We completed our fourth day of screening today with over 620 patients having been seen by the team! Today, a group was bused in from the Lakhimpur district with high hopes. The adults and children were again so patient and grateful.
Blue Peter, the BBC’s Children’s Program in the UK paid a visit to the team. They sponsor a project every year and this year, Operation Smile was selected. In “Send a Smile” children from the UK were encouraged to collect old t-shirt and create patient surgical gowns by cutting them in the back and placing holes and ties. They were also encouraged to colorfully decorate the surgical gowns. BBC collected thousands of gowns, 1000 of which will be used in India missions. The team had visited Guwahati during the May mission and had some footage that was outstanding. This was originally used to raise awareness of the effort. They have returned to capture how the efforts of so many children are being used in India. By using the t-shirts as patient surgical gowns, the mission is able to provide care for even more patients thanks to the cost savings. Visit the Blue Peter website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/getinvolved/appeal/ for more info.
Dr. Bill Magee and his wife, Kathy Magee, RN also paid us a visit. I had the distinct honor of meeting with the Magee’s as well as the Chief of Plastic Surgery in the Guwahati district, his resident as well as the head anesthesiologist at the MMC Hospital and others to visit the new Operation Smile Cleft Clinic currently being built next to the hospital. Although the Clinic is under construction, it was fantastic to visualize the possibilities. I was surprised to see that the entire building was being constructed by hand from the ground up! That’s right – no preformed cement, cement mixers, or cranes. The building was constructed brick by brick by men and women alike.
Even more unique is the fact that Stryker India has stepped up by generously outfitting the clinic with state of the art technology, including the ability to teleconference to the US; providing beds, stretchers, light booms, design concept, etc. This will allow for further education and training of the team that will be based in Guwahati in the coming months. The commitment Stryker India has made is truly amazing and was well received and appreciated by all visiting the site. It was also a pleasure to meet my colleagues from Stryker India working on the project. They have dedicated much time and many resources for this center. The opening is planned for July 2010!
After meeting with the staff it was back to work helping to sort through and prioritize the medical records. We needed to review the files, ensure all information was documented and begin creating the OR schedule for the coming 2 weeks. We also needed to create additional medical records to the high number of patients screened.
We had the opportunity to walk around the city and many spent time shopping. Shawls, shoes and sari’s were popular take-a-ways! Everything is so affordable, for example, $2 for a pair of handmade traditional Indian shoes! The flower market was also beautiful and very colorful! Some of us even stopped for our own henna tattoos! MaryAnn and I attempted an “after dinner specialty” (according to our new translator friends) from one of the street vendors. We didn’t quite understand what we were getting ourselves into and later discovered what we had was basically chewing tobacco (some sort of nut and leaf combination). Needless to say, it made for lots of laughs on the way back to the hotel. We all enjoyed a casual dinner on the lawn to end the evening.
Tomorrow we begin to stage and set up the hospital area. There is much to do to get ready – prepping the pre-operative area, OR, recovery room and post operative area as well as the child life area. The 2 high school students, Dalton and Alexander, will be helping to clam the children before heading into surgery by playing with they and introducing them to surgical masks and other “scary” equipment the OR offers.
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