Good Morning Vietnam!

Well, it’s been months since my last blog entry. Although I’ve had a terrific spring and summer, I haven’t been on any international travels since Antarctica. I was scheduled to go on a medical mission with Operation Smile in June, but it was canceled at the last minute due to an outbreak of H1N1 influenza at our mission site, Hai Phong, Vietnam.

I’m preparing to depart for my next medical mission with Operation Smile to Can Tho, Vietnam (southern part of Vietnam, on the Mekong Delta-see map). For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Operation Smile, you can learn about the organization (and make donations) at the website:

www.operationsmile.org

Here’s an excerpt from the Operation Smile website:

Operation Smile mobilizes a world of generous hearts to heal children's smiles and transform lives across the globe. We believe that all children deserve to live their lives with dignity. And for those suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate or other facial deformities, dignity begins with a smile. Driven by our universal compassion for children, we work worldwide to repair childhood facial deformities by delivering safe, effective surgical care directly to patients. The global partnerships we create, the knowledge we share and the infrastructure we build leave a legacy that lives well beyond our medical missions, making a lasting difference in our world.

Operation Smile has been in existence since 1982, and it continues to grow. Vietnam is celebrating its twenty-year relationship with the organization. As part of that celebration, there will be thirteen concurrent medical missions in Vietnam (and one in Laos)! As I do my math, I also just realized this will be my twentieth mission with the organization! How serendipitous! Clearly, celebrations are in order.

I really enjoy my work with Operation Smile, as its modus operandi is similar to “teach a man to fish.” We work very closely with our international counterparts. Everyone learns. My role is the clinical coordinator…sort of the “Jack of all trades, master of none” phenomenon. I’m busy working behind the scenes, making sure everything is going as planned, and filling in with my skills as needed in the OR, recovery room and/or pre and post-operative care.

My team composition list is reflective of the organization’s international flair. I have team members from Brazil, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, the United States, and Vietnam. We have an ambitious schedule from long trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flights, to an international nursing educational session, patient screening, hospital and operating room set-up, determining the schedule (the hard part is turning patients away), and five full days of surgery. Our goal in Can Tho is to perform surgery for at least 150 patients.

I hope I will have Internet access during my mission, so that I can make posts to the blog. In the meantime, I’d like to thank my friends, family, and colleagues at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare and Shriners Hospitals for Children for their ongoing support.