We have an art table in the middle of our clinic. We are all invited to go and use watercolors to capture something in our hearts or in our prayers. One drawing showed a 15-year-old bent over in a hoodie. Rev Gans painted him without knowing his story. Dr. Robert Wright found that under the hoodie was a large burn the boy suffered from boiling water. Large keloid scars on his ear, neck, face, chest, back and arm caused pain and incessant itching. There was not much Dr. Wright or our dermatologist, Dr. Buckley could do, but treat him symptomatically. The water color painting of him became the subject of small group prayer this morning. His image will be in our minds and prayers long after we have returned home.
My brother, Dr. Chris Johnson and his wife, Dr. Cindy Pekow have been on Team Johnson since our first trip 16 years ago. Both are fluent in Spanish. Chris is a cardiologist in the Seattle area, and Cindy is an internationally known Lab Animal Veterinarian. In Guatemala Chris works in General Medicine. This year he brought a Butterfly IQ Ultrasound that was indispensable in finding gallstones in patients with abdominal pain. Cindy usually works in the Pharmacy and awards prizes during our morning scrub fashion show. This year, in addition to the fashion awards, she ran the laboratory and cleaned wax out of ears. Their participation always makes the trip memorable.
Craig Walker is a retired corporate lawyer, who was previously trained as a pharmacist. He assisted our newest team member, Anastasia Manning, RPh. She has already participated in a Surgery Team this year and returned just 6 weeks later to experience a village team. She will be coming back.
An important Thursday morning activity for every team is the Covid nasal swab. This test provides proof of Covid negativity enabling the team to return to the U.S.. Results are back on Friday and we hope to all be ready to travel on Saturday.
