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By Edward McEachern
Sometimes the balance of personal and professional commitments is best achieved in a land of extremes.
Honduras has hot weather and cool showers; people with little money and yet so rich in spirit; some who would easily take your life and others who would gladly give their life for yours – this small country is at the fulcrum between the Americas and is a balance of cultures.
This isn’t the ‘60 second TV ad for donations for children’ or ‘from blogs about the latest government regime change’ – no, this experience must be viewed from ground level.
I received an unusual call--an emergency call asking me to contact any physicians who worked through our staffing company to see if any would be available to fly to Honduras on short notice. They would need to volunteer their time and perform surgeries from early in the morning until evening for a volunteer medical mission. The issue was that several surgeons had already volunteered, but we desperately needed an anesthesiologist. The entire medical mission was at risk of being cancelled if there were no anesthesiologists available to sedate the patients.
Jackson & Coker, our physician staffing company, had worked with many physicians and regularly corresponded with many of them via email. The solution seemed simple – get the word out to as many of the physicians as possible, see if there were those willing to help, and schedule the travel accordingly. What I didn’t count on was the overwhelming outpouring of support from our medical community. Gail Harvey, my friend and colleague, was the ‘point person’ for the inbound responses and was inundated with physician responses for four days. Hundreds of physicians were willing to volunteer their personal time and, in some cases, their entire staff and fly to Honduras to help people that they had never met.
That was really my first glimpse that it wasn’t marketing campaigns, brand loyalty, or external forces that compelled these physicians and nurses to respond. It was from deep within their heart. Each had their own reason for wanting to take their skills and compassion to help out where they could.
Throughout the next week or so, availability was checked, schedules were confirmed and flights were arranged. The agenda had the group of physicians, nurses and physical therapists arriving in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras and then taking a four-hour bus trip to the Good Samaritan Clinic in Catacamas. Predisan, the local group that managed the surgical clinic in Catacamas, had handled all of the arrangements and made sure that all of the group arrived safely and had a bed for the night. We needed rest, because the next morning the race was on.
The local medical director, Dr. Jose Garcia, had been arranging the schedule of patients to be seen, and when we arrived at the clinic the next morning they were ready to go and the families of the patients were all waiting. Tradition held that all of the doctors and the families were introduced, a short devotional was held, and then the stream of patients began. Understand that the U.S. version of urgent surgery and the Honduran version come from two entirely different perspectives.
Many of our patients were in for gall bladder problems. For anyone who has ever experienced gall stones, they understand how very painful they are and in the U.S. usually require surgery almost immediately after the first attack. In Honduras, most of the patients had been suffering and waiting years for their surgery and were so thankful when we arrived.
The first couple of hours were very busy as we explored the clinic, locating the different types of surgical instruments, determining whether the equipment was ready to use, meeting our translator and handling a myriad of other preparatory tasks.
During this ‘beehive’ of activity, I had a brief moment with Dr. Joseph Miller, our surgeon. Watching everyone doing what they did well, I said that I would do whatever he needed me to do, but I was a marketer with Jackson & Coker by trade and a little out of my element in the operating room. I can fold towels, clean bedpans or comfort patients, but beyond that I didn’t have a particular ‘job’ in the operating room.
Joseph (we were informal in Honduras and only used first names) smiled and pulled me aside for a moment. He said, “Don’t ever question why you are here. Sometimes the reasons don’t become apparent until later.”
During all of this activity he told me a story that brought that point home. He mentioned, “On this one small island mission that I was on, the husband of one of the nurses walked up to me. He felt a little useless because he was not medically trained and felt that his position on the mission could have been better filled by someone who was a doctor or a nurse. Joseph had the same talk with him that he had with me. Later that afternoon, as they prepared the rural hospital ‘operating room’ for the patients, they tried to start the generator for the lights and equipment. After several unsuccessful attempts, they were afraid that they would have to cancel the surgeries. The husband, who felt that he was not needed, turned out to be a diesel mechanic and shortly had the generator running.”
So Joseph smiled and said, “You are here for a reason; you just may not know it yet.”
Over the next couple of days, we established a busy but efficient routine seeing over 42 patients with a variety of ailments. Dr. Jeanne Wiebenga handled the OB/GYN cases, and Drs. Pauly Carroll and Andrew Johnson administered the anesthesia. With two operating rooms feeding the recovery room, Dr. Julie Sowerby and respiratory therapist Charlie Despanza, RN, managed a heavy caseload.
However, on Wednesday morning I looked into the pre-op area where the inbound patients were being prepped and noticed a young lady who appeared to be about eight months pregnant. I asked Jeanne what type of surgery we were going to perform on someone so far along. She looked at me and paused, then said that the woman wasn’t pregnant—she had a massive tumor. This young patient of about 30 years old was in very serious shape and was now having trouble breathing due to the size of the tumor. Another couple of weeks and she may not be alive, the medical team concluded.
We brought her back into the operating room, and Jeanne prepared for the surgery. After the initial incision and some brief exploration of the area, Jeanne found that the tumor was not gynecological in nature and that this case was one for a general surgeon and not an OB/GYN. Joseph, a general surgeon, was in the operating room next door and was waiting for his next patient to be brought in when Jeanne asked him to join her in the procedure. Joseph teamed up with Jeanne and began one of the most intensive surgeries that had been performed at the center.
I was able to watch the surgery and was in awe of the calm that came over both Joseph and Jeanne as they focused on this patient. They were able to remove the 8.5 lb tumor and stitch her up safely. If you haven’t had the opportunity to view a surgery, the patient is fully covered with the exception of the area designated for the surgery. So during the procedure, you stay focused on the incisions, the sutures, and the tumor. It’s only after they have closed the opening and the surgical sheets are removed that it strikes you that this is the person that you helped prep two hours ago. It makes the patient and the surgery become one again.
This young lady (I will call her “Bea”) will be going through a lot of difficult times in the near future. She will experience chemotherapy, maybe radiation, and a host of tests; but at least she has made it over her first hurdle. When we brought Bea back into the recovery room, she needed a couple of units of blood, but the blood that we had was refrigerated. The center didn’t have a way to warm the blood before we gave it to Bea; so we held the line from the unit of blood to Bea in our hands to warm it.
That’s when I realized how special and attached you become to your patients. The warmth of my hands helped heat the blood that was going into her body after surviving a very difficult surgery. The next day Bea was to be transported to a regional hospital about 45 minutes away. This 45 minutes was spent in a Land Rover ambulance over dirt roads. As they loaded her into the back of the ambulance, I smiled at her and said a prayer for her recovery.
There were other patients that totally wrapped themselves around our hearts. Physical Therapist Tasha McElravy worked with a little boy we will call “Mike.” Mike had some developmental problems, but was very receptive to Tasha’s techniques and made great strides. The nature of physical therapy is different from surgery in that surgery has a definite time line and after the patient’s short recovery period, is complete. Physical therapy is an ongoing process and requires continued applications in order for the patient to experience the full benefits. In some cases, such as Mike’s, the patient may not have the ability or transportation to see the therapist on a regular basis, and the fear is that he may not realize his true potential.
“It is so difficult to leave the little patients,” Tasha said. “You have to take comfort in that you have planted good seeds and he will continue to grow stronger.”
I felt that I took much more away that I gave on this mission. When I flew down--to meet a group of people I had never met, in a land that I had never been to--I never realized that one week later I could not imagine life without them. I had arrived wearing my ‘corporate hat’--not in a bad way, but to photograph and document this mission. Soon I removed that hat and become “Ed,” just a guy caring about his new friends, compassionate about our patients, and finding it difficult to leave Honduras behind.
The people who made this mission and the missions that will follow possible are some of the kindest and most caring people that I have met. Sandy Garrett, the president of Jackson & Coker, believed in the mission and had the company sponsor much of the total cost. Chad and Carlyn Jackson of Jackson Healthcare Charities, the philanthropic wing of Jackson Healthcare, coordinated and planned the mission with Shane Jackson, a Board Member of Predisan.
Predisan is the organization that manages the medical centers, rural health clinics and rehabilitation center in Honduras. These groups need help to continue these medical missions. This is my ‘not so subtle’ plea for your help and support as well. Take a moment and look at the websites and know that there are very good and caring people behind them. If you can help financially or by volunteering your services, please do. I can tell you from very personal experiences, there is nothing that I have done that has been more rewarding. To obtain more information, go to: www.jacksoncoker.com, www.predisan.org, www.medicalmissions.org; or give me a call at 800.272.2707.
Edward McEachern serves as Vice President of Marketing for Jackson & Coker.
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