LIMA PERU 2012 #1

Lima 2012 Blog #1
On January 6, 2012 I received a call from fellow Rotarian Tom Fox who was quick to explain that as “Mission Director” for the ROTAPLAST 2012 mission to Lima, Peru he had a big problem. Due to a heart attack with one of his volunteers, he was short two positions for a ROTAPLAST mission to Lima, Peru that was scheduled to leave on the following Sunday night. He asked if I would be interested in becoming a member of the mission team as one of the non-medical participants. After discussing the idea with Dottie, I called Tom and told him I would be glad to volunteer.
ROTOPLAST is a little known program operated by Rotary International that focuses volunteer effort to help children who suffer from cleft pallet. Rotary volunteers visit foreign countries and perform operations on children for whom there is no other opportunity to recover from the abnormality they were born with. Volunteers pay their own expenses to third world countries where need exists and no other programs are available to meet the needs. Rotary International pays for the surgical supplies necessary for the project but the rest of the costs are covered by volunteer participants. Visit the website rotaplast.org to see what has been accomplished over the past decade. It is truly amazing.
My Rotary friend, Tom Fox, has participated in 16 missions to date. Another member of our Pleasanton Rotary Club is currently the President of the ROTAPLAST board of Directors and has devoted her vacations for the past half dozen years as a volunteer visiting dozens of countries in the process. When we had our introductory meeting, as we waited for a connecting flight in Miami, I was impressed with the number of our 26 member team of volunteers who were repeat volunteers; many who had served on a half dozen or more missions in the past.
Our Lima, Peru Mission follows the pattern established some years ago. A local Rotary club does what is necessary to recruit children who have cleft pallets and are appropriate candidates for corrective surgery. The local effort takes at least a year and includes doing whatever is necessary to make facilities available for the surgeries. The ROTAPLAST information states that it takes about seventy volunteers to make the program work. Our team from the United States usually consists of 27 volunteers. The Lima 2012 Mission Team had 26 members.
The team I will be working with has the following make-up; 1 Medical Director, 3 Surgeons, 4 Anesthesiologists, 2 Pediatricians, 6 Nurses, 1 Speech Pathologist, (non-medical) 1 Mission Director, 1 Interpreter, 1 Medical Records Manager, 1 Post-operative Assistant, 1 Photo Journalist, 1 Quartermaster, 2 Ward Coordinators and 1 Sterilizer. I was the “Sterilizer”; a position that has yet to be defined to me but one, I am told, is very important.
The schedule for our mission begins on the first day after our travel with an orientation at the hospital where we will be working and training for our respective jobs. The next day will be devoted to interviewing the potential patients to evaluate their needs and determine what procedures will be helpful. We have been told that some cases will be rejected because of conditions beyond the scope of the mission but most will be treated. Seven days of surgery are planned and it is expected that approximately 100 children will leave with repaired pallets and lips.
Our flight from San Francisco, via Miami, was a 12 hour affair, plus a two hour lay-over in Miami, that provided an opportunity to catch up on sleep, for those who caught the 6:00 am flight out of SFO and an opportunity for team members to begin to get to know one another. Our Mission Director asked us to travel in khaki slacks, navy blue blazers and white shirts so that we could identify one another. It was interesting to me to learn that our team, while mostly from California, has Rotary volunteers from six other states.
I’m really excited about this new experience and the opportunity to work with the dedicated individuals in our mission group. A quick look at the group makes it obvious that I am the senior member of the group. I hope I can keep up and do my share.
Love to all,
Bill, Grandpa Bill and Dad