Having finished our work earlier than expected, we advanced our departure date by two days. We packed medical supplies and boarded a plane in Santo Domingo on Thursday, June 16.
The profile of the surgical work performed here was different than on other trips. As a result, we served fewer people more intensely. For example, Livensi's procedure lasted 7 hours and Yohan's was 8. Other burn scar patients' operations didn't require as much time as theirs but, nonetheless, the medical work was very intense and detailed. We did good work here.
On our visit to the hospital, Livensi was recovering quickly with his spirit clearly in evidence and his mother by his side. Yohan was recovering with his healing eyelids and lips despite his disappointment that more cosmetic restoration couldn't be done to his brutally scarred face.
An additional patient, Juan, was added to the ward to recover from burn repair surgery.
Our experience with the people of the Dominican Republic was positive and engaging. Our young translators, Jonathan and Juan Carlos, were attentive, helpful, reliable and polite. We wish them the best for their careers in medicine and I hope we can help them achieve their goals of becoming doctors. The OR nurse, Fifi, was similarly supportive, knowledgeable and a great help to the medical team.
We were also impressed with the families we saw in the hospital. There were many caring families with beautiful children who didn't mind my taking a few photos of their kids.
Thank you for following our trip to La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Carl Cilker
Photojournalist