April 2016 Newsletter

MISSION 2016

Another successful Mission!

This year our team of 90 volunteers - medical professionals and lay people - changed the lives of 69 Ecuadoreans and their families. We performed 35 procedures on 31 children and did 43 hip replacements for 38 adults. Five of those adults had BOTH hips replaced and walked out of the hospital a few days later!

Nine team members volunteered for BOTH weeks of the Mission, which helped to make an easy transition from Week One to Week Two. This commitment for 12 very full work days, often using vacation time or taking leave without pay, is remarkable! Many thanks to Heather Perl, Saison Demitor, Deb Chalupa, Julie Cadrin, Aline Young, Francisco Gallardo, Rayanne Hillier, Marc and Barb Moreau.

We are happy to say that ALL of our patients were discharged before we left Quito this year. This doesn't always happen. Patients who have surgery late in Week Two often need to be cared for for a day or two by Dr. Manuel Ordoñez and the very competent staff at Un Canto a la Vida Hospital. Quito's Dr. Ordoñez has seen or heard from all of our patients since the CAMTA team left Ecuador and all is well with everyone!

The Educational Compontent


	Dr. Ed Masson

It's not all surgery - on the Saturday morning between Weeks One and Two four of our CAMTA surgeons and a resident presented at the Second Annual Tierra Nueva Foundation Conference on Orthopedics and Traumatology. Dr. Ed Masson's " Hip Replacements in Adults: Surgical Planning and Type of Prostheses According to Age" and Dr. Nayef Dajim's " Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis", and pediatric presentations on " Treatment of DDH", " Treatment of Fractures Around the Elbow" and " Clubfoot - Ponseti Technique" were well received by local doctors, orthopedic residents and physiotherapists in attendan ce. We are already planning for the Third Conference in 2017.

Pediatric LPN and OR Tech Saison Demitor taught CPR to local nurses and nursing students. Saison, a CPR instructor for the Heart & Stroke Foundation, used a powerpoint presentation, translated into Spanish, to review the basics of adult and child CPR, the Heimlich maneuver and the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator).


CAMTA physiotherapists Rachel Oates (back left) and Joanne Montgomery (front left) with their Ecuadorean colleagues

Week One and Week Two CAMTA physiotherapists met with Ecuadorian physiotherapists and, with assistance from translator Francisco Gallardo, discussed commonalities and differences between physiotherapy diagnostic and assessment protocols between the two countries . Future presentations, shadowing and information sharing will continue to build a collaborative relationship between the CAMTA and the Tierra Nueva physiotherapists.

And, as always, CAMTA ward nurses found ample opportunities throughout the Mission to share knowledge on the care of post-op orthopedic patients.

None of this could happen without the excellent translation skills of our translators. Francisco, with his medical background makes communication of procedures and terminology especially clear.

So many people to thank!

If you are reading this newsletter, chances are you have supported CAMTA with your time, money, expertise, and/or prayers. We thank each and every one of you.

There are, however, a few people we would like to give a special tip of the CAMTA surgical cap to:

Charlotte Vidiuk who does a lot of the background work to help lawyer Jim Davies make sure everyone's certification is in order and all documents are notarized.
Sandra Muchekeza - although Sandra is no longer working as our Administrator, she volunteered countless hours of her time to help inventory our equipment and supplies before the Mission.
Sammy Ruiz who each year cleans, repairs and replaces the hockey bags we use to transport all the equipment and supplies to and from Quito.
Byrne Hustwick who drives all those hockey bags to the airport in the wee hours of the morning of Week One and Week Two's departures, then meets Team Two at the airport at the end of the Mission and returns the bags of remaining equipment and supplies to our warehouse.
Judy Chafee and her husband, who keep the warehouse clean throughout the year.
Bev Runka who makes sure there are plenty of snacks for our meetings

And in Quito:

Zulay and David Palacios - who for many years have raised funds to provide safe, nutritious and delicious lunches and water for our teams at the hospital. This year Zulay and David are living in Spain, but still managed to organize and donate these meals!
Miluska Sanchez- who schedules young students to come to the hospital to help with translating for our patients and their families. This year several students who were recruited when they were in Junior High and who are now attending University returned to help out.
Byron Ushina, a noted Ecuadorean artist and jeweler who donates several pieces plus a percentage of his sales to CAMTA each year.

Hasta pronto - but not goodbye!

This was the tenth and eleventh respectively and, apparently, last Mission for Anasthesiologist Saifee Rashiq and Respiratory Therapist Glenn Day. While serious about their professions, these two have added so much FUN to Week Two - from the Annual Rock/Paper/Scissors competition that has new and seasoned volunteers competing furiously throughout the week, to Glenn's balloon animals - always a favourite with our young patients, to their joie de vivre in our down time - they've kept us laughing and sane! Thank you both for ALL that you have added to the CAMTA Missions.

Glenn goes out a well deserving winner - after ten years of "coming close" in the Rock/Paper/Scissors competition - he WON this year!!

Guess they might both have to come back to defend the title!

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