After months of anticipation, we’re finally within a week of departure! Our team consists of two surgeons: Dr. John Bell and Dr. Kevin Davis, one anesthesiologist: MOI, and eight intrepid RNs/surgical techs/midwives. During our upcoming two-week stay in Phnom Penh, our mission is to teach the local doctors and nurses as much as we can, and to perform surgery on approximately 25-30 Gyn and Gyn-Oncology patients in need of our help.
We have to take all our own equipment since the hospital facilities there are apparently quite primitive compared to what we are accustomed to here in the U.S. In mid-December we had a pre-trip 'packing party' to sort and select instruments, gloves, needles, syringes, scrub clothes, all the medications we could possibly need (my area, or course!), IV tubing, anesthesia equipment, sterile masks, sterile gowns, etc. etc. etc. - even our own trash bags – since apparently there are none!
For me, the process began several months ago (in between the innumerable vaccinations it takes to be ‘covered’ in Southeast Asia), when I began accumulating donated medications, equipment from Project Cure in Denver, and newly purchased items. This turned my guestroom (see photos/complete with canine DEA agent!) into a mini-mart of STUFF that would be needed to do assorted types of anesthesia safely – halfway around the world, under conditions I can’t even imagine!
For me, the process began several months ago (in between the innumerable vaccinations it takes to be ‘covered’ in Southeast Asia), when I began accumulating donated medications, equipment from Project Cure in Denver, and newly purchased items. This turned my guestroom (see photos/complete with canine DEA agent!) into a mini-mart of STUFF that would be needed to do assorted types of anesthesia safely – halfway around the world, under conditions I can’t even imagine!
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