Today was triage day for Team Hope in Motion at Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro Hospital! The goal for the team was to meet the patients, perform triage with detailed diagnoses, organize the space for operating room activities including implants, instruments, anesthesia equipment, immediate post op care, recovery room care and physical therapy.
The day started with a HIIT workout for those ambitious souls who wanted to rise at 5:30a.m., a wonderful breakfast and an inspiring devotional message from Gavin Dozier. The team walked a brief 10-minute jaunt under clear skies over to the Obras Hospital. Maria from Faith in Practice gave an orientation to the hospital including an instructional briefing on hospital protocol including when and where to use scrubs, head and shoe coverings and clinic dress code. This year we have 5 operating rooms, consisting of two knee rooms, one hip room, one hip and knee room and one foot and ankle room. The clinic was humming with activity as the team started to digest the complexity of the patient conditions and whether we have the right implants to treat the wide variety of lower limb conditions.
During the morning the clinic was bustling with activity with each room taking a team approach seeing the patients. In every room an orthopedic surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurse and physical therapist all collaborated to assess the hip, knee and foot patients. Two of the hip patients are young with hip dysplasia and have not been able to walk properly for their young lives. Dr. Keith Berend is looking forward to helping these young patients walk pain free at an early stage in their lives. One patient has an ankle fusion that is no longer functioning properly and Drs. Herbst and Knecht will need to address that condition with great care. One knee patient after another presented with a variety of arthritic and anatomical anomalies. Drs. Mike Berend and Dr. Klaassen are well prepared to treat those patients tomorrow. It is important to note that the Obras hospital does not have an intensive care unit, so patients who are at risk for major complications during the orthopedic procedure are not accepted for their orthopedic condition. In the hallway, a whole team of folks was unpacking dozens of totes containing implants and instruments. Instruments were sorted into trays and sent to be cleaned and sterilized to be ready for action bright and early tomorrow morning.
At the end of the day, it appeared that the team was feeling very comfortable and that we are ready to wake up tomorrow and start treating arthritis, repairing physical abnormalities and transforming the lives of many Guatemalan patients, and by association, their families.
Stay tuned for more, and thank you for your support.
-John
