Hola from San Pedro La Laguna!

Yesterday was a big day for the medical team.  Dr. Bryan Wachter performed 2 surgeries at the Baptist clinic OR, and Dr. Mike McNamara was his first assist.  Barb Wortman was the scrub tech and Heidi Walis was the circulating nurse for the surgeries.  Bilha was the translator for the surgeries.  All in all, there was a wonderful team at the OR!  For the first surgery, Dr. Bryan removed an ear fistula in a young boy.  After the first surgery, our team had to vacate the OR for an emergency C section which Barb was able to 1^st assist and Luz Elena was able to take care of the newborn.  After they regained access to the OR, Dr. Bryan removed a large mass from a young woman’s jawbone.  It was over a 4 hour surgery, so the surgery team was very tired when they walked in for dinner late last night.  Praise God that both patients are doing well today!

Our dentists, Dr. Jim Singleton, Dr. Paul Biederman, Dr. Mark Keller, Dr. Mike Remillard, Dr. Tony Oney, and Dr. Euguene Keller have been staying very busy.  Our dental hygienist, Chelsie, has done a wonderful job doing deep cleanings on many many teeth!  Nikki, Ann, and Nubia have been dental assisting and Judi, Jackie, and Jenny Biederman have been running the sterilization room – all very important jobs to keep the clinic moving!  Susanna has been in charge of the patient schedule and is doing a fantastic job.  Shannon is talking/playing with all of the kiddos who are waiting to see the dentist to distract them and is loving it.  All of the kids (Noelle, Jasmine, Sierra, and Noah) have been taking turns dental assisting as well!

Today, both Tony and Eugune went with Luz Elena to a mountain village (San Jose Chacaya) to perform emergent dental extractions for kids in the community.  We will report back to you about that tomorrow, but we know that the small team of Luz Elena, Jorge, Shannon, Bilha, and Jackie have been so busy that we had to send over more supplies for them!

Kylee has been coordinating medical patients for our optometrist Tom and Sheryl, as well as for Dr. Bryan in ENT.  Rosa has been a huge help with all of the patients for downstairs.  Kirsten is helping with the pharmacy.

Colton and Dr. Mike McNamara worked to find and fix not one, but three air/water leaks in the water system!  Colton is also working on renovating the fridge when he has time.  Yesterday and today, Dr. McNamara has also been able to do several simple trigger finger surgeries as well as several cortisone injections.

Kathy has been assisting Rafael on painting a beautiful mural on the front of the missionary house.  Jenny Remillard has been leading music in the classrooms all week and kids are loving singing and dancing with her.

We have so many amazing translators with us this year, so I would like to give a special shout out and thank you to all of them and the medical students who are also helping us out at the clinic!

There are a few people feeling under the weather, so please pray for the sore throats, and upset tummies to go away.  Thank you for your continued prayers for health and safety – it is a HUGE help.

To God Be the Glory!

Kirsten McDaniel

To see more pictures from this team, Click here!