2015 Cumana, Venezuela
The Journey There
Cumana, Venezuela
The San Jose contingent for the Cumana Rotaplast Mission arrived at SFO and were joined by others from various locations around States.The work began when 35 boxes arrived and needed to be brought into the... Read More »
The Clinic
Cumana, Venezuela
The purpose of the clinic is to register and examine all the potential patients. At the end of the day lucky patients will be selected for surgery. The day starts early again with breakfast at 6:00 am fol... Read More »
Surgery Day 1
Cumana, Venezuela
The day started like any other day: early breakfast and a bus ride to the hospital. Once we got to the hospital things turned into controlled chaos as everyone found their place and got set up. The 1st s... Read More »
The Quilt Story
Cumana, Venezuela
Whenever you see a patient in a bed, on a gurney or being carried in someone’s arms, you will see them with a colorful quilt. These are given to each patient as a gift from Rotaplast. The quilts serv... Read More »
Surgery Day 2
Cumana, Venezuela
Things got going fairly smoothly on Day 2. Everyone knew their job and just started doing it. We had a full day scheduled but as typically happens we have 2 no-shows so the schedule quickly was revised to ... Read More »
Surgery Day 3
Cumana, Venezuela
Every morning starts with the pediatricians examining the patients from the previous day and hopefully being able to discharge them to go home. It is amazing how much improved the kids are less than a day ... Read More »
Surgery Day 4
Cumana, Venezuela
We leave the hotel about 6:45 am every morning and arrive at the hotel about 20 minutes later. Today is Saturday so traffic was much lighter and fewer people out and about. One of the reasons probably is t... Read More »
A Girl and her stuffed puppy
Cumana, Venezuela
One of the hopeful girls on Clinic Day had gotten the bear when she was 10 years old prior to surgery and was inseparable from the bear and slept with it every night. Five years later later, she was select... Read More »
Christian’s Story
Cumana, Venezuela
His name is Christian Hernandez Malave. He is 13 years old and has already had 4 cleft surgeries. He and his mom drove 5 hours from their home in San-Felix near the Brazilian border to hopefully have anoth... Read More »
Surgery Days 5 and 6
Cumana, Venezuela
Day 5 and 6 were generally uneventful. The surgery schedule was in its usual state of flux during the day. There were no shows, walk-ins and cancellations due to colds and coughs. In other words, things ha... Read More »
Some patient stories
Cumana, Venezuela
Hiorger’s family heard about Rotaplast from a friend. Hiorger was born with an extra toe and came to Rotaplast to have it removed. The family has been very happy with Rotaplast. Joangelys’ fath... Read More »
Surgery Day 7 (Last Day)
Cumana, Venezuela
Well the last day of surgery is upon us. Everyone lined up at the hotel entry to wait for the buses which unfortunately were a bit late. We all have mixed emotions about today. Happy to know we will be h... Read More »
A Volunteer’s Story
Cumana, Venezuela
Juan was one of the many volunteers that was indispensable to the success of the Rotaplast mission. He was special. His personality was infectious. He acted as an interface between the Rotaplast team and t... Read More »
Post-Clinic
Cumana, Venezuela
The team split up this morning. Most of the pediatricians and surgeons went to the hospital where the surgeries were performed to examine and discharge yesterday’s surgery patients. They will join th... Read More »
It is a wrap
Cumana, Venezuela
The two weeks is done, unbelievable. We just got here and it is time to leave. Seven days of surgery. We saw 346 potential patients at the beginning. Ultimately operating on 95 patients and performing a va... Read More »
Latest From Around The World
Stories from the Ward
Faridabad, India
A teenage girl with burn contractures on her wrist, elbow, and knee from an untreated accident as a baby arrived at the clinic with her sister, both burdened by exhaustion and hesitant to trust. They were ... Read More »
Dental Care & Cleft ...
Faridabad, India
Cleft lip and palate deformities can result from genetic disorders or syndromes. As technology and databases improve, our understanding of genetic markers and risk factors for these conditions continues to... Read More »