Yesterday, I talked about how sweet and kind everyone was, and I will probably say that everyday for the rest of my life. I am talking about the people on the team from the U.S. (Kansas City and everywhere else), I am talking about the Filipino people in the places we worked, and I am talking about the people in the airport, restaurants, or citizens just walking down the street. Today I want to introduce you to some of the folks in our group, and I want to show you how we got started on our mission.
These peeps were unbelievably instrumental in getting this mission completely put together. From left, Dr. Yvonne, Rommel (the IT and all-around "make-it-happen" guy), and Dr. Christine -- they are all three from Kansas City. Drs. Christine and Yvonne are on the committee which works year-round to raise funds and make these mission trips happen. Dr. Yvonne is currently the President of the Philippine Medical Society of Greater Kansas City, and Dr. Christine is on the Board of the PMSGKC, and currently serves as Director and Coordinator of the Medical Mission Committee. It is my understanding that Rommel works with them throughout the year to keep everything running smoothly. I am pretty sure he has another full time job, but this one is probably full time, too.
Matthew is Christine and Yvonne's nephew, and he also lives in Kansas City. As a 16 year old, he was lucky enough to be able to miss school and attend this mission. He is interested in medical school, and this experience provided him with the opportunity to see, observe and help in ways he would never be able to participate at home. He impressed me with his respect towards everyone. He was very obliging to anyone who asked him to do anything.
Here are Dr. Fred and his cute wife, Del, who is a nurse. This husband and wife team worked together on lots of general surgeries, and they were beyond generous to let me watch. In fact, they would go out of their way to let me see and learn things. I saw several cyst removals and even more hernia surgeries. A couple of times, Dr. Fred would say, "just don't touch anything blue, but here, come in closer, look at this, do you want to take a picture?" And my big break came when everyone was scrubbed in and sterile except me. I was only scrubbed in, as required. I was standing back, trying to be out of the way, hoping to not trip over anything or knock anything down -- and they needed a blade. I can't remember if the other one got dropped or what, but they asked me to get another one. I'll never forget it. A quick learner and after observing lots of this for a couple of days, I went to the supply table, I had my gloves on, got the right blade, carefully pulled back the easy-to-open package without touching the scalpel inside, and dropped it safely onto the blue sterile field. Woo hoo! I'm sure they have no idea how excited I was. I believe I now have medical and surgical experience.
This is Ted from Georgia. He started coming on these missions with his wife, who is an anesthesiologist, and he is not a medical professional. He works in the reading glasses dispensing department. He'll probably cringe at my attempt to name his duties. But he had a cool story that covered everything from college football and a big ring on his finger, to being a pretty serious runner and then the fact that we shared a religion connection in a country that is 99% Catholic. We attended four Masses in one week with the group, happily I want to say, but we decided when the fifth one was optional, we thought it would be okay to opt out.
This is me. Day One. Ready to go. I loved wearing scrubs.
