What Makes MSMT So Special (Part 2)
Written by Catherine Flanagan
Our previous blog focused on the work of our dermatology team. Here, we’ll explore some of the other specialties that make our multi-specialty mission trip (MSMT) so special—gynecologic surgery, cardiology, family medicine, and information technology.
GYNECOLOGIC SURGERY
In addition to requesting dermatology, our host hospital in Cliza requested that this year’s multi-specialty mission team include a gynecologic surgeon. As our mission last year was concluding, hospital director Dr. José Ortega personally invited Dr. Ellen Eye to return. Puente de Solidaridad Executive Director Patricia Vargas explains the need: “In almost all Level 2 hospitals, gynecologic care is focused on obstetric care. Having a gynecologic surgeon, working together with Bolivian surgeons, helps the doctors here develop their skills in other areas that women need.”
Dr. Ellen Eye (seated) speaks to a patient with support from Bolivian volunteer interpreter, Dr. Denisse Ibáñez.
Dr. Eye is partnering with the local doctors to provide surgeries ranging from minimally-invasive laparoscopic hysterectomies to a complex sacrocolpopexy to correct a complete pelvic organ prolapse. Even seemingly routine surgeries can become challenging. After one complex hysterectomy, Dr. Ellen notes that it was one of the more difficult cases she has faced in her career. Dr. Eye is impressed with how smoothly the team was able to work through it, noting in particular the role of her partnering gynecologist, Dr. Maribel Rodriquez. "Maribel is very skilled. There is no way I could have done this without her." The hours-long surgery was a challenge for the doctors, but the results will be transformative. “[The patient] has been in pain for so many years. This will change her life." In her typical low-key style, Dr. Eye reflects, “It’s been a good week so far.”
CARDIOLOGY
The hospital also sought to again partner with our team in cardiology. San Juan de Dios Hospital does not have a cardiology department, so heart issues are managed by one of their internal medicine doctors, or in serious cases are referred to specialists in Cochabamba. Cardiologist Dr. Mark Ottolin, a twelve-time US missioner, brought his portable echocardiogram machine and has been busy in the clinic all week. Patients have ranged from the elderly with Chagasic heart disease, to patients with concerns that turn out to be non-serious musculoskeletal chest pain, to young children with congenital heart defects. For the second year in a row, Dr. Ottolin is working closely with Bolivian physician José Campos. With his knowledge of the local reality and culture, Dr. Campos is better able to read between the lines and signal to Dr. Ottolin when more information or a different explanation is necessary to communicate the complexity of a patients’ condition. In turn, Dr. Ottolin shares his knowledge with Dr. Campos, demonstrating how different heart conditions can be visualized through an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart showing cardiac anatomy and physiology of blood flow. The cardiology clinic expects to see over 70 patients this week.
Dr. Alvaro Encinas; Solidarity Bridge Director of Development Catherine Werner; volunteer Sr. Pabla González, and Puente de Solidaridad staff member Alfonso Flores, at one of the rural clinics where Dr. Encinas provided care.
FAMILY MEDICINE
Hospital San Juan de Dios also welcomed our team’s family medicine physician, Dr. Alvaro Encinas, to support and exchange experiences with his peers in the hospital’s family medicine department. Rather than working at the hospital itself, Dr. Encinas has traveled each day to one of the hospital’s outpost clinics to see patients in their home communities. In doing so, he is unburdening the outpost doctors by helping to lighten their load and freeing the hospital doctors to remain at San Juan de Dios to attend to hospital patients. Alvaro’s days have been full and long, seeing many patients and offering consultation, treatment, and education. He makes sure that each patient is given the full attention and time they need. “The patients have waited a long time to be seen, and they have been very patient and very appreciative.” Alvaro shared that he loves visiting the outpost clinics and takes great joy in coming to Bolivia, where he has familial ties. This joy is what keeps him coming back again and again. This is Dr. Encinas’s sixth mission with Solidarity Bridge.
IT specialists Ignacio Viadez of the Cliza Hospital and missioner Alex Calderon.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
A brand new “specialty” on this trip is Information Technology. This year, our team includes two IT specialists, Alex Calderon and Chet Melinsky. As you can imagine, reading this blog on your computer or mobile device, IT systems are essential to modern-day hospitals. Alex and Chet’s initial work centered on assessing the hospital’s current system. Working with the hospital’s IT professional, Ignacio Viadez, Alex and Chet completed a full mapping of the system and helped set up changes to improve wifi within the building. However, the most critical piece of its IT isn’t located at the hospital—the hub of Cliza’s IT sits in the offices of the municipal government that oversees the hospital.
The government is in the process of installing a new network over the coming months, and invited Alex and Chet to review the system and offer advice on planned improvements. After evaluating the network design, they confirm that it will be a significant improvement in both performance and security. Alex and Chet are working on a design document to help the municipality’s IT team better connect to more remote healthcare locations. According to Chet, “Overall, the local IT team is making progress in improving their network availability and security.”
Across these five specialties, our U.S. missioners have been working with their Bolivian colleagues to learn from one another and collaborate in making life better for our patients and the wider community. Along with the care and support of our chaplains and the vital work of our interpreters and supply and logistics experts, the MSMT team has created an environment of trust, cross-cultural connection, friendship, and growth. All of this makes the MSMT quite special indeed.