The medical team discussing the day's caseload of 14 surgeries! 

Today is our busiest day yet with 14 surgeries scheduled. We also have a visiting dignitary today, Mr. Robert Blau: Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of the United States of America San Salvador. Currently there is no Ambassador in El Salvador.

Mr. Robert Blau arrived in San Salvador on July 2, 2008 to serve as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy, and he assumed the responsibility of Charge d' Affaires on January 20, 2009.  He was previously the Deputy Director for Cuban Affairs in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, following a two-year assignment at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs.  In that position he won the Department’s James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence, based on his support for the Cuban democratic opposition.

From 2002-2005, Mr. Blau served as the Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs in Lisbon, Portugal, where he met and married his wife, Carmen, who at the time was a diplomat from a NATO ally country.  Prior to his posting in Lisbon, Mr. Blau was the Director of the Office of Bosnia Implementation (2000-2001) in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.  His other overseas posts include Panama City, Panama; Brasilia, Brazil; Conakry, Guinea; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Mission Director Tom Fox with Robert Blau & the 1st Airborne. Dr. Jim Callision prepping Mr. Blau for surgery.

 Surgical nurse Janice Crowder explaining surgery to Mr. Blau, Tom Fox & Rocky Burrell.

 Mr. Blau (escorted by the 1st Airborne) were invited into Dr. Bill De Shazo's surgery. Emblazoned on Dr. Bill's scrub cap in BOLD letters "NAVY". We all had a good laugh with that coincidence.