Romania 2015 – Day 1

Volunteers arriving

The team got to the train station safely, loaded the bus, checked in, and grabbed a quick breakfast and set off to work immediately. The luggage truck made it too, so we were set to kickoff this mission.

Walk to clinic

We walked to the clinic, where a large group of children and some adults were already waiting to be seen by the American doctors. Some of our volunteers walked the 15 minutes to the Children’s Hospital admiring churches, people-watching and noticing how much Latin influence Romania has, starting with the Latin-based language and ending with the Latino music that blares in all the yellow cabs.

Surgery

We started the day at 10:30 am, setting up the orthopedic and general clinic. The OR was a quick setup, eased by our Romanian nurse and doctor collaborators, who made sure we had everything we needed to start our mission. The first mission day is always a trial by fire until everyone gets accustomed to their role in the team.

Patient check in

The Romanian patients are anxious to be seen by our team, patiently waiting in a line of 186 that flood the little entryway to the clinic. Our volunteers do a great job keeping the clinic flowing, with its challenges. We have three checkup rooms, with a temporary fourth when our ENT surgeon Dr. Hechler comes down to the clinic for consult.  The national radio station and the local paper – Monitorul de Botosani – came to document our first day. Dr. Archie Heddings and Dr. Edgar Araiza see orthopedic patients that keep on coming. They even performed their first office procedure today, a toe correction that is typically done in an office setting back in the States.

The amazing photos from the Romania Mission are provided by Vlad Catana.

You can follow his work at www.facebook.com/VladCatanaPh

Click image for a larger view.