Category Archives: Mexico

Today we had only 10 surgeries and most of the patients were discharged from recovery.  We kept two patients overnight to make sure they were up to discharge in the morning.

As with any mission, there were some inspiring and heartbreaking stories of several of our patients. One of our 15 year old patients was abandoned when he was younger, 5 or 6 he thinks, and has beenliving at a service station since they took hime in several years ago.  They would find him sleeping in the shop for shelter.

Another young woman, now 17, was separated from her parents while trying ot cross the U.S. border on their way to a better life in the States from Guatemala.  She never reuinted with them until this week through a phone call, which made her very happy!  During the years of their separation she had been liing with friends or relatives when she was younger and then made her way to Mexico at the age of 13 or so.  She was then taken in by a family in Hermsillo as a housekeeper.  She has been wanting to improve her life, but she cannot speak!  She came to screening, thanks to Coca and Laura (of St. Andrews) and the CSI team knew after evaluting that they could and would help her.  She came through surgery beautifully and was smiling, talking and giving the thumbs up right after waking up in recovery!  Her first words were “thank you” to the CSI team and all the volunteers who made this happen for her!

Tonight we celebrate: the success of the mission; the collaboration of all the teams; and the making of wonderful new friends at the traditional “banquet”,  fiesta style!

This little guy stole our hearts. CSI could not do his surgery last year and told him to come back this year.  Here is is with Coca (the saint) of St. Andrews and Dr. Paul Melchert, pediatrician, waiting to a hospital gown and gear on for surgery.

This morning we pack our things, the doctors make final rounds for the two patients admitted for overnight stay, and we say so long until next year to our St. Andrews and CIMA partners.  Our collaboration with them is a great model of teamwork and coordination for the benefit of children needing the medical services CSI can provide.  We feel privileged to have the opportunity to serve here!

The team is tired but extremely happy with the outcome of our trip, 44 surgeries accomplished!  We’re off to the airport and our home cities after one last breakfast at the hospital.

Great day of surgery today. The rest of our team members arrived last night and all 18 of us arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am. We got off to a slow start but by 11:30 pm we were all back at the hotel.

Six members of the CSI team arrived in Hermosillo yesterday. Today we were greater by 96 children and their families. This medical mission is a joint effort of the volunteers at St. Andrew Clinic in Nogalas, Arizona, the CIMA Hospital, in Hermosillo, Mexico, and the the Children’s Surgery International organization.

Of the 96, 44 children will be operated on in the 3 days we are here. The remaining children will be followed up by the St. Andrews clinic staff and hopefully will be back next year. The children are selected based on the complexity of their medical problems and the type of surgery we are able to provide.

Thanks to our team members we worked 12.5 hours and were able to see all 96 children. The screening team included: Dr. Daniel Sampson, Dr. Jon Grischkan, Dr. Paul Melchert, Lora Koppel RN, Marian Hehre and Leal McAuliffe  Medical Records.

Another full day of surgery! All of the families and children waiting for surgery are staying at our hotel and early in the morning when we get up and leave at 6:20 all the mamas and papas and grandmas are in the lobby with the patients waiting to be picked up. The littlest babies are already hungry because they haven’t been able to eat since midnight.

All of the surgeries have gone wonderfully; we are especially thankful for Coca and her daughter Laura from St Andrew’s Clinic for their vision which has kept the program going. What an incredible organization Coca founded 38 years ago. The children receiving surgery these past two days are the neediest clefts and palates from all the patients the clinic has seen in the past year. The legion of volunteers here at CIMA hospital are just incredible.

I want to also mention an additional member of the team; Heidi Peterson is on board this trip to evaluate Hermosillo as a site for our Youth Program. She has been doing a fabulous job of taking pictures pre and post op in the OR.

It is 6:10 pm and and two patients still need to go into the OR. Tomorrow morning after rounds the team will and catch the 11:30 am flight out of Hermosillo to head home. A few team members will stay behind for 24 hours to look after any patients who are still hospitalized. More later…..

It it Sunday at the CIMA Hospital in Hermosillo and CSI has a full day of Surgery. Dr. Bob Tibesar has 6 patients; Dr. Jon Grischkan has 5 and Dr. Mike Fritz 6. The cases vary in length depending on the complexity of the surgery to be performed. The patients getting surgery today spent the night at a nearby hotel and have been at the hospital since this morning waiting for their time slot. One of the patient’s mother works far away as a walnut picker. She didn’t have enough money to pay to come to Hermosillo so her fellow workers; others who pick walnuts, each gave up the money they spend each day on a soda, and donated it to her.

When the patients check in, they are met in pre-op by anesthesia staff who readies them for the OR. Dr. Chris Altman is the head anesthesiologist. The OR’s are staffed by CRNA Cathy Cook from the Mayo Clinic, nurse anesthetist Jim Ducharme, OR nurse Mary Johnson, CRNA Tricia Rude and OR nurses Staci Linn Swenson and Dee Ann Vander Pol, who is from Iowa. Surgeries are performed by Dr. Bob Tibesar from Minneapolis Childrens and Dr. Jon Grischkan from Columbus, Ohio, and Dr. Mike Fritz from the Cleveland Clinic. After the patients come out of surgery they are met by the pediatricians Dr. Paul Melchert and Dr. Greta Chen, as well as post op nurses Grace Nwaofune and Ann Schminski. After recovery they go to the pediatrics ward upstairs and are met by ward nurses Judy Nieuwenhuis from Iowa and Cheryl Shell from the Twin Cities.

The staff here at CIMA hospital is incredible, as are the many volunteers who arrive everyday and circle around repeating “is there anything that you need?” “What can I do for you?”. They help translate, keep us fed, fetch this or that, find patients, answer questions, get diet coke, drive us to Wal-Mart for supplies, track down lost luggage, etc etc etc. Each and every one of them make this mission a pure joy.

Seven of us arrived yesterday in time to tour the hospital, evaluate the screening room, meet with the SPECTACULAR volunteers of CIMA (the hospital) as well as with Coca and Llordes who have both made the St Andrews Clinic in Nogales Arizona function. This is critical because this non-profit clinic (founded 38 years ago by Coca) has brought literally hundreds of children across the border for care for years. Every year many patients are brought to the CIMA hospital here, and Childrens Surgery International flies in to screen, operate and care for the many children requiring care. This is truly a united effort, formed and implemented with love and care for the children.

Our advance team includes Lora Koppel as clinical coordinator, Dr Bob Tibesar as medical director, Dr. Jon Grischkan as surgeon, and Drs. Paul Melchert and Greta Chen as pediatricians, in addition to Mary Moore as medical records coordinator and Sally Lannin on logistics. All of the additional team members arrive later this afternoon. They will inventory the drugs that arrived in advance, and begin to prepare the operating rooms for surgery which will start early tomorrow. What follows are an assortment of photos from this first day of screening. We screened 79 patients today; approximately half of them will receive surgery.