This mission to Luxor involved a team of 22 people from the US, 3 surgeons from Egypt, local Rotarian hosts, many local volunteers and translators plus local hospital staff. While some team members had been on many previous missions and knew each other, for others it was their first mission and a whole new experience. It is always amazing how quickly the team bonds and starts working together, everyone fitting into their roles but also being flexible to help out where ever needed. The focus is one the patients and helping as many people as possible.
Having local surgeons meant that they could promote the mission to ensure we reached the patients that needed us most. They could also follow up on cases after we had left, as well as, schedule cases that we couldn’t treat on this mission – the 8 week old baby in the picture was an example of such a case – she will be followed up locally in 1-3 months to schedule surgery so it is done at the optimal time.
The Rotarian volunteers are a critical component of the mission doing supporting roles that ensure the mission goes smoothly on this mission there was – Paul Ikeda who managed all the medical records, David Ellis was PACU Assistant but also helped out with medical records and patient entertainer! Judith Bucko was ward coordinator ensuring we knew where all the patients were! Lois Borie was sterilizer par excellence! I was mission historian, blog writer, patient transporter and on one day medical records!
The two essential Rotarian team members were Quartermaster Robert Benedetto and Ted Alex, Mission Director who kept everything together. Bob and Ted worked miracles to navigate very tricky logistical challenges, organized time off so we saw some of the amazing historical sights that Egypt has to offer, get everyone somewhere to sleep, transported too and from the hospitals and also kept us fed!
While the surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, physiotherapists, hospital staff, international and local Rotarians, and volunteers are all vital to a mission the real stars of the show are the patients and their families.
