:  

Benjie was our favorite from the day at Galleres Memorial.  Aside from being adorable, he’s five years old and in real need of both cleft palate and lip repair.  He has other birth defects that he will struggle with so we’re hoping that the surgery Dr. Cusick will be performing on him will help give him an early start building his confidence by being able to speak clearly and smile brightly.   

Roy is 29 years old.  One of the tools that was used during his birth damaged one of his eyelids. Dr. Cusick will be repairing his eyelid.  Dave Brinkerhoff and I were talking with the administrator of the hospital today and she said one of the things they love about our mission is that we bring surgeons and surgical teams that do the types of procedures their doctors can’t perform.  And, they don’t have plastic surgeons in Bohol.  So Roy is very excited about getting Dr. Cusick’s help. 

Jerome is seven years old.  Just before his first birthday, his mother noticed his left eye crossing significantly.  I asked his mom what it’s been like for Jerome to live with his eye that way it is.  She put her hand on her heart and with an interpreter’s help, told me that it hurts her to see the other kids make fun of Jerome.  She is so excited to be able to give her son this gift.  

Cristina is 20 years old and as you can see, is in need of both a palate and lip repair.  I had the chance to talk quite a while with Cristina.  She’s a very sweet and polite girl, but you can tell how embarrassed she is to have had to live with her situation her whole life.  It’s a real joy to see how excited (and a little nervous) she is for her operation tomorrow.  Cristina also has two thumbs on her right hand.  Dr. Cusick offered to repair it, but she decided to leave it alone because ever since she was a little girl, her grandfather told her it was god’s way of giving her good luck.

I’ll give you updates on these surgeries later in the week!  

Tomorrow, the mission teams begin to change the lives of some very special people here in Bohol.  Each one has their own story, but what they all have in common is that they’ve had to live with their deformities in a society that is not much different than ours when it comes to how it makes them feel about themselves and what it does to their self confidence.  The difference is that they don’t have access to the medical care they need to fix it.