Chile: One Last Item

We returned to the Dr. Lautaro Navarro hospital (pictured) late Saturday night after two days of relaxing in the mountains of Patagonia. The power supply for the central station came in and so we went down to install it and get the second central station up and running. It took only a few minutes to install the power supply and another few minutes to configure the central station. This now gave the hospital two central stations that would enable them to expand in the future.

And so ends another medical project. This was a great project. The hospital was wonderful. Our hosts, the Punta Arenas Rotary Club, treated us so well. The doctors and nurses were exceptional. There is no doubt in my mind that this equipment will serve the hospital well for many years. Not so much because of the equipment, but because the hospital personnel are truly outstanding and will be able to fully utilize these monitors for many years to come.

I have to add one more note on this project to Chile. Our bus driver, Sergio, was terrific. He would pick us up at any time during the day or night and deliver us to wherever we needed to go. Even last night when we called him to pick us up from the bus station (we were returning from our trip to the mountains), and take part of the group to the hotel and then some of us to the hospital. So at 9:30 PM he met us, and his daughter, Joseline, was with him. We met her several times before, but yesterday was a special day for her. It was her 13th birthday and when we found out we sang 'Happy Birthday' and that made her laugh. I can’t fault her for that—it was pretty bad.

So this morning, Sergio and Joseline met us at the hotel for our drive to the airport. Sergio shook each of our hands and seemed very emotional. After we got on the bus he presented the team with a gift—a large wood carved penguin. It is the first time that I have ever received a gift from our driver. It was quite humbling.

Chile: Show and Tell

When we first walked into the unit on Saturday, I was a little surprised to see the condition of the unit. The walls were dirty, the paint was peeling and the floors were a mess. But today when we walked into the CCU it had undergone a transformation. The hospital workers had been up most of the night painting the walls, bringing in beds and putting new sheets and pillows on them. It was beautiful.

We spent a few more hours training and then helped get the CCU ready for the opening ceremonies. At 3 PM the CCU was opened and it seemed that most people were pleased with the results. In particular, Dr. Berr, a Professor of Cardiology at the University of Chile Teaching Hospital in Santiago, who began the heart program in Punta Arenas, was impressed with the equipment that had been donated and installed. He began a cardiac program at Punta Arenas 15 years ago when everyone told him that it was impossible. Against all odds, he recently performed the first open heart surgery in Punta Arenas. I had the opportunity to speak with him at length and he kept saying that we don’t realize what kind of impact this CCU will have on the whole region. Rob Busby, our lead engineer, showed him all the features of the monitors and the central station. He was especially excited about the telemetry monitoring system, which he did not know was being installed. His comments made the whole team feel great about what we had done.

After a few newspaper and television interviews, we were done—well, almost. We still had one midnight dinner to get through, which turned out to be a wonderful time.

Chile: Wrapping Up

We wrapped up the installation by noon today. Everything is running great and the director of the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU), the hospital director and everyone else involved are thrilled with the results. The nurses from the adjoining ICU are asking if they can have some of the monitors placed in their unit. They have four different monitors in the ICU and none of them are connected to a central station. They really like the capabilities that the monitors and central station offers. Training continued for the nurses and several doctors. We also began training the biomedical engineers.

Tonight was a large dinner given by the Punta Arenas Rotary Club. It was a formal affair in an old 19th century home that had belonged to a large sheep rancher who had over a million sheep at one point. It was a very ornate building and seemed out of place in Punta Arenas. We arrived at 9 PM but dinner wasn’t served until 10:30 and we didn’t get back to the hotel until after 1 AM. These late dinners are brutal but the team is handling the late nights well enough, although we could use more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

Chile: Training

Ray Schmidt

The installation in Punta Arenas, Chile slowed down a bit today since the hospital administration had to make some decisions about the location of the telemetry system. The original plan was to have it on the first floor but when they fully understood the capabilities of the telemetry system, they opted to place it elsewhere.

Like any hospital, the decision had to work its way through the channels before the final location was determined. This process took most of the morning, but after lunch we were installing the telemetry antennae.

Pam began training the nurses and doctors today with Teresa interpreting. I always enjoy this part of the project because it always brings about an air of excitement. The hospital staff begins to realize that this equipment belongs to them. It’s interesting to watch some of the nurses that really get into the training and then begin to show the other nurses how to operate the monitors.

One of my standards for success on each project is to find 2 or 3 nurses that really excelled at the training. If I have that, I know that a “train the trainer” type program will continue at the hospital.

The level of experience and knowledge displayed by the nurses was very high. They were asking about some of the sophisticated features on the monitors—features we normally don’t cover in our training. But they were very knowledgeable and eager to learn every aspect of the monitors and central stations.

The central station issue still hasn’t been resolved. We blew the power supply the other day and though we were able to find one in town, it did not quite work properly. So I had one sent out today from California and it should arrive on Friday. We were able to put all the monitors and the telemetry system on a single central station, so the second one will be used as a backup.

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March, 1

It’s not the end of the world . . .

We made it to Punta Arenas! We arrived at 9 AM, checked into our hotel, had breakfast and made it to the hospital by 11 AM where we were greeted by the hospital staff. We had thought about grabbing a quick nap before going to the hospital, but there were a number of hospital personnel waiting to greet us. So, after sleeping only a few hours on the plane trip, we headed right to the hospital.

The Dr. Lautaro Navarro Avaria Hospital in Puntas Arenas is the primary public hospital for the region. Puntas Arenas is isolated from the capital, Santiago, with no roads and ice packs that make it impossible to get to the capital without traveling through Argentina by car, or flying out of the region by plane, or boarding a ship. If a person needs critical and immediate medical care, it costs $40,000 to get him from PA to Santiago by an emergency plane. It is the southernmost city in the world. It’s not the end of the world, but you can almost see it from here—Antarctica is only a few hours away by plane.

Heart disease is very prevalent in this region because of the poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, and other factors and the hospital is in need of medical equipment for a Cardiac Care Unit (CCU). That’s where we come in. By partnering with the Rotary Clubs in Los Gatos and Puntas Arenas, Assist International is able to provide 19 patient monitors, a central station, a telemetry monitoring system, two ventilators, one cardiac ultrasound and 12 pallets of miscellaneous medical supplies.

So today we began the installation and made excellent progress. We had lots of help from the hospital personnel and we were able to unpack everything and get almost everything assembled. My son, Christian, did a great job as well. I figured he would be so tired that he wouldn’t be much help, but I was wrong. He worked relentlessly assembling roll stands and pitching in wherever he could until we were done for the day.

But our day didn’t end there. We returned to the hotel, slept a couple of hours and then headed to a dinner hosted by the Puntas Arenas Rotary Club. They eat very late here. We arrived for dinner around 10 PM and didn’t finish until after midnight.

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February 28th,

Leaving on a Jet Plane…eventually

Today a medical team from Assist International departed for Puntas Arenas, Chile, but not without a few glitches.

The medical team included Pam Finger, a registered nurse from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Teresa Reyna, Director, Program and Operations, Guest Services, from Stanford Hospitals, Rob Busby and Duane Kellogg, medical engineers from Philips Medical Systems, my 12-year-old son, Christian, and me. Rob and Duane flew out separately and were to meet us in Miami. The rest of us flew out of San Francisco, but our flight was delayed. The flight was first delayed for 15 minutes and then 30 minutes. Then a tire had to be repaired and that delayed the flight another hour. At 2:00 PM they boarded us on the plane (90 minutes late). At 2:45 we were told that we could exit the plane if we’d like because the tire repair still had not been completed. Finally, at 4:10 PM we departed and there was no way we would make our Miami to Santiago, Chile flight.

We arrived in Miami only to find out that the crew for the Miami to Santiago flight never showed up and so they delayed the flight until the next morning at 10:30 AM. That meant that Rob and Duane were also stranded in Miami. We made it our hotel around 2 AM and then returned to the airport around 9 AM for our flight to Santiago. We arrived in Santiago, Chile, around 10 PM and by the time we finished getting our visas, arranging flights for Punta Arenas, and driving to our hotel it was almost 2 AM.

The airline (which will go unmentioned) paid for us to stay in a 5-star hotel in downtown Santiago. We wanted to take advantage of this but, in what can only be called a cruel irony, we were able to stay in this plush, luxurious 5-star hotel for a mere two hours. We checked in at 2 AM, napped, showered and then left at 4 AM so that we could catch our 5:30 AM flight.

I must hand it to the team though. They were upbeat, positive and anxious to get to Puntas Arenas, in spite of all the hassles that we endured thus far. Nothing like traveling with a good team.

It's Good To Be Home

Tim Reynolds

I just got back from Honduras on Saturday night. It was like a time warp, the same group of kids were sitting on my couch watching movies as were on my couch watching movies when I left one week before. (And they weren't my kids, that would be normal).

Monday we went to Yosemite and snowshoed around the valley floor. It's good to be home. We're blessed to be in America.

Actually Honduras was nice, hilly, and the weather was perfect. It was nice to be Central America, actually it was nice to be anywhere other than Africa for a change since I have been going to Africa on a regular basis for the last four years.

One interesting thing about Central America was that they speak better English in Africa than they do in Central America. I kind of enjoyed it actually as I have always had a warm spot in my heart for Spanish speaking people. I enjoy speaking the language and have fancied myself a Spanish Speaker for many years now. Based on the smiles I get when speaking Spanish, everyone else seems to enjoy it also.

I remember my Honeymoon in Mexico. Trying to impress my new bride, I ordered a pizza with extra bones (You know, Queso vs. Hueso). Hey, what's a letter or two among friends? I'm sure worse mistakes have been made (Some of them by me). Like the time I kissed the Minister of Health in Afghanistan on national T.V. and started a national scandal. You should have seen them confiscating T.V. cameras. I found out that following the lead of others is a good way to adapt to new cultures, unless the "others" happen to be women and your a man. Such is the life of a humanitarian.

On a more serious note, it is a privilege to be involved in helping others. In Honduras we poured two concrete pads that will receive water treatments plants for hospitals in La Esperanza and Gracias Limpira. Both are nice communities that just need a little help. The water treatment plants will ensure safe drinking water for all the in patients at the hospital. Imagine going to the hospital for a simple treatment and getting sick from the water. Not a good thing. Like I said, it is a simple pleasure to be helping others.

Like the old biblical adage says, It is better to give than to receive.

Until later,
Tim

Chile: Power Supplies, Penguins and...Pink Flamingos?

Ray Schmidt

We slept in until 8 AM today, but I could easily have gone another couple of hours. But there was work to be done. Our goal was to get the CCU monitors connected to the central station and then take part of the afternoon off to go see some penguins. We got all the monitors installed, all the wiring done and connected the monitors to the central station. In the picture (above), you see Teresa Reyna, the Program Director for International Guests Service, Michael Picchetti, one of the Logistics Coordinators for the project and my son Christian helping with the installation. We tested the first central station and everything was fine. We then hooked up the second central station and plugged it in.

Pop!

We all knew right away what happened. We blew the power supply on the PC. We failed to switch the unit to 220 volts. It was a simple mistake and all of us knew better. We had switched everything else to 220 volts, but we missed this one. However, the hospital engineer is confident that he can find a replacement power supply tomorrow. We’ll see.

Our day at the hospital ended on this sour note and none of us felt too good. We headed to a penguin reserve that was a little over an hour away. I always pictured penguins surrounded by snow and ice, but these penguins lived in lush green conditions near the ocean. The penguins live in burrows that they dig into the tundra. On our way out of the park, we spotted some birds standing in a lake several hundred yards away. It was hard to determine what they were but they sure looked like pink flamingos, but that didn't make sense—penguins and pink flamingos sharing the same habitat. However, we did get confirmation that the birds were indeed pink flamingos and they do migrate here. I would never have guessed it.

The team is heading out to dinner in a few minutes. The hospital is hosting a dinner for us and they agreed to make it an early dinner—9 PM.

Penguins in Chile

Honduras: Road Trip

Ray Schmidt

I kept putting off this trip to La Esperanza and Gracias, the site of our two previous projects in Honduras. I needed to visit each hospital to make sure the additional equipment we had ordered had arrived, been installed and was functioning well for the hospital. In addition, I needed to check in to make sure the previous GE equipment that we had installed was working well for the hospitals. I was leaving for home tomorrow so the job had to be done today. I left at 6 AM this morning.

My fellow travelers included Freddy (the Driver), Oscar (the translator/guard) and Yolanda, an official from the Ministry of Health that had to inventory the newly received items. The first leg from Tegucigalpa to La Esperanza was a pleasant 3-hour drive made more pleasant by the fact that I slept almost the entire way. We arrived at 9 AM, visited with Dr. Amador, the director of the hospital, and then made our way around the hospital looking at all the equipment. Everyone is still very grateful for the equipment. I visited the laboratory first and they were thrilled with the new lab equipment—microscope, gas analyzer, centrifuge and a few other pieces. The chemistry analyzer will be delivered and installed next week.

Our departure was delayed by an hour but we left at 11:30 for Gracias—a 2-1/2 hour drive over some seriously rough road. Fred felt he had to drive especially fast to make up for lost time. After bouncing, jolting and shaking for two hours, we made it to Gracias and were met by Dr. Gavarette, the hospital’s director. We did a quick walk through and made sure all was functioning well. This hospital was also very grateful for the donations that had been made.

“We have been able to help three times as many people now with the new ultrasound given by GE,” said Dr. Gavarette. “Everyone is watching us now. People from far away are coming to this hospital because they have heard of the changes at this hospital and how we have new equipment.”

While in Gracias, the local TV crew came out to interview me. Since my Spanish consists of eleven words, I said that we would need to use Oscar as the translator. The reporter asks us a question and Oscar takes the microphone, but instead of translating the question, he talks for about two minutes answering the question himself. The reporter asks another question and Oscar does the same thing. By this time, Dr. Gaverette is poking Oscar in the side and pointing to me. I’m laughing off-camera because Oscar was really getting into it. He is a very passionate guy and he just kept talking. I still don’t know what he said but he sure enjoyed being on TV.

As we drove back to Tegus, we watched the lunar eclipse. It was quite a spectacular sight. About two hours from Tegus, Oscar found a radio station that played American hits from the 70’s and 80’s. All four of us were in the early 40’s and so these were songs that we grew up with. I was surprised how many songs they knew—well, they at least knew the tunes and some of the words. On every song they would ask me what some of the words were because they hadn’t figured them out. It was a great time singing these songs and trying to remember the artists who performed them. It really is a small world.