Medical Missions Foundation

Day 5

  

The kids are gone to school during the mornings which leaves peace and opportunity at Deb's House to make necessary repairs or changes. I went over to the House this morning with Ryan Beasley and Richelle Maser. We made some adjustments to a brand new turf we used to cover the front yard of Deb's House because the natural grass was worn away due to all the running by the kids. There are also several uneven areas where the kids used their feet to dig into it and these dips have remained, so it was first necessary to fill these with sand to level out the ground before laying the turf. Now it's finished and the kids are loving it already, doing handstands and cartwheels on it.

By 10 o'clock the three of us along with Steven, one of our translators, were at the Botosani fire station to get a tour. We were all led upstairs to a room where we waited for the chief of the department. I wanted to walk downstairs and was told that was fine but I needed someone with me at all times; they are a military institution was the reason and they had some strict rules. Eventually the chief came and led the four of us out to where the trucks are parked. The chief told us a little bit of history about each of the several vehicles and the purpose for its use. The newest truck was made in 1996, while the oldest was built back in 1975! So it was like seeing an old movie parked in front of you, and it provides a good look into more things in this country affected by the government, its povisions and meager capabilities. The station's official dog is a german shepherd with closely cropped hair who won a performance contest with 1,500 other dogs. The dog's trainer shouted commands and the dog gave us a show, obeying perfectly. Of course we don't speak Romanian so I can only assume it was perfect. Richelle asked if she could take pictures and they allowed it, but only with the stipulation that she wouldn't photograph the building. Obviously very different than what we're all used to. It was an interesting and enlightening experience.

Back to the house.

Richelle took the kids out individually to different areas around Deb's House and several photos of them. These photos will later be used for promotional arts and craft items like calendars to raise money.

As of right now, this is the last day of surgery and clinic for the entire medical staff and tomorrow we will all begin packing to leave. I understand we will all be able to take a trip to a well known glass factory in Dorohoi. Elizabeth Alex has told me how amazing the blown glass pieces are and hopefully I'll see everyone out there before we load up to leave. Yes, we leave tomorrow and it's back to Bucharest via train and we should have some time to look around for ourselves. It will be hard to leave the kids who I've gotten to know very well. They will certainly be missed. However, I have a family of my own back home and can't wait to get back to them. Many volunteers on this trip have family waiting for them back in the states (Canada if you're Jennifer Hibbs and Richelle Maser), but this is what makes all the people I've come to be friends with that much better people. They take a short leave from the everyday and come to Botosani to help out those much less fortunate. Even when we take a short leave from our own families this trip serves as a great "lead by example" that I know I certainly want my kids to see. Hopefully I will be able to make more of these trips in the future and get to see the kids of Deb's House again. Obviously that includes seeing the entire volunteer staff again in the future.

Day 4

 

There was a round of kids from Deb's house who went to the eye clinic today to have their vision tested by Brenda VanCamp and Amy Steinman.  Costica, who has a twin brother named Cosmin, was found to have insufficient eye sight and was given glasses. Brenda tested them using a Romanian eye chart, not too different from American charts except there are additional sides to the chart with pictures instead of letters. These pictures came in useful for a 10 year old Romanian girl the day before who we found out couldn't read.  After Brenda tested each individual child they were sent into a small adjoining room where Amy would fit them with glasses, if needed. The kids were sent home with the black sunshades to shield their eyes from any bright light. Back at Deb's house they played with the glasses and tossed them around inside the house. One pair was broken rather quickly. Kids and their glasses!

 

Ryan Beasley is a professional fire fighter during the day and super hero at night. At 2 o'clock he brought two of the local firefighters over to Deb's House to show an instructional movie on fire prevention and safety. The video lasted just over an hour, and the kids were ready to get outside. This is Ryan's third mission to Botosani and he's been educating the children and staff of Deb's House about how to avoid fires and evacuate if there is a fire. He started this education process during his first trip here. He has established a relationship with the local fireman and has used that connection to bring more local attention to Deb's House. This really helps Deb's House be a part of the community.

 

 

In the afternoon we walked the kids who hadn't been to the clinic around the corner and down to the promenade. The promenade is very close to our Hotel Rhapsodia and is lined with little cart shops that sell items. Along the sides there also restaurants and pubs--always plenty of pubs wherever you go. Richelle Maser and Ryan Beasley helped load the kids into small water vehicles decorated as animals that filled a temporary blue pond set up in the middle of the promenade. Each vehicle played music. The first one we heard was playing We Wish You A Merry Christmas, in English. Eder, one of the children from the House, who had recently had a proceedure to have his right ear pinned back, stood up in his little motorized water animal and shook his hands back and forth. However he sat down really quickly when Ryan and Richelle scolded him and the man operating the pond ran over to him.

 

We bought the kids bottled juice at a nearby store along the promenade, then took them home. As usual, the weather was incredible, especially for those of us from Houston. Sunny with a cool breeze.

Long But Rewarding Day

Post by Gavin Gerngross  

Richelle and Ben and I saw an osteotomy on an 8 year old boy. He had previously injured his right index finger and the final joint had grown back crooked. The operating room is sunlit by two windows on opposing walls, while the room itself has little to no ventilation and is extremely hot. There is even an old fireplace permanently installed in the room with a glazed exterior. Though it isn't actively used, the knowledge of its presence is enough. The young boy was visibly scared going in and teary-eyed the entire time. One of the nurses held his hand until the anesthesia Ken Conde administered put him to sleep. Chas and Pam sterilized the instruments. Suzanne assisted Dr. Gutek throughout the procedure. It was necessary for Dr. Gutek to chip away the excessive bone where his finger began slanting internally, then an internal splint was completed; finally it was dressed in gauze. 

Afterward, Dr. Gutek went into the hall to discuss follow-up procedures with the boy's mother. The woman cried a bit, and held her hands together under her chin the way someone who is very grateful usually gestures. Richelle hugged the woman and told her it would all be okay. Whether the woman understood Richelle's words or not didn't' really matter, the human connection sometimes only needs a hug. Jennifer read the little boy's vitals in post-op. We left. Across from our hotel, the Rhapsodia, later tonight the kids of Deb's House were putting on a performance in the theatre Michai Eminescu.

The entire team arrived around 6:30 at the theatre. In transit I saw a woman with a baby stroller slightly rocking it back and forth while she spoke with a man. He reached to touch the baby, then I noticed the baby wasn't real: it was a doll. Dr. Gutek later informed me that it's often that some women will use such techniques to aide in asking for money. Not surprising, especially given the terrible state of the economy. 

Before settling into the first two rows reserved for the MMF staff, we passed tables set with bracelets ringed with photos of the individual children. The braceletts were sold at set prices to raise money for the   House; they are to also be used later for promotional purposes. The theatre filled very quickly. The performance began with the kids of Deb's House and ended with them in a Macarena rendition, and it was interspersed with other students from their school who wanted to show their support. All the children of Deb's House wore matching shirts displaying their House's Association, blue jean skirts and Fire & Rescue shirts underneath provided by Ryan through the Botosani Fire House. Certain portions of the performance were curtailed to a "Dancing with the Stars" production. The boys wore the exact deep v-neck shirts and high waist-fitting pants. The girls   wore glittering dresses of bright colors. 

Their performance was stellar. It was a fascinating and even surprising performance to see how incredibly talented these kids are and how much enjoyment they get out of entertaining others. 

The performance ended around 9 PM. Complimentary champagne was served in the entry hall, along with chocolate assortments. Everyone left pleased and simply exhausted by the day's work and entertainment.  

Good Will and Acts Abound in Dorohoi

Enjoy another blog by our friend Mark Shields.

It is Tuesday and we are halfway through the mission now. Our last day to see patients is Thursday. The eye clinic continues to be among the busiest places in the hospital. Today, the local hospital administrators and their families were seen by Dr. Amy and her assistant Brenda. It is customary given the cooperation by the local doctors to administer care as a show of good will. The local patients who were waiting did not enjoy the hospitality shown to the administrators and lots of grumblings were heard.

Today, Dr. Gutek performed an otoplast procedure on Eder from Deb's House. One of Eder’s ears was very prominent and need to be pinned back against his head to give him a more normal look. The surgery took about one hour and the difference was immediate

Eder before his surgery

. Take a look at the pictures for the before and after looks. 

Another interesting procedure today involved an 18 year old girl who had significant burn scarring on her left hand. Dr. Gutek performed a Z-Plasty and a skin graft. Using a Dermatome with an ultra-sharp blade, he lifted a small layer of skin from her upper thigh and transplanted it to the hand where it will continue to grow and protect the surgery site until it has a chance to heal completely on its own. The donor site on her thigh will be healed in about 1 month with only a little scarring. I have pictures on the blog of this procedure and video for those who want a little more graphic look. There was only a little blood and the entire procedure took about 45 minutes thanks to Dr. Gutek’s lightning fingers. He is a great surgeon! 

Tonight, we were entertained by the kids from Deb’s House as well as some other local performers. They performed traditional Romanian songs and dances this evening at a local theater and we were invited to watch. It was a great program and the kids were wonderful. It was also a fundraiser for Deb's House and hopefully that portion was successful as well

The narcotics cabinet 

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Dinner tonight was at Ioana's parents' home in Botosani. Ioana is our Romanian get it all done person. She organizes all the in-country transportation, accomodations, etc. and the mission would not happen without her. Her parents have a home in the city and they fed us like kings. We had Mici (Meesh), a beef and pork sausage and my favorite Romanian food. We also had salads, homemade bread, dessert and more Tuica, the traditional Romanian liquor. Ioana's grandparents also live on the same property in another home and they grow grapes so we had homemade wine, too. It was a great evening of fellowship and laughter. We have such kind and generous hosts!

Good night to all from Botosani! Another great day and another day closer to coming home!

A Busy Start to the Week

Enjoy this post from our blogger, Gavin Gerngross.

There were plane flights and then there was a train ride: the first day. We all met up in Bucharest for the train and arrived in Botosani around 7:00 in the morning. Along the rails the sights included expansive countryside, locals walking their cows like we walk dogs and the ocassional random person along the tracks.  We had a few hours to settle our luggage at the hotel then we all met for a quick bite. We then met our translators and headed off to our destinations. Most team members went to the clinics in Dorohoi to consult and provide medicine for those had registered in advance - an amazing 1,000 locals.

For the remainder of the team it was Deb's House. Currently, there are 14 children at the house - all of whom ran to meet us even before we reached the front door. Never have I received so many hugs from children I've just met. Raluca, who operates Deb's house, gave Ben and I a tour so we both could learn more about this wonderful place we'd heard so much about. Ben is a photojournalist from NBC Action News in Kansas City - the station where our Mission Coordinator, Elizabeth Alex, works as anchor. 

Tony and Ryan repaired and/or replaced several items of the house. Our translators Ovidio and Stefan led Ben and I down the street to an Orthodox church service. The service took place underground becuase the building project was abandoned before the first floor was ever finished. Inside the next several hours we walked all the children to the park, ate lunch back at Deb's House, then took the kids to a nearby house with a karaoke sound system and a backyard replete with slides, over-sized games of Battleship, swings and several tables and chairs. This time Maggie (Elizabeth Alex's daughter) and Sara (Cathy's daughter) sang along with the kid's karaoke performances; even Cathy herself took a break from strategizing the next steps to improve Deb's House in order to sing with the kids. 

Ben filmed all the activities for both an MMF piece as well as an in-depth piece that Elizabeth will report when they return home. Later, while "the men" ran around with kids hanging on backs and shoulders, I was amazed that the children remembered the names of all the volunteers who had visited on previous missions and immediately ran to them.

It really made it clear that Deb's House is a special project that is impacting the lives of these children forever, as well as ours.

DAY 2

Today the same group, along with Elizabeth, Alex and Richelle went to Deb's House at 7:30 am to walk the kids to their first day of school. Richelle took professional photographs of the kids during our walk. It is customary for the boys to dress up with a tie and the girls to wear black and white dresses. They also each carried an arrangement of flowers for their teacher. 

In front of the school the priest conducted services on our first day, stood at a table reciting prayers, then walked around sprinkling everyone with holy water with the flick of a green branch. Elizabeth gave a speech about the importance of education while her husband Alex translated. We followed the kids into the school and spent the next 45 minutes visiting each of the kid's classrooms. Ovidio told me education was important in Romanian culture, however the low pay rate for teachers has had a depressing effect upon the schools and quality of education. Having said that, the classrooms were quite nice: clean, hardwood floors, nice rugs, pristine desks inside large well-lit rooms with numerous visuals posted on the walls. 

We then were off to the clinic to help in any capacity we could. While the medical staff's processes basically mirrored the previous day, we were now there to record the accounts. Mostly there were adults, but the first check-up we saw was a baby girl who George Harbeson kept entertained as he checked her lungs and temperature. The diagnosis, a simple virus. He cautioned them that the strong anti-biotics they were administering would not help. He also instructed them not to swaddle her with the weather so warm, especially when she had a fever. (Over-dressing is a common practice here. Well-meaning parents dress their children in multiple layers, thinking it will keep them from getting sick.) 

Later in the day Dr. Gutek performed a deviated septum procedure on a local reporter named Tutsie. It was a good and productive day, and we all sat for a while afterward, when the patients left, and told of former hospital experiences until Elizabeth and Alex arrived with transportation back to Botosani. Everyone was exhausted, but in a good mood. No official plans for the night meant hanging out with our translators and going to dinner. Each day will be more busy as we try to meet the goal of helping every patient who signed up to be seen and completing all the needed work at Deb's House.

Enjoy this travel blog entry (posted originally on Facebook) from a veteran of the Romania Team & MMF Board Member, Mark Shields. Mark is employed by Cerner...a generous, longtime friend of the Foundation.

We arrive at our operating room and clinic locations. The clinic is in a separate building from the OR and so my translator gets a workout walking back and forth between the two locations. I spend my day sitting at a makeshift desk in the pre-op area. My partner in crime is Helen. She is a wonderful nurse from San Diego, California and is on her first mission trip. She takes vital signs and starts IVs as well as getting the patients prepared for surgery. We have just one bed in the pre-op area and it usually has 4-5 people in it. Helen and I each have a translator. My translator this year is Dragos. He is a 16 year old high school student from Botosani and is a great translator and go-fer. He is also a regular volunteer at Deb’s House, a private orphanage in Botosani. More about Deb’s House in a minute.

After we arrive, we unpack and set up for the coming week. The OR is prepared, boxes are unpacked and I set up shop at my desk. My desk is a hospital tray and a bed that I share with my electrical transformer and my office supplies.  We have a pre-op, an OR and a post-op room. For the time being, it is pretty quiet. That all will change tomorrow morning…

The clinic is a bit of a different story. It is not scheduled to open until Monday, but people are waiting to see the American doctors already. There are about 5-6 people in line, but word gets out fast and soon the line is out the door with waiting patients. The eye clinic is overflowing with people and Dr. Amy, an optometrist, and her optician, Brenda see about 20 patients in the afternoon. Each of them get a thorough eye examination and maybe some glasses if necessary. They closed the doors at 5:00 and told the remaining patients to come back on Monday for their exams. In the clinic, our physicians, Dr. Pam Ramsey from Overland Park and Dr. Vince Hayes from Washington, DC screen patients and refer some of them to Dr. Gutek for possible surgery. Dr. Gutek examines them and then refers them to me so that I can schedule them in our system. We track them using a spreadsheet and paper charts. It is basic, but it works for our needs and keeps the process moving. I document their information and track their progress from pre-op to discharge. Usually, there are 3 ORs running, but there is only 1 this year, so things are not as crazy, but the time goes fast.

We manage to schedule 5 cases for surgery on Monday. We are going to do 5-6 surgeries per day. It takes a little longer to turn over the OR since the sterilization process takes longer here and our instruments are fewer in number so lots of them are recycled and used for multiple cases.

Our day ends around 3:30 today and we head back to the hotel for a little while before a reception at Deb’s House Deb’s House - a private orphanage founded by Debra Murphy-Scheumann. Deb took in a group of orphans that were scheduled to be adopted by families from the US and other countries. The house was supposed to be a temporary home for these children, but the Romanian government halted all international adoptions after charges of corruption and "baby-buying" were raised. So Deb decided to keep the house open and raise the children until they were 18. The youngest ones are about 6-7 years old so there is a long road ahead. Deb recently turned over the management of the house to United Aid Foundation. Elizabeth Alex, Cathy Allin (another one of our mission participants and KC entrepreneur) and some other friends  of Deb’s House serve on the Board of Directors for the United Aid Foundation. Cathy and Elizabeth have become regular travelers to Romania and check in periodically with the staff to ensure that the children are getting the best possible care. I have seen these children grow up and mature over the last 7 years. They are a wonderful bunch and I love to see them and hang out. They take us by the hand and want to show us their rooms and their toys and clothes. They love having guests and showing off. Mostly they want to be hugged and loved. Some of our mission participants are spending time at Deb’s House with the kids and the house is getting some much needed work thanks to some of our skilled mission volunteers. The kids all got new clothes for the first day of school, which is tomorrow.  They modeled them for us and enjoyed getting their pictures taken and taking pictures of us.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please remember to leave a message to the members of Team Romania below. They will really enjoy hearing from you!

2010 Medical Mission to Romania

Friday, September 10, our mission team leaves for our eighth medical mission to Romania.  Please check back during the week for blog updates as our team provides much needed health care to the Botosani area.