Clinic Day for all those of us who have been on missions is the day the team comes together getting everything set up so when the doors open and the patients poor in everything work like clockwork and if there are any glitches they are resolved instantly. Luxor was no different – we had all the stations stocked with the equipment they needed, everything was found in the boxes so expertly packed by the Rotaplast home team (thank you). The clinic area we were provided by the local hospital was excellent and allowed for perfect patient flow.
A key factor in the success of the day was all our local volunteers who were absolutely fantastic at helping direct patients, translate and nearly anything else we asked of them. A big thank you from the mission team for all their hard work – “We couldn’t have done it without you!”.
The waiting room in the picture to the left only shows half the people waiting and it was self replenishing for the whole day. Despite the constant steam of patients we managed to see all 86 patients that came to be seen that day, including a handful of late walk-ins.
The patients came from Luxor and the surrounding towns and villages up to 4 or more hours away. Whole families came and sat patiently waiting their turn to be seen by the Rotaplast team. There was never a complaint about the wait and the children were incredibly well behaved despite sometimes a several hour wait.
Many also came in their finest clothes.
While Rotaplast specializes in repairs of cleft lips and palates there was also a focus on treatment of burn victims. So the mix of patients was vast. There was a young man who had been electrocuted which resulted in the loss of his right arm and had come to the clinic to get relief from contractures caused by the same incident on his left hand. There were disfiguring facial burns which the surgeons thought it would be possible to remove the worst scarring. There was also a boy with extensive burn scarring on his neck, back and arm that was not possible to remove but it would be possible to do a z-plasty to improve functionality.
There were also so many adorable children who despite being anxious had a smile for everyone. A few of my favorites are included below.