Today is our last day in Myanmar 🙁 Rather than say goodbye however (သွားတော့မယ်-swarrtotmaal) I think its best to say, until we meet again – ကျနော်တို့ပြန်တွေ့သည်အထိ (kyanawthoet pyantwae saiaahti) instead.
We spent our last afternoon at General Hospital meeting with patients and celebrating the success of our mission with the hospital staff. We were also greeted by Deputy Director General Dr. Yin Thandar Lwin of 300 Bedded General Hospital Nay Pwi Twa who presented Medical Director Tom Fox with a special gift. The gift consisted of two metal owls – ဇီးကွက် (jeekwat)– set in a beautiful handmade frame . Jeekwat/owls in Myanmar custom symbolize luck and prosperity. Jeekwat/owls will always come as a pair, representing a male and a female owl. Thank you again Dr. Lwin for this lovely and thoughtful gift. We will cherish it always.
As you will see in the pictures below, many of our patients waited for us outside of the hospital to say goodbye, wish us good luck and safe travels and to see us one last time as we drove away from the hospital. It was a bittersweet moment but we are hopeful that we will see each other again on our next mission to Nay Pwi Taw.
Our time in Myanmar has been an unforgettable one and we are very grateful to everyone for working in partnership with us to help change the lives of our patients and their families. Once again, I would like to thank the staff at 300 Bedded General Hospital Nya Pwi Taw, the staff at the Ay Chan Thar hotel for their hospitality, our bus drivers who helped us to get to and from the hospital safely each day, our catering staff who made special meals for us each day, our Mission Director Tom Fox, our Medical Director Dr. Dennis Dundas, our Lead Anesthesiologist Dr. Puya Hosseini, our Lead Pediatrician Dr. Bryan Stamm, our Head Nurse James Gallaway- RN, our Lead PACU Nurse Paula Fillari – RN, CCRN, our surgeons Dr. Jim Hoyt, Dr. Sibrand Schepel, Dr. David Morwood, our Anesthesia team, Dr. Fayzel Lee, Dr. Kevin Healy, Nurse Anesthetist Matthew Park – CRNA, our Operating Room Nurses, Pamela Dundas – RN, Paulette McHugh- RN, Evelyn Synder- RN, our Pediatrician Dr. Rene Clement Vreuls, our PACU Nurse Dennis Kneeppel, PACU assistant Carolyn Hino-Bourassa, our Medical Records Specialist Steve Brozosky, our Patient Transporter Paul Kupras, our Recreational Therapist Mary Ann Avnet, our Sterilizer Tineke Hilgenga, and our Ward Coordinator Sofya Kats. A special thanks to Dr. Lin Htet Mya Myo and Nurse Paula Fillari for allowing me to use their wifi/hotspot for without them we would have been without this blog during our stay in Myanmar 🙂 Another special thanks to Nurse May Darli Swe and Nurse Shwe Yee Thin for helping with translation and the parent interviews.
Last but not least a special thanks to all of our patients and their families. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this special chapter in your lives. We wish you happiness, good health and happy smiles. Until we meet again – ကျနော်တို့ပြန်တွေ့သည်အထိ – this is Renee Paquier, your mission historian signing off. Thank you for the honor of allowing me to document our mission to Myanmar and for reading the 2019 Nay Pwi Taw Mission blog.
