One of them most important non-medical positions held by a Rotarian is that of interpreter. On this mission that job was assigned to Marcella Ramos of the Fisherman’s Wharf Rotary Club. Previously, Marcella volunteered with Rotacare in San Rafael, California for about two years as an interpreter and enjoyed it immensely. “I like helping people by using my Spanish skills,” she says.

From the start, she was in action helping obtain information from patients for their charts. Translating medical terms was not too hard but sometimes explaining necessary prescriptions proved challenging because of the difference in medications used in Peru and the U.S.

Nowhere was Marcella most needed than when patients were heading into surgery and when they arrived afterward into the PACU. Many parents were understandably nervous the entire time and Marcella calmed their nerves by answering questions and providing vital information.

Because Marcella was the sole interpreter, she was often pulled into many different directions, including translating while a child was being transported from the PACU to the pediatric ward.

But like all those on the mission, her duties didn’t stop at translating. Here she is preparing liquid antibiotics for a patient in the PACU.

Marcella says that she has always felt that her purpose as a Rotarian was to help the less fortunate. “I feel that international service is one of the greatest opportunities to do that, and if I can see the work of Rotarians firsthand, then I want to be a part of that”