News from Pablo!

Hi CAMTA friends.

I’m Pablo Montahuano and want to show you a picture from me and my family after six weeks from my hip surgery. Everything is going good, you can see that I’m standing without muletas (crutches) yes, yes I begin to walk without them only with the help from a cane. This picture was taken on mach 22 when we went for lunch to my sister’s house. Last week we celebrate the Holy Week (Easter Week) with processions and religious ceremonies and with the traditional soup called Fanesca. This soup of incomparable flavor is made with no less than a dozen of the grains and legumes that our generous Andean land proffers to us. To this heady mix is added fish (remember that we're in the time of abstinence from meat), flour dumplings and boiled egg, served alongside an Andean take on mashed potato and some pieces of cheese, called Molo. It’s one of the most filling soups you could ever encounter. Definitely a mortal sin to be relished at Easter! (The Fanesca soup from this photo is made by my mother.)

CAMTA celebrates, operates and packs.

Today was a happy-sad day at the Tierra Nueva. The day was profoundly busy but there was time to celebrate a little bit.

The surgery continued but every other minute was occupied by our exit inventory. Each year we get a little bit better about achieving accurate numbers to make the next year's packing easier. I called on Elyse in the pharmacy and she had prepared a list of the medications she can supply us directly in Ecuador. We really would prefer to reduce the weight of the materiels that we transport.

I had time to hit the street for some photos. This lady and her child were selling herbs just 20 metres outside the door of the Tierra Nueva. The child saw me taking the picture and came to have a look. Mother and her friend followed and asked me if I knew a friend in Canada. Of course I didn't.

I carried on to the end of the block where the Mayor of Quito has built a beautiful park. There are many different artworks in this city.

Here's a view from the park of the Tierra Nueva medical centre.

There are such beautiful murals on the outside of the building. This one celebrates Padre Carollo who founded the Tierra Nueva more than 40 years ago. He came from Italy as a very young priest and spent his entire life serving the poor in Quito.

Then I wandered SE past the ravine that is behind the hospital and found a marching band in the school yard. Somebody asked me what I was doing and I explained that I was "...part of the brigado Canadiense a la Tierra Nueva." That was enough explanation for them to welcome me into the school yard.

Back at the hospital, Eileen asked me to come with her to distribute flags and pins to the staff and patients. These two ladies wanted balls for their children.

Every year Eileen brings lots of flags and balls to the Tierra Nueva.

This lady was very happy to wave her flag for the photo.

Tomorrow we complete packing up and the staff at the Tierra Nueva are asking us to stay for a little celebration at 1230h.

That's Friday -- and watch tomorrow for some final packing photos and some views of our patients as they prepare to leave the hospital.

John

Today is a big packing day!

Sort! Wrap! Sterilize! Pack!



Down at the warehouse at 1000h today there will be a busy hive of activity!

Operating room nurses from pediatrics and from adults will be organizing and sorting supplies. Some are recently procured from what's been discarded at the hospitals but can't be reused. Other materials have previously been wrapped by the nurses and sterilized for our surgical caseload in Ecuador. There are surgical sponges, drapes to cover the patients during surgery and various single use instruments and staplers.

We have to take down two hockey bags per mission volunteer participant. Each bag is stuffed with all of things we need to deliver hospital care in Quito at the Tierra Nueva hospital. There are also medications for anesthesia and medications for the ward. There are dressings and IV giving sets. There are blood pressure cuffs and even a device called a Hemacue which provides "point of care" laboratory results. We take many crutches which have been discarded by our patients.

I would estimate that there are probably 10 hours of preparation for each hour of surgery. I don't think that's an exaggeration!

We are very very lucky to have a donated warehouse. It is shared with a car racing club. They use the facility for meetings and some storage. We have secured the back half of the facility with shelves for the surgical supplies and we use the front meeting hall for the preparation, sorting and wrapping.

Rotary and Lions service clubs support us in our work. And there are many numerous smaller donations made by individuals and businesses. The budget for a two week surgical mission is over $200,000. Each individual is responsible to raise the $2,000 cost of their travel, accomodation and meals. But the cost of a mission is far more than the cost of looking after our professional volunteers. We must buy surgical prostheses and surgical supplies and these are expensive. A hip prosthesis costs about $2,000 and we insert 40 of them each year!

If you think you can help us out then go to http://www.camta.com/ and click on the "Donate" link. We have only 13 weeks left until departure for Ecuador.

Please add your comments!
Thanks.
John Lilley