ROSS TAYLOR

Dominican Republic: Mission of Mercy

In 2007 a medical team from Connecticut traveled to the Dominican Republic for a week of service in a village outside of Santiago.  

The group, which consisted of more than 30 members, is part of Medical Ministry International. The workers volunteer theur time and talents for free, even paying their own way to go for the week of service in which they performed medical procedures including some major surgeries.  

The surgeries which were performed were otherwise unavailable to the locals due to a lack of local medical resources. 

 

  • Tiffany Ellison comforts a frightened Daphne Rodriguez before a hernia operation. At left is Grace Moy, an anesthesiologist, who will put her asleep for the surgery.
  • Abilina del Carmen, left, and Elba Rodriguez wait before their surgeries - both were going to have a hysterectomy.
  • The medical team had to bring their own equipment as the surgical units were woefully under-supplied. Here surgeon Michael Bourque, center, sets a clock to the proper time in one of the surgical units.
  • Surgeon Jack Monaco gets into his scrubs before preforming one of the many surgeries in the week.
  • Surgeons remove a uterus during a hysterectomy.
  • Dr. Michael Bourque hands a baby over after it was delivered in an emergency cesarean.
  • Nelly Corona and Gil Corona huddle around Gil Corona, Jr. moments after he was delivered after an emergency cesarean.
  • Registered Nurse Kathy Aries, center, pauses in a surgical unit before assisting in a surgery.
  • Caren Evans holds a patient's hand during surgeryto remove some skin cancer.
  • Nurses Sally Jones, center, and Caren Evans help move a patient into the recovery room after surgery. At right is Kevin Krebsbach.
  • A patient lies in sedation while undergoing a hysterectomy.
  • Doctors and nurses move Nieve Jaques to a recovery bed after she had surgery to remove a thyroid goiter.
  • Nurse Gail Pizzoferatto-Rio, left, is exhausted after spending the night without sleeping beside Nieve Jaques, who had major thyroid surgery. Jaques barely survived the surgery but with an extended hospital stay, eventually survived.
  • Jennifer Suski, who serves as a translators, comforts the mother of one of the patients as her daughter recovers from surgery.
  • Hilarie Tomasiewicz, a medical student, kids around while she hitches a ride on a stretcher. This was her first medical trip.
  • Kathy Aries takes a few quiet moments and rests at the end of the day -  the trip is an exhausting week for members of the team, who often operate on little sleep.
  • An American doctor checks out Miraya Zapata after her hernia operation around her belly button in a rural clinic in the Dominican Republic. Ultimately the doctors performed dozens of surgeries during the week.
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