In April our good friend and Nurse Norrie from New Jersey, went on her 38th medical mission trip with Operation Smile, this time to the country of Bolivia.  Of course she took along Dollies and Teddy bears from Dollies Making A Difference!  Here is an excerpt of the impressions she had from this trip:
“My mission to Bolivia was absolutely wonderful and it was one of my best, even though I seem to say that for all of my 38 missions. We had a wonderful team of doctors and nurses who were from 12 different countries! We also had five guest participants from Johnson and Johnson, a generous supporter of Operation Smile NJ.  It was an amazing experience for these guests, and also for those of us who volunteer regularly on medical missions. We saw our work through the eyes of new people and it brought all of us back to our first time on a mission. With some bewilderment, we saw the power of a surgeon changing the life of a severely deformed child in just one hour. And sometimes we forget that we as nurses or pediatricians or speech therapists help these children as much as that surgeon. We watched these four grown men and one woman cry their eyes out when they saw the child at the end of surgery and we then asked them to hand the child to their mom. Needless to say, we all cried!
Now for the dollies and the blankets! Everyone loved them and we gave them to the children who needed to hold something as they tried to lay still after the surgery. They all have pain the first 24 hours but we are not allowed to give pain medication in the Post op ward. It is too dangerous to have 35 patients on a ward with only a few nurses and two night nurses to watch them for post op bleeding or reactions to meds. The children were thrilled to receive something that was now theirs. When we returned in the morning , they were still holding tight to their dollies and teddys.
The blankets were a Godsend! We used them in the Operating Room where we had three tables in one room and two in the other. The antiquated air conditioners blew a cold breeze directly onto the children. We used the little crocheted blankets to cover each child and at the end of the week they were sent home with the mother. The best and most important use was in the Recovery Room where the children came in directly from the Operating Room. This room was a stuffy old storage room and we had to squeeze four beds literally on top of each other. There was hardly any room to move and we had two portable air conditioners to just make it bearable to work in.  It was absolutely freezing as we could not figure out how to adjust the temperature, so we used two blankets on every bed to keep the child warm.  Everyone was so grateful to all of the wonderful women who spent so much time making these blankets, and who probably never realized how important they really were to the safety of our children.
Of special note is the photo of a little boy and child who are sitting on a floor in the hospital hallway (see the photo at the very beginning of this blogpost).  Every morning we would see them as we came into the hospital and they were still there until late at night. We found out that their mom was a cleaning lady at the medical center and she had to bring her children with her out of necessity. They were so well behaved and the older brother kept watch on his little sister for at least 12 hours a day. They are not able to go to school because they are too poor and the mom barely makes enough to feed her family…yet she was so happy and proud to have a job. We were so touched, we just had to give them each a Dollie! The mom cried when she saw that her children had been given a gift. Â
Our medical mission to Bolivia was filled with stories like this and it spurred us on to work longer hours every day.
Thank you to all of you dear Dollie ladies for sending your love and kindness and joy with the little Dollies, Teddy Bears, and blankets. Many children are thanking you without ever knowing you! You are all angels!
With my gratitude, I thank you! Hugs, Norrie
