As of Wednesday morning, 30 surgeries had been completed – 28 cleft lip repairs and 2 cleft palate repairs. Most repairs this week will be cleft lips. Monday and Tuesday were long (over 12 hours each) and productive days. These 30 surgeries have been completed by 3 surgeons and a well choregraphed support team. This is accomplished with 2 well equipped operating rooms, 3 surgeons that move from one patient to the next with very little time to rest, 4 anesthesiologists, 3 scrub assistants that help with retraction, suction and the closing sutures, 2 circulating nurses that manage the 2 rooms so that there is only a small amount of time between patients in addition to ensuring that all instruments are sterile and available for the next surgery and 1 coordinating nurse that makes sure there is a constant flow of patients and information between the operating and recovery rooms and the pre/post op ward. The Uplift volunteers are also accompanied by local nurses, assistants and nursing students.
In observing the Uplift volunteers and local Filipino staff work together, you would think they had worked together for years but they are all gathered here from around the world only for this 2 week mission.
Congratulations on a job very well done!
