San Lucas 2018 – Laughter Heals

As a volunteer sometimes our work is never done, even when we are not on location with the team, there is work to be done. Many of us have been lucky enough to encounter other volunteers that have shared their compassion and work practices, and have ultimately made us better human beings and better volunteers.

As I said in a post earlier this week, some of my best friends have come from the last ten years of traveling to Guatemala with Med Missions, and one person, in particular, has had a strong impact on me and has contributed to those “lessons of humility.”

Cindy Rudolph has touched many lives! Her humor, her compassion and her “red nose” have become a staple in Pre-Op. All of this just to ensure that the patient is at ease and comfortable as they prepare for the unknown of surgery.

Some of our patients don’t even speak Spanish, their native tongue is a Mayan dialect, and to have an English speaking doctor or nurse working on them and taking them to the OR can be confusing and challenging, but Cindy has a special candor that makes those patients trust her. She makes them smile, and that can be crucial going into a procedure. We encounter many other challenges and meet many patients with moving stories, so a little humor can go a very long way with keeping the patients and our team going.

A lot of the mission veterans have traveled all over the world with Cindy. She spreads cheer all over the world with her red nose, and San Lucas is no stranger to her shenanigans! Each year the hospital staff asks about her, and even though she isn’t here with the team this year, she made sure that a package of noses traveled with us, and with that, we honor Cindy, as we say “service well done”! You’ve made us all smile!