Nurse Joan

One of the most impactful experiences of my time in the Peace Corps has been my participation in a Medical Mission in the beginning of February. A group of doctors headed by Dr. Thomas Geraghty, mostly from the Kansas area, comes every year for two weeks in February to perform free reconstructive and plastic surgeries for underprivileged Dominicans. Certain medical missions that come to this country call upon Peace Corps Volunteers to help with translation and organization of the events. Peace Corps Volunteers make good translators for events such as these because we not only know the language with all of its Dominican intricacies, but we are aware of cultural workings too. Peace Corps Volunteers have helped with Geraghty’s missions for many years, and Dr. Geraghty has been doing this mission for almost 25 years! Check out his web site when you get a chance: www.macla.org/

I had known about this particular mission for over a year and had been planning to be there to participate for an entire week, but with work picking up in my site I unfortunately wasn’t able to leave for such a long time. I did, however, bring two members of my community to see if they would qualify for the free surgery.

After mentioning the mission to a few friends and that I was looking for candidates, they referred me to a youth of mine who had a twisted thumb. I had never noticied it before, but his left thumb was bent sideways from the top knuckle. He didn't have much movement in the thumb, and it was harmful to his self-esteem to have other kids notice his deformity. I invited him to make the trip with me to the capital, and told him that the doctors could set him straight (literally):

The other candidate I brought was Ñuco. Ñuco is a man of about 60-years-old (though no one is actually sure of his age nor birthday). He’s lived his entire life with a severe cleft lip. Throughout his lifetime, not only had no one ever tried to fix his lip, but he had never even been to a doctor. It was a matter of poverty, but also, with this deformity, he was considered an outcast and no one really gave him a second thought. It pained me to see this man reduced to his state, while thinking that if only someone had performed this relatively simple surgery when he was a child, he could have married, had a family, and had a normal life. Instead, he’s the guy with the cleft lip, and people are afraid of him. Even though I knew it was probably too late in his life to be doing this, I brought him to the capital anyway to see if he would qualify for the surgery and get that chance he always deserved. Better late than never, I thought. Here he is:

The night before we were to leave, I went to check on him to see if he was ready. He had had his bag packed for a day and was very excited about the trip. His niece, my good friend Niña, confessed that this was his first trip to the capital. Can you believe it?!? Sixty years and he had never been to Santo Domingo, and as I learned, hardly even left his community. We took and early bus at 4:00am and arrived in the capital by 8:00. As we pulled up in front of the hospital we saw all of the surgery hopefuls who had come from all parts of the country waiting outside the building in a line four-people-deep that stretched for about two city blocks in two directions. Some of the reasons people came in for were obvious, for example, there were many people in line with cleft lips. I think it was good for Ñuco as he realized that there were many other people just like him, that he wasn't alone in the world.

As Peace Corps, we had an advantage over the others and brought our patients to the front of the line. I helped control the order of patients receiving consultations with the other volunteers until my patients' numbers were called. We met personally with Dr. Geraghty and both of my boys were approved and passed along to the next level - the checkup. Every surgury hopeful had their vital signs taken to make sure they were healthy enough to go under anesthesia (which can be very dangerous in certain situations). My youth was approved and given his surgery date for two days later. Unfortunately, in the end Ñuco did not qualify for the surgery because the doctors were worried about his heart and didn’t want to risk putting him under the anesthesia. It could be that he has heart problems, but also it could be that the man was simply terrified at being examined by a doctor for the first time! In the end it ended up being a great experience for him. He got to see the big city for the first time, and had an experience he will never forget.

While we were there in the waiting room waiting for a checkup, I jumped right in and helped translate for a Dr. Larry. It was so amazing to be right in there on the action. I helped Dr. Larry as he examined each patient. I saw all kinds of burns, scars, and deformities that I never in my lifetime thought I’d be seeing in person. My mom is a nurse, and it has always been difficult even just looking at pictures in her medical books. Though not once did I feel uncomfortable speaking with and helping these patients, many with pretty extreme cases.

I went back two days later with my youth and we waited for his surgery, which was scheduled for 9:00 that morning. Things were a bit delayed so in the meantime I changed into scrubs and jumped right in again, helping with translation, comforting patients, getting them ready for surgery, and even go into the operating room! I helped Dr. Larry again this day as he gave keloid injections to people with big scars. He commended me on my ability to watch the injections, saying, “I like having you around. You don’t need to look away like the others do!” Here’s Iris (another Volunteer) helping Dr. Larry with the injections:
Here I am with Becky, an IT Volunteer:
I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be able to handle the work of a nurse, but not only did nothing bother me, I learned that I actually enjoyed the work! Not only that, but I watched the entire surgery of the youth that I brought to the mission! Have I found a new calling? I’m not sure, but I will say I’d like to participate more in missions such as these.

Now I’d like to tell you about Edelberto. Edelberto is a 28-years-old patient I met at this mission. About a year-and-a-half ago, he was working at a paint store when the store caught on fire. He ran into the burning building to save his boss, carrying the man in his arms through the flames. In the process, Edelberto burned most of his body from the chin down. The skin on his arms melted to itself where the arms bend at the elbow. He has since had numerous surgeries to help fix some of his injuries, but he suffers daily. He had skin transplanted from his leg to his arms and now has fairly normal function of his arms. His skin was burned badly, however, and he has to be very careful with simple day-to-day habits: he has to bathe with warm water (not common down here); he can't be bitten by mosquitos, and needs to wear a special long-sleeved shirt at all times to protect his skin. He has had grafting done to try and promote better skin growth, and because of it his skin looks scaly. He is a good soul who risked his life to save another, but in the process lost everything. The boss he tried to save died six days later, and the family never did anything to thank Edelberto nor check on his condition. His girlfriend and friends slowly disappeared. He depends on his mother for help with many things.

I got to know Edelberto because he was also waiting on the day of my youth's surgery. Both were waiting for finger surgeries, and waited an entire day without food or water to be ready for the anesthesia, until 5:00 when we found out that they wouldn't be able to have the operations that day and would be rescheduled for the following day. Because we all came from far away, I became responsible for finding Edelberto and his mom food and lodging for the night.

In speaking with him I got to know him and realized how smart and funny he was. It was his mom who told me later the details of his story. I learned a lot from getting to know this man. It is just so heartbreaking to meet someone so cool, who had been so happy and successful before this accident, but see how much they suffer and know they might never be "normal" again. To see how quickly your entire life can be turned upside-down. For me, Edelberto was one of those people that you meet every so often who teaches you something about yourself and about life. There were many others at this mission as well - people who suffered a random accident and lost so much. It just makes you realize how lucky were are - that we do not live daily in physical pain; that we live in a place where they fix simple deformities, such as cleft lips, at birth; that we are so incredibly lucky just to be "normal".

To end this blog entry, my youth's finger is fine now. It is still not perfect, and he still does not have a lot of movement in his thumb, but with some therapy it should improve. I want to commend all of the doctors from this mission who gave their time and money to come here and do such incredible work - out of there own pockets, and their own generocity. Thank you.