My Mission
I just returned from volunteering on a “third world medical mission”. I’ve worked on several missions over the past fifteen years and every one of them has been a unique and valuable experience. There are many different charitable organizations which regularly conduct medical missions for the purpose of helping the needy. There are thousands of medical and non-medical volunteers who have given freely and generously of their time and energy on these mission trips.
I was in Columbia, South America on a mission trip several years ago providing anesthesia for children with cleft lips and palates when a local nurse hurriedly asked me for a small endotracheal tube. I asked what she needed it for and it turned out that there was a newborn baby with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) - a hole in the diaphragm in which most of the abdominal contents are actually in the chest. This is one of the most deadly congenital anomalies in the pediatric population. In fact, there had never been a successful CDH operation performed at that hospital. I asked the local anesthesiologist if he needed some help. He responded “si, gracias”. The next thing I knew the anesthesiologist left the room and I never saw him again.
The next few hours were some of the more stressful of my career. I had no modern monitors; not even a cuff small enough to accurately measure blood pressure for this baby. Communication is always essential for optimal patient care and this was especially true during this type of surgery. In this case, the surgeon and I were able to communicate adequately with some great help by a translator. At the end of the operation, we brought the patient to the intensive care unit. We transferred care to a pediatric intern who I provided with a full list of postoperative instructions. The next morning, while examining the patient, the ventilator stopped functioning. I immediately panicked and initiated bag-mask ventilation. The pediatric intern calmly walked over to the loose ventilator plug in the wall outlet and rocked it back and forth until the ventilator turned back on. Obviously, this was something that she had dealt with previously. I took a deep breath, expressed my gratitude and proceeded to securely tape the plug into the outlet. This baby made it through the surgery and through a second surgery a few days later to close her abdomen. She was their first surviving CDH patient. Her parents named her after our mission director who was an invaluable source of information and support during the entire process.
I’ll never forget the anxiety, stress, gratitude, and joy that I felt during that case in Bucaramanga, Columbia. Everyone who has ever volunteered on a medical mission has some story about a significant patient or significant moment or significant team members that made that particular mission special enough or memorable enough that you would refer to it as “my mission”.
Please share your own “my mission” story.
I was in Columbia, South America on a mission trip several years ago providing anesthesia for children with cleft lips and palates when a local nurse hurriedly asked me for a small endotracheal tube. I asked what she needed it for and it turned out that there was a newborn baby with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) - a hole in the diaphragm in which most of the abdominal contents are actually in the chest. This is one of the most deadly congenital anomalies in the pediatric population. In fact, there had never been a successful CDH operation performed at that hospital. I asked the local anesthesiologist if he needed some help. He responded “si, gracias”. The next thing I knew the anesthesiologist left the room and I never saw him again.
The next few hours were some of the more stressful of my career. I had no modern monitors; not even a cuff small enough to accurately measure blood pressure for this baby. Communication is always essential for optimal patient care and this was especially true during this type of surgery. In this case, the surgeon and I were able to communicate adequately with some great help by a translator. At the end of the operation, we brought the patient to the intensive care unit. We transferred care to a pediatric intern who I provided with a full list of postoperative instructions. The next morning, while examining the patient, the ventilator stopped functioning. I immediately panicked and initiated bag-mask ventilation. The pediatric intern calmly walked over to the loose ventilator plug in the wall outlet and rocked it back and forth until the ventilator turned back on. Obviously, this was something that she had dealt with previously. I took a deep breath, expressed my gratitude and proceeded to securely tape the plug into the outlet. This baby made it through the surgery and through a second surgery a few days later to close her abdomen. She was their first surviving CDH patient. Her parents named her after our mission director who was an invaluable source of information and support during the entire process.
I’ll never forget the anxiety, stress, gratitude, and joy that I felt during that case in Bucaramanga, Columbia. Everyone who has ever volunteered on a medical mission has some story about a significant patient or significant moment or significant team members that made that particular mission special enough or memorable enough that you would refer to it as “my mission”.
Please share your own “my mission” story.
Posted by Dr. Farber's Blog at 5/24/2011 9:59 AM 
Categories: Mission Stories
Tags: Share your most memorable experiences medical missions community service work religious missions give back to your community
Categories: Mission Stories
Tags: Share your most memorable experiences medical missions community service work religious missions give back to your community
thanks for a story that lifts the spirit
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People often ask me why I go on these trips and I have to be honest and say that I do it for myself. I do it out of a sense of obligation for all that I have in this life. I've worked hard to get where I am, but many others work as hard and never achieve even a basic level of comfort and security. So why then do I do these trips? I do them to learn about other cultures and how they face life day to day with the lot they have in life. I do them to meet the most interesting people that pass in and out of my life. People like Dr. Farber. I do them to challenge myself, to provide the best dental care I can without all of the luxuries we have in this country. I'm able to touch the life of a complete stranger, and they won't remember my name but they will remember what I did for them. I do these trips to see the parts of the world that most people don't visit. We see the real qualities and the humanity of these countries, and often it hurts to see what privileges we have and realize that we often feel like it's not enough. These trips reset my soul and I come back a better person for it. So when people say how generous and kind it is, I always tell them that I benefit more than the people that I treat. I'm fortunate that I'm able to help the people who have no idea how much they are actually helping me.
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