Thank you for traveling with me on this important journey...

My name is Lisa Teske. On October 10, I will depart for Cebu City, Philippines on a 10-day medical mission with Rotaplast International. I will represent the Columbia Center Rotary Club and Rotary International District 5080 alongside of a team of 25 people (medical and non-medical volunteers) who work to correct more than 100 cleft palate conditions in local children. My primary function will be to manage the medical records, but I will also spend some of my time communicating the importance of our work and the impact on the lives of our patients.

While participating in this mission, I hope to improve myself through service, particularly in a challenging medical environment where I'm not naturally composed, and to learn more about Filipino culture. Each day is sure to teach me something new!

For more information about Rotaplast, I encourage you to visit their site at http://www.rotaplast.org/. And to learn more about Rotary International, contact me and I'll be happy to share more about this amazing organization.

Proud to be a Rotarian. Proud to serve. -- Lisa

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sometimes there just aren’t enough words…

Storm clouds at dawn
So after a fitful night of attempted sleep, I caught a few winks to awaken to more stormy skies. I recall the old saying from my childhood about predicting weather: Red at night, sailor’s delight. Red in the morning, sailor take warning". Well, the clouds tell the story. We’ve had a typhoon threatening off the coast of Cebu for the past two days. Not that I’ve really noticed. But apparently it played a role in today’s pre-operative clinic.
An hour before clinic, people are already waiting for us.
After a quick breakfast, we piled into vans to cross town to the temple. I was feeling pretty good until we pulled into the temple and I saw the people already waiting. It was only 7 am – clinic wouldn’t start for an hour and these people were patiently waiting in the humidity and heat for the opportunity to get selected for help. I couldn’t look for too long. The tears came and didn’t stop until I was safely inside at my station for the day. I spent the hour getting things set-up to deal efficiently with what was described as “organized chaos.”
I met my translator, Kem, a darling young woman who recently graduated as a nurse. However, she wasn’t able to find a job and just yesterday took a new position with a call center. Her English was excellent and she was very eager to work hard and please everyone. She made an enormous difference in our part of the operation.

Working with Kem
Just before 8 a.m., the first people were ushered in to the reception desk. Kem and I had a process in place already. Last night when I wasn’t sleeping I’d devised a form for the crowd control outside to use to collect the base information that we would need to set-up the files for the medical evaluations. Kem would read that information to me while I filled out the forms legibly, then entered them into the laptop file. While I did that she would engage the children with stickers I brought from home. Then I would write their ID number on the child’s arm and they would move to the photography station where Dave would take and print a file photo. Then the file would be handed over to another person who would help them through the other stations. We did this over and over – nearly 90 times today. As it turns out, our numbers were lower than expected some which was attributed to the promise of a typhoon. From the sounds of it though, there will be more coming in tomorrow to make up for it. Surgery starts tomorrow.

Now, what I haven’t shared thus far is the horrifying reality of what some of these children – and even adults – have been living with. I saw things today that I couldn’t have imagined, ever. Several times during the day, I needed a moment to collect myself. I was grateful to Steve and Ron, who afforded these moments by stalling the next people in line before ushering them to my desk.

Lunchroom
For six hours we processed people this way, taking only a short 15-minute lunch break – the local Rotary Club brought in a nice hot meal for us, which continued their unending hospitality. I couldn’t eat because all I could think about was the people waiting outside in the heat. I steadied myself before each patient sat down and forced my energy into my face with a smile, to let them know I was seeing them and there to help. I’ll be honest, it was tough to summon that energy over and over as each face took a little piece of my heart each time they walked to the photography station. But we did it. I was told later that we managed one of the most efficient pre-op clinic processes seen to date by many of our veterans. That made me feel good to know that my small contribution rippled throughout the rest of the clinic.

Hoping to be selected
The final heartbreak of the day came when the clinic was over. Families waited outside to hear whether they had been selected; it turned out that about 17 of them could not receive services during this mission due to health issues -- if a patient is sick or becoming sick, the team makes the difficult decision to wait list them; some will come back for reevaluation in a few days.

As I walked outside to go to the ladies room, several people stood up and stepped toward me looking at me as if I had some kind of control to change the decisions. I felt so helpless.

Ready and waiting - operating room
Carolyn, the head nurse, and I finished preparing the schedule for the next several days so that all of the selected people could be notified of which day to be present. Then we packed up the office and joined the rest of the team, who had moved on to the hospital to set-up the operating rooms.
I spent the last two hours of the day setting up my new office in the hospital wing where we’ll work. I’ll be right outside of the operating and recovery rooms – right in the thick of the action. That should challenge me further. To my left, I peeked into one of operating rooms to see where the real work would happen. On each operating table, there’s a handmade quilt – each patient will receive one and it becomes very important to them I’m told. Each is put together lovingly by volunteers back in the U.S. and Canada. Such a wonderful touch for these tough little people who have already endured so much.

Speaking of enduring, one case today really shook me. A 35-year-old man came in with a really bad cleft palate and lip. When a translator asked him why he waited so long to come to the clinic (this one is in its 9th year), the man said it had taken him all of these years to save enough money to travel to the city to be here. Unbelievable! Fortunately, he is among those who will receive help. Most of us can’t pass a Starbuck’s to save a buck, but this man has saved everything he could for years to do this.
Sorry for the long blog, but today was the most eventful day. I learned that I’m stronger that I thought I could be in such a situation. But I must give huge credit to the people who surrounded me. Kind words, hugs, pats on the shoulder – it all helped.
And now, I will sleep. Peacefully.

This was my hardest day I'm told. From here on out, I'll work on shorter blogs with more interesting stories and facts about the people, the mission, the country. :)

Dentist Grace examines an older patient during the clinic

My two favorite big guys - Steve and Ron - served as crowd
control as I tried to check people in as quickly as possible.

1 comment:

  1. Lisa, You moved me to tears this morning as I read your posts. I commend you for your bravery and your willingness to take a huge leap out of your comfort zone to make a difference in the world. Again, you are in my thoughts and prayers!! You are stronger than you could have ever imagined. You go girl...

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