A week that will live in infamy? For a few families... yes.
1 week ago today I, along with 3 other Peace Corps volunteers (Abby, Kate, and Kristen; Claire another PCV helped out on the 15th), were on our way to pick up the medical team of Faces of Tomorrow. Faces of Tomorrow, for those of you who don't know, is an amazing organization based out of the California Bay Area that makes yearly trips to countries like Ecuador and the Philippines in an effort to give free Cleft and Lip palate surgeries to those in need. This year they made their first trek to the Philippines and I got to play a small part in the amazing thing that these people do.
On the 15th we picked them all up from the airport, and off stepped 30+ Americans to the sounds of a marching band, seashell made lei's and of course a huge banner welcoming them to Tag(bilaran), Bohol. It was exciting to watch them enter thinking oh man that was a 20 hour flight, bet their jet lagged, bet their dying of heat, bet they have no idea what awaits them. To be an insider peering at the outsiders was a new experience. Little did I know the next week was going to show me how much I have changed and learned since arriving 5 months ago to the Philippines.
The 16th was the first day of the mission and it was a whole day devoted to screening patients. It was on this day that we were to identify the patients that would be undergoing surgery and/or getting Obterators from the dentists the next week and also to get a feel for what the entire team was in store for. I don't think anyone was expecting what we saw. By 8 am there was a steady crowd of people entering the building, I was in charge of getting the patients that had already been evaluated by the doctors from the basement to the 4th floor for a visit to the speech pathologists and then back down to the basement where they were told to wait to find out if they would be helped. All in all, 200+ people came to be screened and many had never had an operation meaning their cleft lip and/or palate had never been fixed, a good portion had only ever had one operation (either lip or palate), and others had been operated on but still had various speech/eating/aesthetic problems. All ages were represented from babies to adults. The end of the day the announcement was made that 55 surgeries would be done all on kids no older then 11 years old and about 30-40 obterators would be made by the dentists for those who didn't make the cut to qualify for surgery.
From the 17th to 21st the surgeries took place. There were 3 operating rooms and each room was assigned 4 surgeries a day. Cleft lips take about 2 hours and Cleft palates take around 4 hours. While the doctors were downstairs operating the fourth floor, where we were placed, was busy as well. The nurses up on the fourth floor were in charge of overseeing the patients after they had been brought up from recovery. It was there that the newly operated on patients finished recovering over night till they were discharged the next day and also where the patients for the next day would have to sleep the night before. As you can probably imagine the fourth floor was pretty chaotic particularly in the morning and in the evening. The afternoon was generally the known as the calm before the storm. This was the time we used to play with the kids that were left to make sure the newly operated patients were comfortable and also to talk to the lovely staff of the medical team.
Everyone we met that week was amazing. Not only are these professionals in their respective medical fields but they are some of the most down to earth individuals I have ever met. Never did I expect to walk into an Operating Room and hear Akon, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry blasting through the small speakers in the corner. Or did I expect to talk to nurses who had a 3pm silly hour. It made me really happy to see people enjoy their work and do good things in the world. It also made me think about a career in the medical field... But luckily I have two years to think about it.
When Sunday the 22nd, discharge day, finally came around it was exciting to see the lovely faces of all our patients, the smiles from their parents. Many of the kids served will get a chance at a normal life; they will be able to go to school and not be judged based on their physical appearance. It was truly one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done. I encourage everyone to look up Faces of Tomorrow, help them in their efforts and help other medical missions much like them. Your help won't go unnoticed.
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