Jungle Medic
Missions

Hello Everyone from Guatemala….

You know how we all have dreams and visions and goals in our lives of things we want do to and accomplish? Well I have to say that thanks to the good Lord many of the things I have dreamed and had a vision for have come to fruition. But there was one that many folks just thought would not be possible. That was that I could not do surgery in my facility.

But let me back up a bit here and give you some info to consider.

Guatemala has the highest mal-nutrition rate in the Western Hemisphere second only to Haiti. One of the reason is women have one child after another. Sometimes starting at age 13 to 45 or even 50.

We had a 24 year old young woman here yesterday who started having children at age 13 and now has 7 children. These families have an income of about $40.00 a week if the husband even has a job. If they live very remote then he usually does not have a job and so he just plants corn over and over to have for the family to eat tortillas. The kids run around naked and full of worms and, well you’ve seen the pictures.

Trying to talk to a man here in my area about getting a vasectomy which is safe easy and free is like trying to tell a man to cut off his….. Uh hand or something. They just don’t understand and don’t even want to talk about it. So when they do decided they just can’t have any more children they have their wife go through a potentially dangerous procedure of tubal ligation.

Many times in recent years women have come to me and ask for something to keep them from getting pregnant again. But I have not had the supplies or had any way to make this happen on a long term safe basis.

As I said a few weeks ago a Dr. from an organization called Aprofam came to talk to Marleni and I about doing women’s health clinics here at our place and turning the ER into an operating room. We of course were open and excited and moved our desk and books and even my insect collection out of the ER and made a clean disinfected Operating Room.
 



As you can see the scrubs they brought for doing surgery were made for Guatemalans so I look like Magilla the Gorilla in a Speedo, and with the extra padding around my stomach for protection from germs I looked even fatter, but I didn’t care I was thrilled we could now do Tubal Ligations on women, and also offer a small tube that goes under the skin in their arm that releases a hormone that prevents them from getting pregnant for up to 5 years.

So let me show you what we did.

First the women who signed up ahead of time came in and paid of fee of 25.00 Quetzals which is $3.00 US money, (Try going to an American hospital and getting an operation for $3.00)
This money is to Aprofam for their expenses, not to Junglemedic Missions. I have never in 10 years charged a penny for any health care.



From there we had several options for the women.

Here are some photos of doing the tubal ligation surgery and let me explain this. Instead of opening up the woman abdomen surgically, the Guatemalan OB/GYN surgeon would prep all of the women and inject local anesthesia just above the umbilicus (Belly Button).




She would then explain the procedure to all of the women of what she would be doing and what they could and could not do for 2 weeks after.



They were all scared but she put them at ease and was wonderful to them.

They were then taken into the OR and prepped for the procedure.



 
Instead of having to open them up the Dr made a small incision and introduced a trocar which is a metal tube that goes inside the abdominal area and then slides a camera with a light and on the end of the instrument are clips that clamp a ring around the fallopian tubes and thus preventing pregnancy.



We were able to watch the entire procedure not only the patient with the med vision equipment which can be used to connect with other hospitals and teaching facilities but  we could also see inside the patients abdomen and learn the procedure.

It was fantastic and only took 5 minutes to do the procedure.



After the procedure was finished the women got a couple of sutures which I can remove in 8 days and check for infection or problems and she gets up and is able to walk home with no complications.

 I was told these Dr’s are the only ones in the world doing this particular procedure and it is here in Guatemala. It is fantastic for the women because they can now afford it and it is easy and safe, and they do not have to worry about getting pregnant with more and more children that they cannot take care of.

 Marleni and I were in heaven watching our ER/OR being used to treat these women.

 Then after the surgeries of the tubal ligations were finished, the ones who just wanted the birth control tube came in.



This time the Dr would simply inject local anesthesia in the arm and then insert the birth control hormone tubes into the arm and in 3 minutes it was done. Now the lady will not have children for 5 years unless she wants the tube removed which is just as easy.

Mean while we also set the medical bus up to do Pap Smears for ladies and Ultra Sounds for those with potential problems. Here is the bus set up for the other procedures.  



 I am not going to show you the Pap Smears of course but take a look at the set up in the bus for the Ultra Sounds.



They did Pap Smears in the front and then we hung curtains for privacy and did the ultra sounds in the back.



 So all in all we had a great clinic and it was the first time we used a total team of Guatemalans. They were organized and professional and great Doctors and Nurses to work with. It was our honor to work with such great people.

 I believe we will be doing one of these women’s clinics each month here at the dorm and in the OR and bus and when we have teams from the States they can help and assist in the program. It will be a great learning experience for nursing and medical students.

So to say I am happy is an understatement. I am now using my dorm/ Emergency Room/ Operating Room, for hosting teams, taking care of emergencies, and now Women’s Health Care.

For me it was a dream come true and we Thank God and the people of Aprofam for making it possible to help the women who would never have had this care before.



Here is the Aprofam Team

From Left to right is:  Russell Crow and Marleni Buchanan and I don’t remember the other people’s names but the girl in the middle with the pink scrub pants and flower top was the OB/ GYN Surgeon that did the surgeries and she was fantastic! The other Dr was the man in the Blue Scrubs with a big smile and he did the Ultra sounds and was in charge.