ReSurge International Blog

ReSurge in the News

2012-02-23T11:08:44-08:00

A few weeks ago, we were thrilled to announce our partnership with International Medical Corps with the financial support from the Ronald McDonald House Charities® to address the neglected global burn crisis.

Recently, we’ve been getting some great media coverage. That helps us call attention to the staggering scope of burns on vulnerable communities worldwide, as well as the simple solutions available to prevent and treat this global health crisis.

Thank you to AlertNet and Women News Network for featuring this important global health project and exciting news!

Top Ten Skills for a ReSurge Volunteer

2012-02-22T22:18:17-08:00

Quang Ngai, Vietnam -- Marion McGoven, ReSurge board member

As a non-medical volunteer on the ReSurge trip to Quang Ngai, I have an outsider's view of the process. As such, I feel I have gotten some insights this week into how medical teams work in general and how ReSurge teams work in particular. So, with apologies to David Letterman, I offer the following list based on my observations of the Top Ten Skills for a ReSurge volunteer.

You need to want to work hard. The ethic here in Quang Ngai is to see as many patients as possible. So, if someone comes in late in the day, having only just heard that the American doctors are here, chances are, if the case is one where we can make a difference in the life of the individual, the patients will get added to the schedule. What is even more impressive about this work ethic is that many of the volunteers are on vacation, using their paid time off to accommodate the trip in their work schedule. How many vacations have you taken where you worked amazingly hard and came home exhausted at the end of the day?
You need to be flexible. Operating, literally, in a foreign environment means some things are out of your control. Maybe you will have local nurses to help, maybe not. Maybe you will be able to understand all the dialects of the patients, maybe not. Maybe you see cases similar to those you have seen in the US, maybe not. Every day is different. Bill, our surgeon trip leader, says every trip is different; he should know since he has been on 63 trips.
You have to love screaming children. Many of our young patients will come into the operating room calm as can be … many will not. It is scary for them, to be taken from their parents, brought into a bright place with strange looking equipment and people dressed in blue and green clothes wearing masks and funny hats. (I would scream too.) Similarly, coming out of anesthesia, you have the strange bizarre environment, plus some pain. The volunteers take it in stride. So many times I saw Bonnie the anesthesiologist or her Vietnamese counterpart, Dr. Hien, cradling the children in their arms while administering the sedatives in order to comfort them as much as possible.
You need a sense of humor. Every member of the ReSurge team has made me laugh. For example, Weldon, the PACU nurse, is always good for a one-liner. Alice, the pediatrician, has a great sardonic wit coupled with terrific timing; when a young patient, finally calmed down after receiving some post-operative pain killers, Alice smiled and said, "better living through chemistry."
You need to be a teacher. In two days of observing surgeries, I have been taught so many things. Frankie, the OR nurse, taught me the basics of maintaining a sterile field. Bill, the surgeon, painstaking explained details in many procedures from skin grafts to palotoscopies. And Catherine, our translator, has taught me how to say a few key things in Vietnamese, or should I say she has tried....
You may need to be a bit OCD. Several of the team members volunteered that they were control freaks. Bonnie, the anesthesiologist, was the first to make the admission, but for an anesthesiologist, being in control is a good think. Frankie, the OR nurse ,also confessed to being a bit anal, in fact she timed our walk to the hotel from the hospital the first time we walked to ensure we knew what time to leave the next day. That said, though, she runs an awfully tight ship in her OR. In an environment that needs to run efficiently, that command and control orientation is a great skill.
You need to be culturally sensitive. As a ReSurge volunteer, you are working at a host facility treating people who may have different values. Wendell, our PACU nurse, explained that on one trip to Vietnam, there were many children who had extra digits on their hands. When these digits were removed, they were given back to the parents for burial.
You need to be able to stand for long periods of time. Given our desire to see as many patients as possible, the ReSurge team spends all day in surgery. Lunch and breaks are taken on the fly, which means the surgeons and the OR nurse, are on their feet most of the day. Thanks goodness for the tunes in the OR.
You need to be willing to deal with paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork required in order to perform these surgeries. ReSurge has strict medical record requirements consistent with our emphasis on the highest quality of medical care. Many of our funders also require procedure specific paperwork. And then there is the local paperwork required of the Vietnamese host. And that is just the medical paperwork; there are also documents for the families to sign, releases, and pre-surgical exam forms. It was wonderful to see the doctors and nurses conscientiously completing the necessary paperwork, with the spirit that it's what we need to do to deliver our life-changing surgeries.
You need to be able to smile through your eyes. Since you spend so much time in a surgical mask, the connection you have is often your eyes. All of the medical volunteers, especially as they are bringing a baby to or from the operating table, smile broadly and deeply with their eyes. It makes sense that they do that, though, since they are all so dedicated to this compassionate work and so generous with their time.

Resourceful Father Finds Surgery for His Daughter

2012-02-21T22:08:49-08:00

Quang Ngai, Vietnam -- Marion McGovern, ReSurge board member

This is Vy and her dad. She is 2 1/2 years old and comes from a small town far in Quang Ngai province, so small everyone has the same sur name. She was born with a cleft palate, so her dad took her to Ho Chi Minh City for cleft palate surgery when she was 8 months old. Without such surgery, a child will never be able to speak correctly.

Her father was told she was too young, and sent home. He tried again the next year to no avail. Desperate to find a solution for his daughter, he did what any dad would do -- he searched the Internet. There he learned about ReSurge, and there he discovered there was to be a trip to Quang Ngai.

Little Vy now has a repaired palate. In time, she will be able to say thank you to her dad and correctly pronounce every word.

28 Boxes

2012-02-21T07:16:46-08:00

Pictured above: Dr. Alice Truscott, ReSurge volunteer pediatrician; Elizabeth Shea, ReSurge donor and supporter; and Marion McGovern, ReSurge board member, USF professor and co-founder of M2 Consulting Inc.

Quang Ngai, Vietnam - I am an experienced global traveller, so I didn't really think about how different traveling on a ReSurge trip to Vietnam might be. I didn't think anything about it when I was emailed the Vietnamese entry papers complete with a very official looking red seal. I didn't think anything about it when I was told to meet the group at the EVA counter three hours before our midnight flight, rather than the normal two hours. I didn't even think about it when I heard the ReSurge staff would be meeting us at the airport with the boxes. But, when the boxes arrived, I knew it was different.

My friend Elizabeth and I had arrived at the airport early. Like me, Elizabeth was also a non-medical helper on the trip. A ReSurge board member for many years, I had never been able to schedule a trip, since the trips always conflicted with my teaching schedule at the University of San Francisco. (It's just one class, but the problem is, you need to be in the classroom.) This year I teach on Mondays, and the Quang Ngai trip was over a Monday holiday. I had been told for years how life changing a ReSurge trip could be, so I asked Elizabeth if she would like to come too. She and her husband, Bill, had become great friends to ReSurge, providing auction lots to our gala, fundraising advice and generous donations, so this was a chance to say thank you in a meaningful way. I was thrilled when she said yes and became my traveling partner.

As we walked into the terminal at 8:45pm, we saw a petite Asian woman standing by the then empty EVA ticketing area. I asked if she was Catherine, our translator, and indeed she was. You see, we had met out fellow teammates in a conference call the prior week. Bill, the plastic surgeon from Napa, California, was the team leader, who impressed us all when he mentioned that he had been on 62 trips. The rest were veteran volunteers as well: Bonnie, the anaesthesiologist, was from Arcata; Alice the pediatrician, was from Berkeley; Frankie, the surgical nurse, was from Seattle; Wendell the PACU nurse, was from Sacramento; and Catherine, the translator was from Campbell. Bill mentioned how critical Catherine would be to the team. At the time, I didn't think anything about it.

Catherine smiled and said how glad she was to meet us, since she really needed our help. As she explained further, the others began to join us. Several of them, like Frankie and Wendell, had worked together on prior trips, so there were warm reunions of old friends and introductions of us rookies. Shortly thereafter, Jim arrived from ReSurge.

I recognized Jim from a board meeting, and others in the team knew him as well. He waved to us in acknowledgement, and then headed to the counter to coordinate the baggage. Arrangements made, he told us they had given us a special place to load everything up, and asked for help with the boxes. I headed outside to assist.

There on the sidewalk was a mountain of boxes of all different shapes and sizes. There were more than a dozen large plastic containers called pelican boxes, flanked by at least as many large cardboard cartons. We took turns wheeling the boxes into the airport and carefully unloading them by the ticket counter. I asked Frankie, who was managing the unloading inside, what was in all of these. "Our instruments, the anesthesia kits, an autoclave, I think..just wait until you see all the stuff we have to bring."

"Have you ever lost the instruments on a trip?” I asked.

"There was one time in Peru," Alice volunteered, "where they sent our boxes to Lima by mistake...or at least that is what they said. We got it all a few days later; it just delayed our start.”

How sad to think that such a delay could mean that some children might not receive the life-saving, life-changing surgeries the team was there to provide. I will never think about the inconvenience of lost luggage in the same way again. And, I desperately hoped this precious cargo would be delivered intact.

As I shook my head, I saw Catherine managing our ticketing process. She had all of those official looking entry papers and was reviewing them with the gate supervisor, matching each of us to our passport and entry permit. She handled it all with a ready smile and grace, something I imagine we will be seeing a lot of on the trip ahead. Meanwhile Frankie was keeping track of all the luggage tags for our 28 boxes, while Bob and Bill negotiated the excess baggage charges with the airlines. The team was fully at work and we hadn't even left the ticket counter.

Yes, I never really thought about how different it would be to be on this trip. But, by the time we headed to security two hours after we arrived, I knew it would not be like any trip I had taken before.

Note to Quang Ngai Team Prior to Departure

2012-02-20T22:36:11-08:00

Bill McClure, ReSurge volunteer plastic surgeon and team leader pictured right during a ReSurge trip in the 1990's.

In just a few days, we'll be meeting at SFO to begin our trip to Quang Ngai. I want to thank each of you in advance for volunteering to join this team. We ask a great deal of our volunteers and understand that it is a burden to leave family and jobs to work in a difficult and foreign environment. I will do my best to make this a rewarding experience for each of you and keep you volunteering for future trips. The team at ReSurge also want you to have a memorable visit.

The true leader of this team is our Vietnamese counterpart, Dr. Hien, whom some of you have met. I first met Hien at Pediatric Hospital #1 in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990 where she worked as the head anesthesiologist. She and her staff got so bitten by the then-Interplast "bug" over the course of five trips to her hospital, that by 1993, they were ready to form their own team. Using the ReSurge model, Hien and her boss Dr. Trai, the pediatric surgeon, raised money, put together a local team, and traveled to the provincial hospital in Quang Ngai to operate on children and teach. This was the first of many trips that Hien organized to different provincial hospitals where there was a tremendous need. Hien worked tirelessly on these trips doing all the prep work and organizing, as well as the anesthesia.. Hundreds of ReSurge volunteers have met Hien over the years and have all been impressed by her. ReSurge honored Hien at the 2011 gala with the Donald R. Laub Humanitarian Award.

This Quang Ngai trip is very special to me since I was part of that first 1993 Quang Ngai trip. For our 2012 trip, Hien has put together a great volunteer group of Vietnamese medical professionals to work with us. Like us, they are taking time away from their families and jobs. One of the Vietnamese volunteer surgeons is a young man (old now) who I had helped train back in the early 1990s. He jumped at the chance to work with us again. We will completely integrate the teams, which will give us the chance to work truly as partners. This is the Resurge ideal.

Bev has put together a fine team. Though we will be working very hard, we will have time to get to know each other, sight see, and enjoy time together. Though I've been on more than 60 trips, I still get as excited for each new trip as I did for the first. I got bit by the bug very early in my career when I was a resident. There are so many things to love about this kind of work, but the best part for me is getting to know new team members, renewing friendships with former team members, and forging long lasting relationships with our hosts.

A final thought to share. A year ago, while sitting down to write Christmas cards, I realized that outside of my family, most of the people I've grown to care about and consider to be friends, in the deepest sense of the word, have been those I've met doing this volunteer work. We share a common bond that is difficult to explain to those who don't give of themselves in this way. This act of volunteering puts you is a special category -- a small select group of persons who have made the commitment to help those who otherwise would be left behind. Because of people like you, each mission has become a special moment in my life, a highlight that stands out from the day-to-day work. Each of you has a quality that I will remember long after we return to our everyday lives. I know now, even before this trip begins and meeting you, that come March 2 when we have said our goodbyes at SFO, I will already be missing you.

See you soon!

“I can see everything”

2012-02-16T11:20:44-08:00

Phan Rang, Vietnam-Joanne Peyton, ReSurge volunteer nurse.

This is Lai, he and his father and brother came in last week because Lai suffers of ptosis (a congenital birth defect which causes the eyelid to sag). Lai told us he had waited 29 years to have this surgery and was joyful with the results. He kept repeating, "I can see everything" in Vietnamese and continually thanked us for his surgery. It made me think of a saying I had heard a long time ago, “you can't help everyone, but to that one person you can, it means everything.” I know we made a huge difference in Lai's world today.

Week One in Phan Rang

2012-02-16T11:17:07-08:00

Phan Rang, Vietnam-Joanne Peyton, ReSurge volunteer nurse.

Pictured here is anesthesiologist Dr. Rosalia Tocco giving two Nepalese nurses (joining our team from ReSurge’s program in Nepal) a talk on the topic of airways. The session began with an airway discussion and already, in a matter of a week, they have quickly become PACU pros. It has been a great pleasure having these nurses join our team. Their enthusiasm is contagious and they don't hesitate to jump in. Each team member has given them a presentation and in the last week we have covered topics such as pain management, complications of anesthesia and setting up a PACU.

My hope is to someday see them working in a recovery room in Kathmandu. I'm proud of ReSurge for playing a part in their professional development and that I was able to participate as well!

Thank you!

2012-02-13T17:06:30-08:00

We'd like to start the week by celebrating and thanking you for the impressive 330 new likes we received with your help last week! It was a huge success that helped us raise funds during Burn Awareness Week.

From all of us at ReSurge and on behalf of our patients ... THANK YOU!!!

Burn Awareness Week: How You Can Help!

2012-02-06T17:17:37-08:00

This week is National Burn Awareness Week (Feb. 5-11) in the United States, an annual effort towards burn prevention education, which saves countless lives. In contrast, in the developing countries where we work and where nearly 95% of burns occur, burn prevention programs are almost non-existent.

You Can Help: During National Burn Awareness Week, an anonymous donor will donate $1 up to $500 to ReSurge for every new LIKE our page receives. LIKE our page and ask your friends to do so as well.

Help us save lives and build a safer world!

Exciting News: Global Burn Project, from Prevention to Recovery

2012-02-05T10:47:53-08:00

Every 5 seconds someone is severely burned in a developing country. Photo: David Snyder.

By Susan Hayes, ReSurge's president and CEO

At ReSurge, we have often said that when a patient comes to us with a disabling burn, that two terrible things have already happened. One, the burn was not prevented. And two, that the burn was not adequately treated when the accident happened; in many cases, the burn scar contractures, which we repair through reconstructive surgery, could have been prevented or reduced dramatically with such care.

Our vision has been to find a partner organization that could help us with burn prevention and early burn management --- and work with us to provide a holistic, 360 Approach, from prevention to recovery, to help save lives and build a safer world.

Today, we are pleased to share with you today that ReSurge International and the International Medical Corps are partnering to address a global burn crisis in which severe burns affect 7 million people a year - particularly impoverished women and children - in developing countries.

The partnership will leverage ReSurge’s 42-year history of serving burn survivors in vulnerable communities through reconstructive surgery, with International Medical Corps’ health care and training expertise over nearly three decades in more than 65 countries.

With financial support from Ronald McDonald House Charities^® and future funders, ReSurge International and International Medical Corps will create burn prevention programs, increase access to medical care for burn survivors and build local surgical capacity and training programs for burn treatment, beginning with a pilot program in Nepal.

Our organizations are also banding together to raise awareness of and develop advocacy campaigns on the neglected global health crisis of burns. We are announcing this now to mark National Burn Awareness Week, February 5-12. By this time next year, we hope an International Burn Awareness Day will be noted and observed.

We believe that vulnerable people without access to adequate health care should not have to suffer with deformities or life-threatening injuries caused by severe burns. Burns can easily be prevented and treated through surgery that corrects disabling injuries and saves countless lives. Solutions exist, and we are bringing those solutions into action. We hope you will join us.

Learn more.

Future Image of Nursing

2012-01-24T17:14:30-08:00

From left to right: Molly Attell, Kim Yates, Kay Clarke, Rosemary Welde, Ingrid Crocco, Cheryl Wraa, Dawn Yost, Maria Pedersen, Tina Cerruti, Michael Donner , Fran Fischer.

This weekend our nursing committee met with president and founder of the Barco’s Nightingales Foundation, Michael Donner, to discuss the future image of nurses in the medical world. Michael Donner and his foundation are long-time supporters of ReSurge. For the past two consecutive years they have honored a ReSurge volunteer nurse with their Nursing Excellence Award presented at ReSurge’s annual Transformations Gala event.

Michael Donner, who will be working with the nursing school at UCLA to further their new mission “Nursing Reimagined, Nursing Redefined,” was excited to hold this open dialogue with our volunteer nurses. The result was a very fruitful conversation about ways to elevate the image of nurses worldwide.

A big thank you goes out to Michael Donner for his time and to our dedicated nurses for their insightful input and leadership!

Reconstructive Surgery Can Make a Lifetime of Difference

2012-01-10T16:30:37-08:00

Katete, Zambia - Four-year-old Sylvia received free surgery to grant her better range of motion on her neck after boiling water left her with a debilitating burn contracture. Our local partner Dr. Goran Jovic performed her surgery. Although Sylvia wouldn't smile for our picture, she will one day fully understand the impact of this surgery on her life.

2011 Annual Report

2012-01-04T16:45:02-08:00

Did you know our medical volunteers donated 12,327 hours of their time in fiscal year 2011? Read about this and more in our 2011 Annual Report!

Carlos: Volunteer Extraordinary

2011-12-20T16:39:37-08:00

Piura, Peru- Kristin Stueber, ReSurge volunteer surgeon.

When we arrived the first day for clinic we were enthusiastically greeted by a gentleman who I met here in Pucallpa three years prior. He was in his volunteer’s smock, looking very professional. I decided to find out more about him. At first he did not want to talk about himself, but I worked on him and finally got the story.

He was born in Peru, 75 years ago, to parents with a Chinese background, and he later married a woman from Japan. After working many years in Peru in business administration, he moved to Japan until he was ready to retire. To get his pension for the time worked in Peru, he had to return. That was eight years ago and he has not yet cleared the paperwork.

To avoid getting bored at home he started volunteering at the hospital. He had received much help from others during his life and he felt it was time to give back.

As he so eloquently puts it, "A person who doesn't live to serve, doesn't live."

Andy

2011-12-20T16:37:07-08:00

Piura, Peru- Kristin Stueber, ReSurge volunteer surgeon.

Andy is a four-month-old who was born with a cleft lip and palate. Because his mother is too young, he is in foster care. Today we did the first of several procedures to reconstruct his deformity. It’s the first step in giving Andy a second chance at life.

She Loves Those Babies

2011-12-20T16:33:19-08:00

Pucallpa, Peru-Emily Ulm, ReSurge volunteer nurse.

One of our PACU nurses on this trip, Yvonne, is a mother of two grown sons. She brags about these sons and often talked about how much she loves them and missed them when they moved away from home. She has a heart of gold and a true love of children. I saw this in particular when the younger patients arrived. Yvonne’s face would light up whenever a baby was around and she couldn’t wait for them to be done with surgery so that she could recover them in the PACU. On one particular occasion I entered the PACU as she was just about to give a baby some water by syringe. Just that simple task was a joy to Yvonne and I could see it in the way that she treated that baby. This is one woman I would love to have looking after me or my family members. Our patients were indeed lucky to have nurses Yvonne and Cynthia on this trip in the PACU.