Sometimes a simple idea turns out to have major rewards. Such was the case during the last Rotary District 5130 mission to Guatemala.
David Mark-Raymond of the Sebastopol Sunrise Club was the lead sterilizer. It’s a difficult, tedious job that requires hours of painstaking equipment cleaning following surgeries then preparing sterile trays of instruments to be used for the next patient.
The exact number and type of forceps, clamps, scissors and other specialized equipment must be included in each surgical tray.
David decided that a large, high quality, laminated photograph of a complete tray would make the job much easier and more accurate. He created the laminations and delivered them to our team for this mission. Our sterilizer Paul Dean, whose St. Helena Club co-sponsored this mission, praised the new aid. “It’s like going from the stone-age to the modern age.”
Paul had been the sterilizer on a previous mission to Morelia, Mexico and knew what he was talking about. He is joined in the photo by Sharon Newton, head nurse and Eunice, hospital staffer. Thanks, David, for a good idea and making it happen.
Jerry Meshulam
Photojournalist-Oaxaca 09