About our arrival to Linyi People’s Hospital:

“Walter told us that they were going to have a little ceremony to welcome us. Well, we drove up and there was a mass of people waiting in the parking lot. There were huge balloons and signs. There were about 20 men dressed in costume playing drums and two chinese dragons dancing with a young woman. The rest of the people lined the way and were locals as well as it seemed just about everyone from the hospital all dressed in white nurses and doctors uniforms. The nurses all still wear hats here. They were all clapping for us as we got out of the bus and they put a good luck necklace around each of our necks as we stepped out. I had goosebumps and it brought tears to my eyes. Iwas just stunned at the welcome. Our main guy, Tim, was given a huge bouquet of flowers and then we were all lead by the dragons dancing to the door of the hospital. Talk about feeling welcomed!”

One of more poignant patient stories (of which there are MANY):
“Heartbreaking story of the day. A middle aged man came in with about a 4-5 month old baby. Obviously totally in love with this baby. He explained that he wasn’t the parent. He said that he found the baby by the side of the road and took him home to care for him. My first thought was “how does this happen? People just leaving their baby on the side of the road.” But then I thought about the teenage Moms in the U.S. that have left them in dumpsters. I guess we’re really not so different. “

…”Heartbreaker story of the day: There was this little tiny old Chinese lady who
brought a child in. I think I told you about her. She found the baby by the side
of the road. Well, it turns out, it wasn’t she who found it. It was her blind son. They took the baby in and today he had his surgery. When he came back from surgery she insisted on holding him and he immediately settled in her arms. Well, he was almost the size of her and was draped over her shoulder. She was perched on a little stool and didn’t want to put him down because he would start crying. That little old lady sat with that baby in arms until sweat was pouring down her face. We finally were able to talk her into putting him on the bed and lying next to him. We found out she hadn’t eaten since 5 pm the previous day so we also fed her.

Here’s something else. We are all sitting in our assembly room which is kind of
like sitting at the nurses’ station and this man comes in with his newly repaired baby. He came to say goodbye and he is just crying, absolutely balling his head off. You can see that he is trying to hold it in but there is just no way. He’s hugging us and shaking hands and just crying away. Of course we were all crying too by the time he left.”

Many Thanks again to Rosie for sharing her thoughts and feelings…..

Dear Team members of Operation Sunrise 2007

A tribute to the people who make up the Team :

– that over an intense 9 days there is hardly a word spoken in anger or spite – tiredness and frustration at wanting things to be better maybe,

– that people who have not worked with each other for almost two years can just pick up where they were,

- that those who had not been on such a trip before jumped right , , , and swam, (mostly)

- that those who wondered, ‘what can I do’ , , , were so gainfully busy, and exhausted,

That people can come together, focus, harmonise and put the efforts of our individual selves towards something greater than we can achieve alone.

Without the efforts and talents of each person the goal would not be the same.

Wasn’t it a blast ?

Thank you, all

Justin

Justin Curtin
MB BS, BDS,
FRACDS, FFD RCSIr., FRACDS(OMS), FRCSEd.

The Operation Sunrise 2007 China Mission

Look for additional images of the 2007 China Mission at http://cleftgallery.cleftmission.org

Surgeons
HOWARD K. USA
TIM M. USA
CRAIG B. USA
JUSTIN C. AUSTRALIA
DAVID K. USA

Anesthesia
CRAIG N. USA
PETER M. USA
GARY T. AUSTRALIA
MARK C. USA
JOAN H. USA

Anesthesia RN
MELANIE C. AUSTRALIA

Pediatrician
RENEE H. USA

Patient Coordinator (Ward)
VAL S-0. AUSTRALIA

OR Nurses
MARY H. USA
DANIELLE L. USA
CINDY W. USA
SUSAN B. USA
YIPPI Y. USA

Recovery
JAMES H. AUSTRALIA
MAUREEN W. AUSTRALIA
TIFFANY W. USA

OR Techs
NEIL J. USA
SHARON M. USA
JILL I-B. USA

Ward Team
SHIRLEY R. AUSTRALIA
ELAINE B. AUSTRALIA
LAURA A. USA
HONG MEI K. AUSTRALIA
JIM B. USA

Dental Team
NORMAN C. USA
GREGORY C. USA

Administrative Team
WALTER W. USA
HEATHER B. USA
PENNEY M. USA
ANN K. USA
ANITA L. USA
WASHINGTON W. USA

Other Valuable Team Members
BRIANNA L. USA
HANG Y-C
YUN P-Z
SU Y
CHANG H

After the party, many of us returned to our rooms to repack, while others continued the celebration. The next morning we sadly boarded the bus for the three-hour return trip to Qingdao to make the connecting flight to Hong Kong. That morning we were honored to have members of the hospital staff, our new friends with whom we worked so closely over the past week, see us off from the hotel.

Operation Sunrise was able to successfully complete over 80 procedures on the children of Linyi City, Shandong Province, providing cleft lip and palate repair.

I look forward to the possibility of working again with the staff of Linyi Hospital and others like them in the future, who know no bounds of what an international team can do to improve the lives of those so disadvantaged.

Howard S. Kotler, MD, FACS
Director of Surgical Services
Operation Sunrise

Otherwise, you only have the opportunity to share ideas with others during the short time you may see them during the day, because by the time we finish and get back to the hotel and eat dinner, it’s time to sleep and prepare for the next day. This is then repeated over and over until the mission’s end. In past missions we had one day off mid-week that allowed for more social interaction but on this short mission, we didn’t have the time

to do so. I hope that this lack of a break won’t deter some of the first-time team members from future involvement. Hopefully, on the next mission we’ll plan for a one-day break of R&R.

Click below to hear the audio file or the iTunes or Yahoo! icon to subscribe to the podcast

In fact, many of them are accomplished surgeons, and the reasons they might not routinely perform reparative cleft operation has little to do with their skills, experience and available facilities. For these and many other reasons, we encourage the local surgeons to become more involved with our effort – this not only helps engender a more collegial training atmosphere, but ultimately benefits our patients as well.

The challenge is that some of our Chinese colleagues aren’t fluent in English (and we’re certainly not anywhere near conversant in Mandarin, or Cantonese) and so rely on interpreters to guide us while they or we assist during surgery. Not surprising, when you operate with colleagues as experienced as they, you realize the unspoken language of surgery needs no interpreters and procedure move along fluidly…. . It transcends the approach of “we’re doing something for you, because you aren’t able” to become “we’re doing something together because we both are able and have a common goal”…

Whether they’re academic or private office or surgicenter based, I know I can trust them and work with them as team members. None of that nail-biting (mine) wake up and extubation – especially in those post-op palatoplasty patients. They all have a great understanding of the pediatric airway and anesthesia and share my enthusiasm and concern with our patient’s welfare. I hope I have earned their respect and friendship as much as I do theirs.

While I can’t say I understood all the translation of his words, the governor showed very palpable warmth towards the families of our patients. Through his questioning, I learned that at least one of our patients was from a farming community at least 60 miles away and took nearly 5 hours transportation to the hospital. While on “Governor rounds”, Tim and I acted through an interpreter asking questions and sharing our feelings about the goals of the mission. At one point, Ann thoughtfully introduced David as the surgeon of one of the patients – the look on the mother’s eyes when she learned exactly whom the surgeon was who brought new life to her child was priceless. Moments like these cannot be put to words.

For the first few days in the OR, things are a bit disorganized – all to be expected after making such a long trip and setting up in a room where you often wonder if there will be a regular source of electricity. Everyone takes responsibility for their own role and takes the initiative to “cover the gaps” in service. I’ve thought long about how it is that such a disparate group of people, some never having worked together, are able with a minimum of time be able to coordinate such a complex set of events. Justin (surgeon from Australia) and I agreed that by definition, all team members want to be there and will do the best “to make it work” and that there’s really no consciousness of “it’s not my job” or failure to take initiative, learn new skills, etc. I often think of how the same sentiment could be instilled in my co-workers back home.

I guess as much as any one person can create a supportive work environment, it’s really up to the individual to make it happen and no amount of incentive/coercion can ultimately drive this to effectively happen.

Missions like this run on so much “behind the scenes activity”, that it’s often easy to overlook and give credit where it’s due. Sure, it’s easy to see the tangible results of great surgery and superlative patient outcomes as a result of quality nursing, but less obvious and underestimated are the important contributions by support staff. Every time I went to the ward to check on patients, I was greatly impressed with the work done by Elaine, Val, Heather, Rosie, Ann – Elaine who I first met in the Hong Kong airport even before the mission began as she was busily working on the patient database, and preoperative screening forms. Quietly working on the ward, Elaine orchestrated tracking vital patient information. Many others like her, especially our nursing staff in all sectors of the mission, created the safe, efficient working environment that’s remains our primary goal. The same goes for all the administrative staff and their assistants. Somehow they appeared out of nowhere whenever we needed supplies or had some vital question that needed to be answered. I could go on and on mentioning names, and I know I’m forgetting to mention a few (sorry !), but I would like to say a very special thanks to Walter, Washington (thanks for the diagrams !), Anita and Brianna, Hong Mei, Jackie, Penney, and the others, who without these people, we clearly couldn’t function in any meaningful, patient safe and centered way.