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Mercy mission
By Laura Kelly
Fifteen-year-old Paola Elizabeth, from Jucuapa, El
Salvador, can't hide her positive energy. No amount
of nerves or fear dampen her spirits. When she gets
older, she hopes to become a pediatrician, but for now,
she enjoys spending time with her friends and playing
volleyball. But Paola had to stop playing when she
started to feel a pain in her back.
Paola went for an X-ray at a local hospital. The
doctors said her pain was caused by a mass of fatty
tissue, a lipoma. When Paola was advised to find a
surgeon, her mother recommended they visit Centro
Médico David V. King (CMDVK) near Jucuapa. Paola's
mother had heard about the subsidized clinic from
a friend who works there as a nurse. For Paola's visit,
the family only had to pay for an ultrasound. She
was scheduled as a patient for the visiting American
surgical team from Peconic Bay Medical Center. Her
procedure was free.
Making a difference
"It's very gratifying," said Agostino Cervone, MD, a
general surgeon who led the medical mission trip,
about the visit to El Salvador. The group of nine
traveled to Jucuapa in coordination with Fundación
Misión Médica de El Salvador.
Working out of CMDVK, which has a daily clinic, two
operating rooms and a recovery room, the American team
treated 67 patients during their five-day visit. Before the
mission, CMDVK publicized the surgical team's visit to
residents in four districts in the southwest of El Salvador
using loudspeaker setups in town squares, small cars
equipped with megaphones and radio ads.
While Dr. Cervone had participated in a medical mission
trip before, this was the first time he worked with local
staff, including doctors, nurses and surgical technicians.
"The anesthesiologists in particular are very talented,"
Dr. Cervone said.
To keep costs low, Salvadoran anesthesiologists
frequently use spinal sedation rather than general
anesthesia, which is more common in the US. Dr. Cervone
echoed a motto he picked up in the OR from the local
staff: "We make do with what we have."
During Paola's surgery, she was kept awake and only the
area where Dr. Cervone removed the lipoma was numbed.
"It was weird!" she said afterwards in recovery, her eyes
wide but her smile still bright.
Outreach
Volunteer medical professionals from Peconic Bay Medical Center take a break from treating patients at the Centro Médico
David V. King in Jucuapa, El Salvador.
(Photo: Courtesy Fundación Misión Médica de El Salvador)
After surgery, Paola Elizabeth receives a handmade bracelet presented by
Amy Douglas-Smith, the medical staff coordinator at Peconic Bay Medical
Center and one of the volunteers on the mission. (Photo: Laura Kelly)
Doctors and nurses from Peconic Bay Medical Center treated 67 patients during a five-day
trip to El Salvador.
