This is translator Randy and nurse Andry Omar checking in some of the patients for the day. They review the consents, weigh the kiddies, give out some pre-op Tylenol, check vital signs, and verify the labs.
Oh and they give out crayons and coloring pages for the kiddies to "make us beautiful pictures". Please note the wall behind them. :)
Nurse Jarolyn with a post op patient and his mommy.
Randy and Andry Omar have the parents of the surgical patients outside the pre-op room for a little educational chat of expectations for after surgery. We like to give the parents an idea of how little ones wake up from anesthesia and what "normal" looks like. Otherwise, when the parents see their babies crying with oxygen masks on....they tend to panic. We hold "charlas" in the morning for each group of parents to be sure they understand what will happen throughout the day.
Nef with a little one and her mama after surgery.
Neivi helping one of our patients make a beautiful drawing for the pre-op wall before his surgery.
This is my favorite moment of the day. Nurse Luisanna is praying with all the patients and their families before surgery. Again, we are the Clinica Cristiana de Salud Integral. Salud Integral means integral health. Health of the body, mind and SPIRIT. Jesus reigns in this place and we want everyone to know it. Imagine being able to pray with all your patients (out loud!) in North America before surgery.......
Nurse Jarolyn with another post op patient. Lots of love, hugs and kisses come out of this place.
Translator Nef and Nurse Jarolyn reviewing discharge instructions with the patients and their families. After surgery our Dominican doctors, Dr. Sandy Valdez and Dr. Osvaldo Canario, do all the follow up on the patients. The patients generally return in 1-2 weeks for their follow visit with the physicians here. Our discharge instructions are always given out by the translators and Dominican nurses to prevent any language misunderstandings. Each patient is also sent home with pain medications provided by the North American surgical teams.
Nurse Andry Omar putting oxygen on a fresh post-op arrival. The "little" patients are monitored on a one-to-one basis for at least the first hour of their arrival to the post-surgical unit.
Parents are welcomed into the post-operative room as soon as their little ones are stable. They are also welcomed to participate in the care of holding oxygen masks, untangling IV lines, giving sips of water, etc. Parents are very active participants here. Dominican families expect to do the majority of care after surgery, counting on the nurses to handle the medication and stabilization portion of care. It's a little bit different than the States! :)
The nurses reviewing discharge instructions and plan of care with family members.
Nurse Luisanna receiving a patient into PACU and placing the monitors. Translator Nef is behind her helping with the monitor wires. :)
Instrument king Moises is washing all the instruments from every single surgery, wrapping them, and autoclaving them. Even the little jobs here (and instruments certainly aren't little jobs) are so very important to the success of a surgical team. His work was very very appreciated this week. And his great attitude is infectious. We don't have one single complainer in this bunch.
Head Nurse Livida is a multi-tasker. She's here encouraging a cranky little guy to drink his water before discharge while she cuts, folds, wraps, and autoclaves all the gauze that the Dominican surgeon will need for surgery next week.
And of course besides surgery, the clinic has their daily scheduled AND unscheduled patients to be seen. Here is Livida with a teeny 3 month old who needed a nebulizer treatment. He was sent down from the mountains by the current barrio team. Livida bounces between patients, cutting and folding gauze, overseeing the surgical suites, guiding the nurses, and ensuring that the North American teams have everything that they need. She has been in our clinic over 2o years and I'm pretty sure she could do surgery all by herself at this point. We value her TREMENDOUSLY.
An integrated team of Americans and Dominicans...... We're missing most of the Dominican nurses in this shot because they are caring for all the post-op patients! We couldn't do surgery without the amazing Dominicans who live here, work here, and love their people. They are a tremendous encouragement to me and I love that I get a chance to watch them shine!
