I overheard anesthesiologist Dr. Anderson talking to a 10-year-old girl and her father outside the operating room explaining to them about the surgery.  As he knelt down in front of the girl and making sure he was on her level, he explained, “I’m Dr. Joe and I’m going to help you take a nap.  You will wake up and won’t remember anything.  I know you are scared but you are a brave girl.”  Both the brave young girl and her father had glistening eyes as they parted ways and she went into the operating room with Dr. Joe holding her hand.

Dr. Joe Anderson

Each morning the doctors head for the ward to see how the patients are doing.

Some patients are ready to go home like Shanti who is hanging out with his grandfather coloring and waiting for his release.

Waiting for discharge.

As we arrived this morning, we were greeted by a gift of bowl cozies, which come in handy when microwaving bowls of soup – inevitably a good way to get your hands burned.  The cozies keep the soup warm and make it easy to pick up the hot bowls.  It turns out our own Nurse Jeanne Kille made a cozie for everyone on the team.  Thanks Jeanne!

Nurse Practitioner Madden is working closely with Alok Kumar who is translating and helping with caring for the patients on the ward.  Ms. Madden is not only preparing patients for surgery, she is also overseeing their care after surgery.

PACU – The PACU stands for Post Anesthesia Care Unit and is where the surgical patients are moved to after their surgery while they wake up.

Lead PACU Nurse Merewyn Dixon-Beckett, PACU Nurse Denis Kneeppel & PACU Assistant Annie Liu

As of the end of today, the Rotaplast team has provided approximately $240,000 in medical care and performed 33 surgeries.

Without the support of all the donors who support these life changing missions, Rotaplast would not be able to support these missions without your help.  Thank you so much.