Partners for Belize Surgical Mission Trip – 2022
Preface to this post: If you are interested in learning more about Partners for Belize, please visit their websites. I’ve loved being involved with this group!
In 2019, I became aware of Partners for Belize when Dr Carne took off for a couple of weeks to attend the General Surgery mission. When he returned, I asked him what he was up to. He talked to me about it, and excitedly, I said, “Next time I want to go too!”. I half expected him to chuckle that away, but he didn’t. He full on encouraged me to participate, and thus begun my quest to join the Partners for Belize gang.
Fast forward to 2022
The theme for the 2022 P4B missions was, “Blessed to Bless”. Each morning and evening, one of the organizers would stand up for a moment and reflect on this theme. They are always thought provoking reflections and I’ve come to enjoy each one very much.
During the last supper (no pun intended!) with the group of us that recently participated in the Partners for Belize General Surgery mission trip, Dr Jay Logeman, one of the organizers, asked us a poignant question. “What is your calling that brings you to Belize to participate in this mission?” He invited us to stand up and share, if we felt comfortable. Several folks stood up and shared their calling.
One has to understand, I’m a very spiritual person, but range to the heathen side when it comes to being religious. So I sat and listened to those who got up and share what called them to Belize and it moved me beyond words. It got me to thinking hard on what calls me to Belize. Not just this time, but the first time, and as a result of that first visit, what brought me back to Belize? Hint…it’s not the few days of R&R over in San Pedro afterwards!
Revisiting 2020, briefly
2020 was first time I got to go to Belize to serve. My daughter, Jessica, went with me, as well as Kathie Cooper, a fellow CST, who works in Madras. This was an eye opening trip. To be perfectly honest, I pursued going to Belize, originally, because I knew it would give me an opportunity to participate in hernia surgeries. The surgeries I primarily assist in at my own workplace, the OR in Prineville. I was excited about the prospect. I talked Kathie into coming along, for the same reason, and I talked my daughter into it because we hadn’t gotten to do anything “mother and daughter” in many years. I was assured by Dr Dixon, another volunteer with Partners for Belize and one of the St Charles Emergency Department doctors, that Jessica’s help in the village missions would be more than welcome. So, off we went. Performing surgery in Belize, took me back to my veterinary technician days. That isn’t meant in a bad way at all. What it means is that we do the most we can with what we have to work with. We “make things work” the best we can, while keeping patient safety as our number one priority. I learned so much that trip!
2021, the year of so many things gone wrong in the world
The Partners for Belize missions were canceled in 2021 due to safety concerns around Covid 19. Belize takes their Covid threat very seriously. We were all so happy when John Kirby, one of the primary organizers for these mission trips emailed to let us all know that the 2022 missions were a go.
2022, we’re on! Let’s go!
So, what brought me back to Belize to serve again? Again, it was primarily the opportunity to get to assist one of St Charles’ own surgeons, Dr David Carne, in surgeries that we do mostly here in Prineville. I get to see, honestly, more surgeries in 4 days in Belize, than I do in 6 months in Prineville. I’m not complaining. We do primarily endoscopy in Prineville though, with surgery taking a distant second. This isn’t terrible, it just is what it is. I love my job in Prineville. It suits my lifestyle and I’m well taken care of by St Charles.
On this trip, Dr Dixon and his daughter, Chloe accompanied by her boyfriend, Rowan, Dr Carne, accompanied by his daughter, Anne, Dr Stimac and myself, were all able to head off to Corozal, Belize to serve by providing surgical services and Village Health Services. We were the Oregon 7 for 2022!
Our trip across the US began a little rough when Delta Airlines didn’t put the “e” on Anne’s name when Dr Carne requested them to do so. Also, we found out that the counters at the Redmond Airport, with the exception of Alaska Airlines, are run by a third party contractor, not actual employees of the respective airlines. By the time Dr Carne got things straightened out, four of the Oregon 7 had caught the flight and three of us didn’t. We did, however, get on a red eye to Atlanta and met up with the gang and had a seemless flight to Belize City, thanks to Dr Carne’s quiet persistence. I left Redmond, Oregon dressed for winter, thinking we were going to be in a room for the night, in Atlanta. Nope, landed in Atlanta around 5:30 am, and caught a plane to Belize City, in my winter woolies. Landed in Belize dressed for winter. I drew a few looks. My traveling companions were patient when I quickly dug through my suitcase for shorts, T Shirt and sandals to get through the airport and customs in Belize before the humidity and heat cooked my Central Oregon self!
Unintended consequences
Here’s where things get real. I have this idea in my head of why *I* go to Belize, but as the time draws closer, as I start gathering items to travel with, then make the trip, and then, as I’m immersed in Northern Belize, Corozal, culture, something deeper sinks into my soul. I’m not just here for the surgery. I’m here for the people, for this immersion. I get to work with Dr Carne and WE get to work with these amazing people! The people of Belize. Not the tour director types, but the ones who don’t get to go home, away from Belize, when we’re done. They go home to Orange Walk, to Corozal Town, to any number of small villages in between Corozal and Orange Walk, and beyond. They carpool together, to work with us, they ride bumpy buses to work with us. As excited as I was to work with them, and learn from them, I found that the same was true for them! They were excited to get to work with us! They compared notes as much as I did, about how we get things done, about the supplies we use, the instruments, and our methods. I got to help an RN earn her OR wings. She’s been a “floor nurse” in Belize, and recently she began training to become an OR nurse. In Belize, the Operating Room Assistants, the “Surgical Techs” are the ones who circulate the surgeries and the RN’s are the ones who “scrub” the surgeries. She had been participating in some OB procedures at their hospital, but was just starting to learn other surgeries. I felt honored to help her along in her journey. What I mostly learned is that I would have loved to get every single one of these folks in my suit cases and bring them home with me! They’re passionate about their work and it shows. They get paid very little, compared to what we make here in the US. They’re not unionized and they don’t have a concept of how good we have it up here. But, I do. This experience gave me a huge appreciation for my position here, and how well I’m treated by this system we work for.
Generosity overflows
One of the RN’s I work with, Susan Walters, makes surgery caps in her spare time. She approached me before we left and handed off an entire grocery sack full of her caps! I hadn’t asked her for these, mind you. She shared them with me and asked me to share them with those we work with in Belize. “It’s not a big thing” she said. Well, let me tell you, to THEM, it was a huge thing! I recorded a heartfelt thank you from some of the folks who received Susan’s hats. They were so happy! “They” were RN’s in Belize, a CRNA in Belize, ORA’s in Belize, and some of the folks with Partners for Belize from the Cincinnati group. They categorically loved Susan’s creations. I was happy to share them.
Todd Shields, our CEO at St Charles, in Prineville, had procured surgical scrubs for all of us to wear in Belize. This was a godsend and we were all quite thankful!
Encouraged by Todd, I reached out to the St Charles Central Processing departments in Redmond and Bend, and was rewarded with an entire basket full of surgical instruments to sort through and put together sets from. We were able to take three small “hernia sets” to Belize. We were thankful every time we opened one of our little sets!
The Operating Room Environment
You may be wondering what the OR is like in Belize. I’m not sure that our experience in Corozal is entirely accurate, as to an answer. We operate in a small hospital in Corozal Town that is actually, according to some of the locals, set upon old Mayan ruins. The hospital is on a small hill above town. The building itself is very humble, decrepit by US standards. The design of the OR’s is antiquated and would be shut down, if it were in the US. There’s no HVAC log for me to fill out. I can feel the humidity in the OR when I get there. Turning the temperature down results in a chilly OR environment that 20 minutes later will rise to a balmy 70+ degrees Farenheit. No worries though, take long enough in your procedure, and the temp will drop to chilly as all get out again, take much longer, and the temp will rise again, causing the steam to build up on your safety glasses. Wait…was that a mosquito doing a low fly by? SWAT! Got it! Our governing bodies would not be impressed. But you know what? It works. The people of Corozal Town are grateful to have any medical services at all in their little town. The folks that show up to help us achieve our surgical mission look past the decay, as do we. We’re there to do a job, and we do that job happily, to the very best of our abilities.
The daily grind
The mornings in Belize are simply wondrous. Just beautiful! Full of sultry promise, birdsong and gentle breezes.
Each morning started out about the same. Some folks slept in until the 6:30 am breakfast, and others got up and went for walks or took one of the resort bicycles for a ride. Some of the hardiest souls rode the bikes all the way to the Mexican border and back, a 17.3 mile trip (ask me how I know!). We would meet for breakfast, and we would get to hear inspiring words from our team organizers, John, Tim, or Jay. This is a great way to start the day, mindfully.
Breakfast done, the teams would go their directions. The village team would head off to the village of the day and the surgery team would head to the Corozal Community Hospital.
That first day however, everyone went to CCH and helped set up the OR’s and screen the potential surgical patients. It was a busy day, full of anticipation.
How we get the job done
Our primary supplies are mostly donated. Some items are ordered up and brought down. Many of the excess supplies are kept in a trailer, packed in totes and suitcases, to be brought out again next year. One of our Belize contacts, Darrell Spencer (who is also a CRNA), keeps track of the supplies in the trailer and sees to the safe keeping of the trailer between mission trips.
Since this was my second trip, I was tasked to help get the OR’s set up and ready for work. I felt the familiarity sink in this trip, but I didn’t have Kathie Cooper to help guide me through with her decades of experience. Who I did have was Carolyn Murell. Carolyn is an RN from the Cincinnati group that has been along on these trips for many years now. She participates in the ENT surgical week, as well as the General Surgery week. What I learned on this trip is that she works hard to make the trip easier for her doctor, Dr Abello, also from the Cincinnati group. Yes, I took copious notes, with the intent to have an in depth discussion with Todd Shields, so that I can help make our doctors’ future trips more successful. This is what calls me to Belize.
Carolyn and I organized suture, mesh, gloves, surgical packs and miscellaneous surgical supplies. On our previous trip, Kathie and I discovered that the surgical instrument sets in Corozal, were mismatched and of very poor quality instruments. Essentially, the instruments are donated from all over and are primarily Pakastani. Yes, single use instruments from disposable suture kits. The hemostats don’t stay clipped, the scissors don’t cut, and the forceps don’t always hold or even come together evenly. The retractors are hit and miss entirely. Those three kits that Dr Carne and I cobbled together were our primary surgical sets and we were thankful for them! I took more notes on what we need to complement our “sets” for our next trip. This is what calls me to Belize.
Meanwhile, over in the Family Clinic, there were over 200 people outside, waiting for evaluation by the doctors, to see who would get into the roughly 60 surgical spots we’d have. Dr Carne, Dr Dixon, Dr Stimac, Dr Abello, Dr Logeman and many RN’s, another CST, and several others, spent the better part of an entire day meeting patients and determining if they would fit our surgical criteria. What we learned is that most elective surgeries in Belize had been put on hold due to Covid 19. Many people are in need of surgery. Not just hernia surgeries, but cholecystectomies (gall bladder removal), breast cancer care, general lumps and bumps and much more. If we had the opportunity, we could have had a full surgical schedule every day for over a month straight, I’d bet. This is what calls me to Belize.
After a long day in the clinic, Kim, our awesome young RN, First Assist, and Dr Abello’s daughter, Natalie, put together a realistic surgery schedule for the next four days.
The next morning we were set. In our OR, Dr Carne, Kim, Spence, and one of our Belizean RN’s, either Lusbei or Lourdes, assisted by Dennis and Francine, and myself, began a long day and managed to complete 5 procedures. Over in Dr Abello’s OR, they worked just as hard. We had to cancel a few procedures due to positive Covid tests, but we managed to stay busy every single day.
These people, our patients, they’re so quiet, so humble, so grateful for the services we get to provide. Our patients walk into the surgery, sometimes in bare feet with shoe covers over them and sometimes in sandals or sneakers with shoe covers over them. The Belize Health Ministry loves their shoe covers. (Note to self, pack more shoe covers.) Our patients have their oversized hospital gowns clutched about them, as they climb up onto the ancient OR bed and lie back. They speak anything from broken English to Spanish, to Mayan (which is nothing like Spanish!). Fortunately, for our team, Dr Carne is fluent in Spanish, and can communicate well with most of our patients and the teams who are helping us. I think I figured out that most Belizeans are multilingual. Spence must speak 3 different languages, at least! He was able to talk to our patients, as he began their anesthesia. Our patients walked in and were rolled out, recovering from their surgery, with Spence’s crazy upbeat Jamaican type music playing, looking peaceful. I don’t know what they were thinking. Hard to say. The optimist in me, wants me to think they’re thankful for the day they just had. Their wait for a needed surgery is over. They’re on the road to recovery now. Hopefully their circumstances have improved in some small way. A way we could help with. A way that I got to help with. This. This is what calls me to Belize. Strongly. These people don’t know me. I introduce myself, but I’m sure that easily half of them don’t understand what I’m saying, and the other half have so much on their mind that they’ll never remember my words, the words I say whenever a patient comes into *my * Procedure Room, or *my* OR, “Hey there, I’m Darlene, I’m going to be helping Dr Carne today”. That’s ok. I’m not there for the accolades. I’m there because I was called there.
The weather in Corozal that week was up and down, but always warm. We like to walk the 1.5 mile or so trek back to Tony’s if possible, but a couple of the days it was just pouring out, so we waited for our van to come get us. The other days, we strolled along, enjoying the views of Corozal, answering the call.
After 4 long days of surgery, and village visits we get to go on some sort of cultural adventure with our Partners for Belize Team. This year, due to Covid concerns, the usual fare of recreational offerings, ranging from touring the Mayan Ruins, to cave tubing, to just spending a relaxing day on the beach, was narrowed down to the relaxing day on the beach. A beautiful beach, in a place called Orchid Bay. There are kayaks, there is cornhole, volleyball, a pool, and lots of shade. Orchid Bay is a jewel. We had a nice day after all the work we’d done. We played cribbage, we ate, drank, and told stories. We enjoyed one another’s company and got to know one another better. We also got sunburned. Not all of us, but some of us!
Wrap up 2022
This post has been on my mind every single day since I returned from Belize. What called me there to…serve. I hadn’t thought about it much beyond what it could do for me. I’m paying for this experience, from our checking account, and by using my precious ETO (earned time off), or days without pay, as many of mine are, since I take a fair amount of days off…Ahem, horses, cough, grandboys, cough, semi-retired husband…ahem. I pay for this trip in so many ways, but I know that when it’s all said and done, I am the one reaping the benefits. It’s not the days of R&R over in San Pedro that keep me coming back, that keep me thinking of what I’ll do differently next year, how I’ll try to get Max to come along next time. It’s this place! Corozal Town, the Corozal Community Hospital, but it’s not Tony’s Resort…it’s the people at Tony’s, my newest “family members” of friends I’ve met through Partners for Belize, it’s the people who work at Tony’s and work so hard to make our stay there the best it can possibly be, from super clean rooms, to delicious authentic Belizean meals, to what is just a friendly atmosphere, every single day.
You tell someone you’re going to Belize, and their imagination goes straight to the great Blue Hole, San Pedro, Caye Caulker, the diving, the fishing, the shopping! No, for me, it’s not those things that bring me back, that call me back. It’s the mission. My mission. It’s making do with what you have to work with. It’s working with new people, from all over, but from there especially. It’s comparing notes, it’s piecing things together to make a whole. A whole entire successful surgery that will let another human being live their life a little more comfortably than before. I’m the one being paid. Paid in smiles mostly, and that’s the richest payout a person could ask for.
FIND YOUR CALLING!
What’s your calling? Don’t know? Put some thought into it. Can you answer the call? I hope you can. I’m so glad I’ve been able to. In so many ways.
Giving Thanks…again, because, one can never say thank you enough
I have a debt of gratitude to my husband, Max, who makes these things possible for me. He’s shown me so much in such a short amount of time. So much patience, so much wisdom, so many new places, new faces, and new experiences. He encourages me when I question my abilities and gives me the nudge forward when I need it. He, probably more than anyone, has made it possible for me to answer this calling. I sincerely hope I can share the experience with him some day.
I’m thankful for my family who are supportive of Max and our ranch, while I’m gone, my mom, PJ, and my son, Tucker. Thankful for my daughter, Jessica, who checked in with me regularly, while I was gone and talked me off more than one ledge. Thankful for my dad, Darryl and my stepmama, Karla, who commented on photos and showed an interest in where I was and what I was doing. Family is a precious thing, and I feel rich in life for having good relationships with my close family.
I’m also thankful for yet another doctor in my life who helps open the doors to these opportunities. Since I was a teenager, I’ve known these doctors, starting with Dr Irving LeVine, moving onto Dr. Dan Haskins, Dr Andy Stang, Dr Tim Cuchna, and then Dr Ron Sproat, and now Dr Dave Carne, Dr Les Dixon, with so many other doctors in between these ones, who are not the same kinds of doctors, but their hands all do the same thing…they heal things, be it dogs, cats, horses, or humans, and in the process, they encourage some of us to get in there and get dirty with them and they teach us things. The best lesson though, is how to be human. Humans are a complicated species. I can’t say it any differently. I’m so grateful for the doctors that have come in and out of my life. I’m grateful that they’ve all seen something in me worth mentoring, worth encouraging forward. I’ll never be a doctor, but I will always be a willing student of life.
This willingness, I think, could also be attributed to, perhaps…a calling.
This is what calls me to Belize, and what calls me out of my bed each morning of my life, drawing me forward, urging me to “do better” and prepare me to go do it all again, only better next time!
Because I wanted the focus of this post to be on my medical/surgical experience in Belize, stay tuned for the R&R portion of our trip. ~ Darlene
Want to know more about Partners for Belize? Here are two links you’ll be interested in:
What Darlene Says... 