Medical Mission in the Philippines

I just returned from a medical mission in the Philippines with the P.A.G.E.S. Team- or Operation HOPE. This particular team has been going to the Philippines every February for the last 19 years to perform cleft lip/palate surgeries on the underprivileged children. I was lucky enough to join the team this year and I feel very grateful for the experience. I left on a Wednesday morning, flew to L.A., then to Tokyo Japan and arrived in Manila, Philippines on Thursday night at 11:00pm. I boarded a bus with a few of the other team members and drove until 4:30am to our hotel in Cabanatuan. I was able to go to bed for 1 1/2 hours then woke up showered and headed to the hospital for the first day of work. We worked about 11 hours that first day and when I returned to the hotel I fell exhausted to my bed. We then proceeded to work in Cabanatuan for the next 4 days with little time for rest. We performed 111 surgeries on the children. Wednesday we boarded our bus and drove 6 hours to Morong. The plan was to perform close to another 100 surgeries and when I left to return home on Sunday we were very close to that number. The second team arrived and completed the mission. This was by far the most difficult thing I have ever experienced but I am forever changed by the time I spent with the Filipino children. I worked mostly in the recovery room helping the children come out of the anesthesia and monitoring their vitals before sending them to the post operative room. I felt so lucky to be in that part of the process because I was the one who was able to hold the children and comfort them. More exciting and important than that I loved to see the faces of the mothers as I handed them their child after surgery. They were so excited for the surgeries and so excited to be reunited with them. I am so glad I took this opportunity and I will always remember my Filipino friends.

This is my good friend, Dr. Tluczek. She was my roommate and my strength while I was in a foreign country away from my family and friends. I am so glad we met and I appreciate the time we had to spend together and build a friendship.


This is Sharon, a medical student, who I shared a room with in Cabanatuan. She is Filipino and taught me a lot about the culture.


Heather and I went running together and all the children started running in a row behind us laughing and having a great time.


This poor little goat was stuck in the gutter and instead of helping him out I just took a picture. I am sorry little goat.


This was the only night I made it home from the hospital in time to see the sunset. It was gorgeous!!


This was our attempt to have air conditioning in the recovery room. Three blocks of ice and a fan, I am not quite sure it worked but mentally it felt like it was working. Anything was better than nothing which is what we were working with.


This is one of the many precious children recovering from a cleft lip surgical repair.


This is me and one of the nurses, Karley. She taught me a lot and I am glad that it was such a great learning experience for me.


This was our hotel in Morong. It was a beautiful hotel that the governor paid for. It sure made the long days a lot easier to come home to a shower and a comfortable bed.


I did take a few late night swims to recover from the 95% humidity.


These are their main form of transportation, tricycles. They are everywhere and they cram as many people as they can fit on them at a time.




This is my close friend, Rose. She is a Filipino nurse I met in Cabanatuan. We became very good friends and I hope we keep in touch. I miss her and hope the very best for her.


These are all members of the team, mostly medical students and residents in training.


This is two of the nurses I was able to work with.


This is Dr. Hector, Dr. Ed, and Dr. Elmer all who were so willing to answer my questions and help me learn as much as possible.






This is one of many rice fields. They call this area the rice bowl of the Philippines and I believe them, we had rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner which explains the weight loss I experienced.


The local Filipino nurses we worked with. They really knew how to have fun at work.


All day the nursing staff kept calling my name to take a picture with me. It was really fun to feel so important.


This sweet little guy just did not want to wake up, he tried so hard to sleep. He didn't care what position he was in, he was out.


Most of the children would wake up feeling scared so I tried to comfort them as much as possible and help them feel safe even though a foreign person was the first person they saw. I can't imagine how scary that might be.


This is the lovely bucket I got to use to flush the toilet after each use. I realized what a luxury it is to have a toilet that flushes.


The postoperative room was over crowded, usually 3-4 patients per bed. The hospital had very few rooms and most patients end up sharing their beds.


Another picture of me and my friend Rose.


This is Admante, he was a lively guy and always looking for another picture to take.


This cute little guy was smiling at me before I even had my camera out. He had a chicken he held during surgery and in recovery. He was so cute!!


This sweet girl was one of my favorites. She was not too happy when she woke up but she was so tired she couldn't really cry. I just loved her little pink dress and her hair was all over the place.


Here she is again....






Here is Pre Op. Finding IV's in these little children was difficult at times especially since we were outside with all the other families waiting in line to have surgery on their children.


Here is a before picture.


Another before picture, waiting for surgery.




The PACU team.


We had a police escort every day to and from the hospital and they would stay right out front of our hotel with their machine guns to keep us safe.










I hope I get to go back next year and serve the children again. There is nothing better in life than volunteer work.