Operation Rainbow Medical Mission

This past week I had the incredible experience of working on an orthopedic medical mission in Cuenca, Ecuador with world renowned surgeons of Operation Rainbow. My father, an internal/ sport medicine doctor in San Francisco, first introduced me to Operation Rainbow when he volunteered for a week with Rainbow in the Dominican Republic after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. This year, my father was invited to volunteer again with Operation Rainbow in Cuenca, Ecuador. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to make it this year so he asked me if I would like to volunteer on the mission as a translator.

Over the past few months or two I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do after Peace Corps. My whole life I have had a great interest in public health and so naturally I figured the road after Peace Corps would take me to get a Masters in Public (MPH). My experience working in a hospital setting as a HIV AIDS volunteer in Guayaquil, Ecuador has made me think more about the possibility of applying to medical school. As an undergrad, I majored in Diplomacy and World Affairs and minored in Spanish and was not interested in taking a heavy pre-med course load. Now that I have been in the Peace Corps for more than a year, something about applying to medical school does not seem as daunting as when I was an undergraduate in college. If anything, my experience working in HIV counseling/ testing in Ecuador has shown me how much I enjoy working with patients in a hospital setting.

First Day of Surgery in Our Scubs !

Translating for the nurses in post-op

Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to work as a translator with Operation Rainbow at Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso. Throughout the week, my role was assisting doctors, nurses, and physical therapists with translating during physicals and surgery. Our first day in Cuenca we pre-screened more than 60 children and 50 adults with the hope of finding the most critical patients who required surgery. It was a very intense first day for me as I had to figure out my own method of translating between Spanish and English while learning new medical terminology in Spanish.

Patients waiting to be attended at Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso

After a long day of physicals the surgeons sat down and made the final decision on which patients were surgical candidates and which patients we had to turn away. At the end of a long white hallway the families waited patiently to hear if their child or their loved one would be selected by Operation Rainbow’s surgeons. Many families had been waiting for more than 8 hours in the waiting rooms of Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso.

Operation Rainbow is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to performing free orthopedic surgery. In Cuenca we focused on completing surgeries which are normally corrected with a simple surgery in the States, but are often left uncorrected in Ecuador due to a lack of access to medical care. For example, this week there were multiple operations on children with birth deformities which left them with deformed bones in their hands, legs and arms.

The Surgery Team From Salt Lake City, Utah

The First Day of Surgery

My role as a translator for Rainbow gave me the amazing opportunity to interact with patients from their preliminary physicals all the way up until their physical therapy sessions after surgery. After a week of working with these families and their children, I felt a great connection to each family and patient. Its a gift that I speak Spanish and that I was able to help patients communicate their concerns, their hopes and their gratitude for all of Rainbow’s hard work.

Michelle and Me In Our Scrubs

Consoling one of our patient as she was waking up after surgery

One patient who tugged on my heartstrings and who I connected with instantly was a 5 year old boy named Roberto. With his mother and father, Roberto had traveled more than 6 hours to Cuenca from Santa Clara, Ecuador. During the first day of screening patients, I met Roberto while I was translating for his mother and one of our hand surgeons. His mother wore a traditional indigenous skirt, a white blouse and a fedora hat. Roberto wore a handwoven hat made by his mother and a plaid blue shirt. His mother told me the story of how Roberto lost the use of his left hand. In the yard of their home, Roberto and his friend had been fooling around with a machete. As his friend swung the machete too close to his face, Roberto lifted his arm to protect himself, and the tendons in his wrist were severed in one blow. Both Roberto and his mother are a part of the more than 25 percent of Ecuador’s population who are of indigenous heritage. Living in the small indigenous town of Santa Clara, medical care was not available to help save the use of Roberto’s hand and therefore the family was forced to travel more than 5 hours to Cuenca.

The Operation Rainbow Hand Surgery Team

I had the opportunity to watch Roberto’s hand surgery from within the operating room and to spend time with him after his operation. He was quite shy as he was coming out of anesthesia and all he wanted to do was play with his purple wind-up grasshopper toy. I asked him in Spanish if he was in any pain, if he was scared or if he was thirsty. He nodded his head to say he was thirsty and so I brought over a cup of red Gatorade. When I asked him if he wanted a little bit or a lot more he replied with a huge smile which made me melt. It was clear that he really liked his Gatorade and wanted more. From that moment on Roberto and I were buddies. He whispered to me about his best friend back in Santa Clara and how much he liked to play fútbol outside his house. Moments like this are the reason why I love my job as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador.

Roberto in Post-Op

With the dedicated work of Rainbow’s team Roberto’s injury was fully treated. After a few months of dedicated physical therapy Roberto will regain the full movement of his left hand. I am so proud to be a part of this mission, which gave Roberto the opportunity to be a normal kid again.

Roberto the Day After Surgury

Roberto and Me

Me and Some Members of the Rainbow Team

Decending to the Coast from Cuenca

Chula Vista

Hanging out with some members of the team at our hotel

ceviche and shwarma with some members of the team on their last day in Guayaquil