Author Archives: Children's Surgery International

We had a very good day of surgeries yesterday. The kids kept Dr. Pablo very busy with a little bit of low blood pressure here, a little fever there, a little wheezing down the hall, but Pablo, the CSI nurses, and the wonderful CIMA Hospital nursing staff took great care them all and by sunrise you would never have known there was a problem! The families are so grateful, and even the kids seem to leave with a look that the are happy to have stopped by…or maybe they’re just happy to be hightailing it out of here before we decide to do something else!

We had a very good day of surgeries yesterday. The kids kept Dr. Pablo very busy with a little bit of low blood pressure here, a little fever there, a little wheezing down the hall, but Pablo, the CSI nurses, and the wonderful CIMA Hospital nursing staff took great care them all and by sunrise you would never have known there was a problem! The families are so grateful, and even the kids seem to leave with a look that the are happy to have stopped by…or maybe they’re just happy to be hightailing it out of here before we decide to do something else!

Today we are beginning our second day of surgeries. We did 20 surgeries yesterday and everyone is doing well this morning. Maria, Ashley, and Paul are busy upstairs completing the discharge paperwork as all but two of the kids will be able to go home today. Everyone is working hard but the delightful CIMA Hospital food service staff keep the guacamole and quesadillas coming so energy and spirits are high throughout the whole long day (hospitals everywhere should take note!). Our patients are really good little sports–even after the bad day we made them have yesterday, some of them were able to give us little smiles this morning!

Yesterday we had a really busy screening day at CIMA hospital! We screened 89 children and out of those, 46 will be getting surgery this year. Happily we did not have to turn anyone away who needed surgery because we have the extra surgery day on Tuesday. We will be doing six rhinoplasties (“nose jobs”). Often the nose is flattened and asymmetrical in children with a cleft lip or palate, and having surgery to correct this can really improve their appearance and their self-confidence. Rhinoplasties take a long time, and normally with only two days of surgery we may do only one or two so this is a great opportunity for us and the kids and their families!

Everyone on the team is doing fine, and now we are just getting started on our first day of surgeries. The CIMA hospital volunteers and the St. Andrew’s clinic volunteers are, as always, wonderful to work with and they make sure that every child and family is well taken care of!

The advance team has arrived in Hermosillo! Our trip was happily uneventful–we met up with Jon Grishkin in Phoenix and then took the puddle jumper (without the puddles) to Hermosillo. No problems with luggage or customs, and Coca and Lourdes from St. Andrew’s Clinic were waiting for us at the airport. We went to the hospital and were warmly greeted by the CIMA volunteers and staff who will be working with us this week. They’re starting to feel like family! We made plans for screening and checked out our supplies. We will be screening 86 children  to determine if they need surgery that we can do and to be sure that they are healthy enough for general anesthesia. Hopefully everyone will get a good night’s sleep tonight as we start at the hospital at bright and early and it will be a busy day! The CSI main team will arrive midday and check back for photos of the party that the CIMA volunteers put on for CSI and the children and their hopeful families! t

So sad to leave our friends at Duside Hospital and Firestone Guest house.
A  quick goodye and discharging of patients followed by a wonderful send off
ceremony at the hospital.
Lora Koppel, Dave Tetzlaff and Lynn Randall left early to conduct a site visit in
Port Harcourt, Nigeria for CSI.

It is Thursday afternoon and the pediatric ward is abuzz with our final patients
and their respective parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. Many are wearing
fish hats from the Minnesota State Fair which Gander Mountain very nicely donated.
All kids are holding either a doll or teddy bear made by Dollies Making A Difference.
They have a white-knuckle grip on their recovery room bags which also include
books, toothbrushes, a washcloth, beanie baby, a baseball cap nicely donated by
Zephyr and several other items. Thank goodness for the Liberian
peds nurses, as well as Victoria and Patience, the CSI tag team up there.

All surgeries were deemed a success. Our final number of surgeries is 100. Lynn
Randall led the effort of packing up the supplies area. Mary Johnson the OR; Katie
Stewart and Julieann Swanson the medical records area;. Anna Koppel pre-op, with
everyone else helping wherever they were needed. One father and mother stopped
by, their daughter had been discharged -to deliver a framed thank you note to a
couple of CSI team members who had made a significant  difference in the states.

In addition, a huge shout out to everyone at Duside Hospital, from Executive Director,
Joye Phillips to Dr. Lawrence Sherman and all of the many many staff who have been
hijacked to do nothing but help us in very possible way. It is exceedingly inspiring.

Today’s surgeries are over and it was a super successful day. Everyone worked
very hard. Shown here are pediatric patients who weren’t CSI patients,but who love the
Gander Mountain muskie hats and the tv and videos donated by CSI.

First, wow what a full day of screening we had from the crack of dawn until the end of the day Sunday. We arrived at Duside Hospital first thing in the morning where patients had begun lining up at 3 in the morning. Surgeons Eric Moore, Dave Vandersteen, Janelle Fox and Dave Andrews screened 107 patients and they will operate on close to 90. Medical records created a chart(yay Katie Stewart and Julieann Swanson): vitals were taken (yay Victoria Vandersteen, Anna Koppel, Patience Kankeh, Mary Bye and Amy Hassenstab:pre-op physicals were performed by pediatricians, Paul Melchert and Dave Tetzlaff. CSI Board member Con Nguyen and videographer Nolan Morice took some fabulous video of the entire situation as well as gathered wonderful patient stories. Logistics co-lead Leon Randall(with Con Nguyen) unpacked and moved furniture and did all he could to get us fed, as well as back and forth from the hospital to the guest house. As clinical lead Lora Koppel floated everywhere and answered 348 questions. Fantastic Jill Moore and Margaret Boone helped set up the OR’s and then went above and beyond putting together all the patient recovery room bags. Mary Johnson, Jodi Pelkey, Tracey Ryersee and anesthesiologist, Raj Sarpal also did OR set up. Firestone executive Don Darden was in full gear at the balloon machine making all the kids ecstatic. Of course Lynn Randall and Dan Chow were getting the anesthesia organized. On top of it all, hospital administrator Joye Phillips was doing just about everything from organizing logistics, moving furniture and even making a few beds!!

At the end of the day back at the Guest House we were treated to a lecture by Ed Garcia, Managing Director of Firestone Liberia who recounted what life was like in Liberia while he was here during the onset and surges of the war in the 1990’s.Also, Liberian born and Denver-practicing attorney, Gerald Padamore, who represents many multinationals including Firestone and the Liberian government spoke about Liberia’s history vis a vis the United States. The medical records team with the help of some other noble volunteers cranked until after midnight getting the charts organized, sorted, photos attached etc.

It is now midday Monday and the first day of surgery is in very full swing. 4 operating tables are being used constantly, with Duside’s Dr. Sherman participating and learning. I have been moving from mother to grandmother to father to brother to aunt- whoever is the kind soul who has brought in the patient- capturing the stories of the journeys that have brought in the patient-capturing the stories of the journeys that have brought them here. 7 year old Ruth’s mother sells used clothes and has spent her child’s entire life trying to find someone to repair the cleft palate she was born with. Ruth is very bright and in fact is in the grade ahead of her twin sister,despite her problems speaking. Her mother said, “It breaks, my heart that the children at school make fun of her. They say, “we can’t understand you- you talk through your nose, Ruth.” As a result Ruth is now begging her mother to let her drop out of school.

The team arrived at Monrovia’s Robertson Field in  two shifts last night, all in great shape. Firestone officials were at the airport to meet us, whisk us through customs (only one suitcase is AWOL supposedly arriving sometime Saturday)
The Firestone Guest House staff prepared a wonderful welcome dinner with many senior Bridgestone and Firestone Liberia staff as well as senior hospital executives.
Thanks to a donation by CSI Partner Michael Silvio of 50 soccer balls we got out the hand pumps and blew up 20 to distribute on Saturday.

The Firestone Guest House staff prepared a wonderful welcome dinner with many senior Bridgestone and Firestone Liberia staff as well as senior hospital executives.
Thanks to a donation by CSI Partner Michael Silvio of 50 soccer balls we got out the hand pumps and blew up 20 to distribute on Saturday
Three other team members are due late Saturday. It is very, very warm and the sky looks heavy with impending rain which we are secretly hoping for. There is something magical about falling asleep to the sound of rain pelting the metal roofs.

Today was a “recovery day” but in reality the team is doing so well nobody had to take a nap.

One group started bright and early visiting Monkey Island which now is home to many gorilla-sized primates which were used for HIV testing by the US in its quest for a vaccine.
Everyone gathered at noon for a very special VIP presentation by the US Ambassador
to Liberia, Deborah Malac. She greeeted us with a warm welcome filled with thanks for our efforts.