And so begins the work...

The past few days have been a bit of an orientation to the hospital, the staff and the practicalities of living in Shell. Where do we get groceries? Is the water safe? What bugs, snakes etc do we need to be wary of? I helped with one case on the weekend and found that the inability to communicate in Spanish made life a little challenging in the OR. Not so much with providing anesthetic care but with trying to fill out charting in Spanish and trying to understand their routine for change-overs of cases. Tomorrow will see the regular OR staff in place and I will try to find a cadre of translators that might be able to assist me during my time in the hospital.

The Ecuadorian anesthesiologist has been on continuous call for many months and will appreciate a much deserved break from on-call responsibilities. I delivered most of the supplies to the OR on Saturday and they were very appreciative for the 2 suitcases of donated items that all managed to arrive safely. I will help set up and install the items that we brought to Shell and look forward to "rolling up my sleeves " and pitching in.
Gary