Medical mission in Bolivia

[Bodhisattva]

I've been out of pocket a couple of weeks because my wife has been away on a medical mission, so I've had to pick up the slack caring for my MIL and running our side business. Anyway, just wanted to give a tip of the cap to my wife and her colleagues for the great volunteer work they do.

They arrived in a tiny Bolivian mountain town after a long flight and nearly just as long bus ride. The team brought with them 48 suitcases full of supplies - some of it to use during the mission and the rest to leave behind for the Bolivian staff to use later.






The team arrived and immediately noticed that all the linens were hanging outside to dry ... and it rains regularly in the mountains. Turns out the only dryer the hospital had was broken and there was no money to replace it. Well, you don't really want to have wet linens, so the team pooled together enough money to buy a dryer, and one was installed the next day.






The team also brought (relatively) modern equipment with them and set up two small operating rooms.



This was a general surgery mission - lots of ob/gyn cases, hernia repair, gall bladder removal, assorted GI cases (due to parasites), etc. Lan administered anesthesia for nearly 50 cases in two weeks.



Well done, baby. Much appreciation to you and your colleagues. You make the world a better place.

Will post more when I can.

 

[Bazza]

Thank you for sharing, Bodhi......awesome, my friend!

 

[Bodhisattva]

On their weekend break, the team got to do a little sightseeing, eat at restaurants in town, and do some souvenir shopping, much to the delight of the locals.






Including a trip to see some pre-Incan ruins:

 

[Bodhisattva]

Focus on your patient, not the selfie!



Lan and a couple of Bolivian nurses:



At the end of two exhausting weeks the town hosted a party for the team. Many of the patients attended and made gifts of assorted foods and handmade linens and figurines. It was a very touching gesture. The simplest things done from the heart mean the most. The mayor also attended and presented each team member with a certificate and a plaque.

 

[Bodhisattva]

Lan and the team left Bolivia this past Saturday at noon and went back the way they came. Connecting in Panama, the team split up to go their separate ways - most to Wisconsin. Lan flew into Miami around midnight. The next morning, she drove to Tampa to meet Lily, as it was her 19th birthday. They had lunch and Lan gifted Lily some of the souvenirs from Bolivia.






Lily's not a little girl anymore, and while we are thrilled with what she is achieving as a young adult, her growing up makes us a bit sad.



But time only moves in one direction, and in July Lan and Lily will travel together to Honduras for the next medical mission. It will be Lan's sixth and Lily's third.