Children in El Salvador Receive Operations through Health Missions International
Written by: Pam Forrester
The Operating Room
Physicians in blue and green scrubs scurrying through the sterile white halls prepping for surgery. English and Spanish is spoken through a translator assisting at every juncture continuing into the operating room. Everyone knows their job, their role and place throughout the multi-hour procedures.
Most of the team members have never worked together before the screening day. But they come together as a dedicated team for Health Missions International with dozens of years of experience performing surgeries in rustic situations around the world including India, Peru, Ethiopia and Madagascar.
These doctors and nurses are generously leaving their busy medical practices and families at home and using vacation time or unpaid time to volunteer for a week to help transform the lives of patients and families in El Salvador. This medical team is compassionate, dedicated to their profession and incredibly precise with their medical and surgical skills.
The Hospital Nacional Chalchuapa administration in Santa Ana, El Salvador provided two operating rooms for the week to the American medical team providing the procedures. Additional local doctors and nurses were assigned to provide backup care in the recovery ward overnight. Many of the local surgeons and residents observed surgeries and the operational process as a teaching tool, watching the Health Missions International team perform the delicate facial surgeries and the aftercare of these patients until their discharge.
Hand Off
It was hard to tell who was more anxious at the glass and chrome door separating the sterile operating room from the hallway as the mothers handed over their little ones to the medical team. Moms tenderly clutched their daughters as tears quietly slid down their faces. The decibel level was much higher as the girls wailed and clung to their moms until the nurses peeled away fingers from mom’s hair and lovingly took the girls into the operating room. Prepared since 7:30 am, the medical teams went to work immediately.
Recovery
For the families sitting on the blue plastic chairs and pacing in the hall, the hours of seemingly never-ending waiting began. More than four hours later, Erica M. is escorted to the recovery room to comfort her bleary -eyed, still crying, and confused daughter as she awakes from the surgery.
New emotions and tears of joy are partially obscured by the masks, but still seen in the eyes, conveying the happiness of the moment. Energetic nurses with smiles hidden behind their blue mask hand over the patients to mom and close in for a gentle group hug.
Once fully awake, mom and child are moved to the hospital ward to recuperate overnight. The next morning, the HMI team, local doctors and nurses and often the hospital administration complete rounds of visits with the patients before discharging them with home care instructions and prescription medications.
This process was repeated again and again for three days during which time, 22 surgeries were performed. From the youngest patient to the teenaged boys needing nose surgery due to complications from prior reconstructive procedures, performed elsewhere, causing new issues as they grew. These families only saw a benefit to their children in the hands of this highly trained medical team.
As Alexandra’s mom expressed on the first day , “God put these doctors on my path so my daughter could be operated on as soon as possible. I’m really thankful from the bottom of my heart. This is the greatest happiness in my life. I’m really thankful because they have given my happiness back.”
Discharge
Exhausted from the three-day roller coaster of emotions, Alexandra and her mother slowly exited the hospital compound with new joy, knowing all too well that her daughter’s life had been truly transformed. While the stares of strangers will stop, more importantly, her health will greatly improve. She will be able to eat and breathe better and while she may need speech therapy, there is renewed hope that she will be able to communicate more clearly as she grows and enters school.
Almost as important as the discharge forms, was a final photo. Like celebrities each patient asked for pictures with the doctors that performed the operation and medical teams that took care of their child before they left.
Mothers, fathers and even grandmothers all had the same sentiment of thankfulness and gratitude as they made their way to the front gate of the hospital complex. When English words couldn’t be found; they repeated “Gracias” and “Gracias por todo”. And when all words failed to show how happy and blessed they felt; they used the universal language of a simple smile.
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