14 — Friday, February 6, 1998 ~ North Shore News Help a matter of the heart North Van nurse reaches out to children in Ecuador Michael Becker News Editor michacl@nsnews.com NORTH Vancouver nurse Fiona McMahon has a wonderful dream. It goes something like this: children living in developing coun- tries who suffer the effects of burns, birth defects and other crip- pling deformities get a second chance for a better lite. The gift is provided by teams of volunteer healthcare protes- sionals who deliver surgical service free of charge to those most in need. McMahon, who works as a nurse at Children’s Hospital, lived this dream recently when she travelled in December to Ecuador with a team of 23 healthcare professionals and support staff. As the equipment manager for the team, McMahon brought 30 boxes of medical supplies and equipment into the country. She doubled as an operating room nurse once in Ecuador. The team split up to serve two rowns, Porto Viejo and Bahia. McMahon worked in Porto Vicjo. Porto Vicjo is a town of 135,000 located in the low hill coun- try west of the Andes. Bahia is a small town in the area. During the first week the team of medical volunteers worked with three operating rooms, two in Porto Viejo and one in Bahia. For the second weck the Bahia group merged with the Porto Viejo team. “We had so many kids we had to do two patients in the same OR,” said McMahon. The voluntecrs handled approximately 150 cases over two weeks. Most were children. The shifts would usually go from 7 a.m. to ]I p.m. “We'd cat dinner at midnight, one o'clock sometimes,” she said. “For the kids we were doing an awful lot of very tough cleft palates and cleft lips. “It just takes one experience and you see how wonderful the people are down there. Here they’re letting a bunch of strangers in_and entrusting their kids to us ... their expression of hope, fi full of big smiles. It just touches your heart. You can’t describe it.” McMahon remembers one beautiful girl who came in for help. “We did not have the equipment like tissue expanders. She has a huge mole on her face that can turn cancerous. “We'll have to perform surgery on this kid over three years because we can only do it in three steps. If we had the right equip- ment or if this child was in this country we could do it. They don’t have the equipment down there and they ‘don’t have the skills, but we are adamant about teaching as part of the program,” she said. She recalls the night a man Varrived at the hospital with his car hanging by a thread. The injury was the result of 2 domestic dis- pute. “The ear took. Without the expertise of rhe team there, that guy would have no car. The locals would just have cut it off,” Photo Fiona McMahon SOME of the children of Porto Viejo pose for volun- teer nurse Fiona McMahon. Photo Ficna McMahon NORTH Vancouver nurse Fiona McMahon meets some of the military men whe helped bring in a volunteer medical team to assist children in need of surgery in Ecuador. McMahon said. For the surgeons in Ecuador the visit by North American med- ical professionals offered an opportunity to observe and learn. The experience has made McMahon more aware of the basic challenges faced by many who live in developing countries. “It’s made me realize how so many of us live in a sheltered environment. Most of us don’t realize how lucky we are. It’s made me also realize that if you reach out and do something, vou get two things back. Obviously a lot of people couldn’: handle some of the things | saw down there, but it was very, very rewarding.” She’d like to sce a foundation set up in B.C. that would sup- port Canadian health care professionals wishing to share their pediatric expertise in developing countries. The group of physicians and surgcons McMahon volunteered with was backed bv Interplast Inc., a U.S.-based non-profit orga- nization. Interplast provides tree reconstructive surgery to chil- dren around the world. Interplast began in the 1960s with an idea. Stanford University Medical Center’s then Chief of Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery Dr. Donald R. Laub helped a 14-year-old Mexican boy whose cleft lip and palate had never been repaired. The organization now includes a network of more than 1,000 volunteers who per- form more than 1,500. free surgeries a year in developing nations around the world. Said MeMahon, “It’s good to link with Interplast because thev’ve done their homework.” There were problems in Ecuador. Some of the children: woulda’: show up because they couldn't aftord the antibiotics and the blood transfusions. Said MeMahon, *Our pedi- atrician would track them down and through word of mouth through families he'd find these people and they would come back. “Phev were short of S20, $30. “We'd give them the $20. We're not talking large sums of money in our eves, but thev’re large sums in their eyes.” One day the team ran out of oxygen in the operating room, but they coped. The team’s ability to improvise was kev. In Bahia, the volunteers would frequently run out of water. The conditions would be very hot and dusty. There was no hot water in showers. There were a lot of bugs in the hospital, Cats and rats) wan- dered about and malaria threat- ened. Water would flood the operating rooms. The electrical outlets were dodgy and some people got very sick. “One of our staff fellows, he got very HL He said he was tine. Everyone wants to be such a strong part of the team. You don’t want to ler everyone down. You really pull togeth- er,” said McMahon. American Airlines donated tbe cost of the flight down for MeMahon. procedure. Plan to attend our upcoming seminar in your area. absolutely no obligation, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this exciting She didn’t carn money for two weeks and she paid for her food, taxi fares and vaccinations. McMahon took along a lor of sutures, surgical gloves and sam- ples given to hospitals here. “There’s a lot of things that can be gathered and brought to developing countries,” she said. “We're more advanced in technology so the things we've out- grown they can still use down there. A lot of stuff is discarded in the hospitals because of our standards.” For example in B.C., tubes used to intubate people in hospitais are discarded. McMahon said that in most developing countries — and in most developed counties up until a few years ago — such equipment was washed, sterilized and reused. “Also a fot of medical books are updated. They can use med- ical books, even if they are in English,” she said. McMahon would like to set up a foundation in B.C.: 8B to promote healthcare to children in developing countries; @ support voluntcer healthcare by non-profit means, for cxample See Nurse page 1$ Come and see why we're clearly the best! f you've been considering laser vision correction, but are concerned about the high costs involved, here's your chance! Now, for the first time, you can say goodbye to those bothersome glasses and contact lenses for less than $3,000 for both eyes. Or, if you prefer, from $65.00 per month, with no downpayment. With thousands of successfully treated patients and a facility second-to-none, Lasik VISION CANADA is truly one of the country’s premier laser refractive surgery centres. Our Medical Director, Dr. Itugo Sutton, is a pioneer of the procedure, as well as one of North America’s most experienced laser refractive sutgeons. ‘This expertise, along with a full complement of highly-trained support staff and a repu- tation for friendly, personalized service makes LASIK VISION the clear choice. | SEMINAR‘ LOCATION & FIM There's x Dy SAE ENE Lasik Vision Canada 101 - 1281 West Georgia, Vancouver Monday, February 9, 7:30 pm No Pre-registration or Obligation! If you are unable to attend the seminar, call us for a free brochure and video. LASI 101-1281 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC VGE 3J7 www.laser-eye.com LVI ot Fm) | V iIVJIN CANADA