Yesterday I received the details about our medical mission trip to El Salvador in August. I missed the last trip 2 years ago because of my ICU stay so I really can't wait to go again. The plans this year are to do dental and ENT as in other years but adding orthopedics and pulmonary. I have worked in peds for the past 19 years with a focus on seizures and asthma so I'll be working with the asthma team. By team I think it's an adult pulmonary medicine doctor and myself. I hope we are able to develop and implement asthma action plans but I'm thinking it is going to be hard to come up with the staff in the orphanages understanding the need for controllers, not just using fast acting bronchodilators. But we shall see. I'm looking forward to seeing the kids again. We will be going to the same orphanages we went to last time.
There are two groups of people on our trips, the medical team, and teen/young adult Salvadoran adoptees making a homeland visit, usually with their adoptive parents but some come alone. Most of the adoptees are from Ohio as the group organizing these trips is Concern For Children, an Ohio adoptive parent support group. The trips started out as homeland tours, then after 4 trips it was decided a medical team should be part of the trip. The non-medical people learn about El Salvador history, visit some historic sites, and do service projects in the orphanages. Many of the adoptees either visit birth parents or get copies of their adoption files. The government of El Salvador strongly believes adoptees have a right to their original information, unlike so many states here. They also provide free searching services. Many of the Salvadoran adoptees were adopted during the civil war there. Some were taken to the orphanages by soldiers, and their parents, the ones who weren't killed, never knew what happened to them. It is sad and some stories are so tragic you want to cry. There are very few Salvadoran adoptions today, and those that do occur are mainly of special needs kids.
I plan to stay a week longer, along with a few doctors to provide post-op follow-up. I also want to spend more time studying the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated while saying Mass. In the movies about him it shows the assassination occurring in the Cathedral but in reality it happened in a small chapel on the grounds of a cancer hospital. He lived in a very small house on the grounds. He truly lived a very simple life, unlike other Church powers-to-be. His heart was with the Salvadoran people. He spoke the truth and for that was killed. I trust he will be named a saint someday but not soon. He didn't play by the rules of those in power in both El Salvador and Rome. But he did live his life according to the Gospel of Christ. It was his intercession I prayed to when I was close to death. So I want to spend some quiet time in the chapel and his house. Rent the movie Romero if you want to learn more about his life.
Totally off the subject of El Salvador, I'm hoping the photo I want to upload will show up. It is of a newborn goat, a fainting goat. Jess DelBalzo in NJ raises this type of goat and her mama goats each had twin births this past week. In my opinion baby goats beat out kittens and puppies in the cuteness department. Jess gave me permission to post her goat photo(s) here.
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