Webmaster's note: A group of District 5220 Rotarians and medical volunteers visited Oaxaca, Mexico to perform cleft lip and cleft palate surgery on children. Following is a January 26 presentation made by PDG Nick Mascitelli to about 250 people at the D5220 Trivia Challenge event. After Nick's presentation notes are email messages, most recent first, that we received from District Rotaplast Chair Jane Winning describing the trip.

[January 26, 2008] Cathy and I just returned early Monday morning, 1:30 AM, from an eight-day trip to Oaxaca, Mexico on a Rotaplast Medical Mission to repair cleft lips and cleft palates which are among the most common of all birth defects.

I don’t know how many of you have seen the Rotaplast logo but it incorporates the words – Saving smiles and Changing lives and now we know first hand what that means.

This Rotaplast Mission was funded by many of the clubs in Rotary District 5220.

There were 22 of us on the team. There were 9 non-medical volunteers. From our District, were Cathy and I, Larry and Gay Slates from the Madera Rotary Club and Jan and Lyle Zitec from Madera Sunrise. We had 13 medical-volunteers. 2 plastic surgeons and 1 resident, 2 pediatricians, 3 anesthesiologists and 5 nurses, one of which was our own Jane Winning from Madera Rotary.

During the week 79 patients were screened and of that number 48 received surgery. Cathy and I spent most of our time in the pediatrics ward and in the recovery room and were able to get to know the children and their parents.

While we were there we fell in love with two of the youngest patients, 3 month old Dulce Maria (Sweet Mary) and baby Salvadore, also 3 months. These babies were absolutely adorable even with their cleft lips and after the operation, in the recovery room as we were holding them, you could tell that in a few weeks there wouldn’t even be a sign of the surgery and the operations were total successes.

All of the children were beautiful and they had smiles on their faces even before the surgery but their beauty was obscured and hidden by their deformity. After the surgery, even with the swelling and stitches, you could see their smile had been saved.

These children’s lives have been changed forever. They will have beautiful smiles, be able to speak and eat as others do, they will be accepted by other children and not be ridiculed, their families will be proud of them not ashamed and they will be able to live a normal life as do other children who were not born with the deformities.

SAVING SMILES – CHANGING LIVES

These children will not remember us but we will always remember them.

We hope that each of you will be able to experience the same kind of trip someday.

[Jan 20, 2008] I apologize that I have not written all week but being a shorter trip we have not had any free time. For those that received my last email you know we arrived on Saturday Jan 12 started clinic on Sunday and Surgery on Monday. Each day we were up about 515AM to get in the van by 630 to start surgery between 730 and 800AM. We ran two surgery suites, recovery and then the children went out to the Medical floor to spend the night. We would get in at night from 8PM - 9PM, Needless to say they were very long days so everyone was pretty much only interested in having a bite to eat and going to bed to start the day over. We completed 48 surgeries on children and did 69 procedures. Depending on the number of procedures surgery time varied from 1 1/2hrs to 4 hrs. The primary procedures were cleft lip and cleft palate repair with a few other things thrown in. There are several stories and the Rotary volunteers Nick and Kathy Mascitelli, Larry and Gay Slates, and Jan and Lyle Zytek will have many to tell. It is truly an awesome experience for a medical person but for a volunteer it is incredible. One that comes to mind is a mother who walked several days with her 6 year old daughter only to arrive after we had completed the clinic on Sunday. She was given some misinformation by someone around the hospital that if she worked in the kitchen maybe we would see her. On Thursday one of our Rotarian Drs. who spoke Spanish happened upon this mother who was crying. He, thinking she was a mother of a child that we had done, inquired about her tears. She explained what had happened and since they had no money they had not eaten so the child was evaluated by the physicians and we were able to put the child on our schedule that afternoon. She was six years old and had a primary cleft lip with a palate that had never been repaired. We performed both surgeries that afternoon. Both mother and daughter's clothes were filthy and in tatters. Several members of our group went out and bought a couple of outfits, underclothes etc and arranged for some food for mom. Apparently when the little girl was born the father left them because of the defect so they have been on their own for 6 years. The stories go on and on X 47 more cases. We have lots of pictures and will be glad to share with anyone who might be interested.

We did our post op clinic today and the kids look so good and the parents so proud. We had a dinner last night where the Governor's wife was present and as per usual we were suppose to be there at 8PM and dinner started at 10PM and we got home at 1230AM but we got to sleep and hour later so we aren't complaining. We actually saw things in the daylight this afternoon and got to walk around and visit some of the local artists. Tonight is our final thank you dinner that is provided by us to thank the hospital staff and Rotarians for hosting us all week. We start our trek home at 830AM and hopefully will land in SF at 10PM. Of course with all airlines all times are subject to whatever is going on at the time you want to get on the plane.

For those of you in this list that are Rotarians I just read the International President Elect address that he just gave and his direction for children and I can't think of a better project to make a difference in the life of a child. Not only are we making a cosmetic difference but we are improving their nutrition as many cannot eat properly therefore they then are sick a lot so it is a never ending circle.

Personally it is so rewarding to know that I had a small part in making a major difference in the life of a child.

[January 15, 2008] Some of you may know that I m on a Rotaplast mission to Oaxaca Mexico which is the surgical team that does cleft lip and cleft palate repair. We left on Saturday Jan 12 and will be returning on late on Sunday Jan 20. As per usual we arrived rather tired after being up some 16 hours plus and this trip was on our side of the world. There is just no easy way to fly. It takes a long time to go anywhere and all airlines make it challenging. We were provided a welcome dinner after we arrived at 900PM which meant we didn't get to bed until 12 Mn and we had to be up and on a bus by 630AM. Needless to say we were all dragging even the young members of our group. Our team is made up of 9 volunteers, 2 plastic surgeons, 3 anesthesiologists, 3 OR nurses, 2 PACU nurses, and pediatricians.

Oaxaca is like so many other south american cities. Lots of poor people mixed in with others. We start our trip with holding a clinic on Sunday. We screened about 90 patients to come up with a surgery schedule for about 40-50. Clinic preparation started at 7AM and we finished about 6PM by the time we got back to the hotel. Being that we were tired from the day before it was a long day but everyone was running on adrenaline and excitement and anticipation of what was to come. We started our day on Monday by getting on our bus at 630AM and returning about 8PM. We ran two operating rooms and completed 10 procedures. Doesn't sound like a lot but then we don't work under the normal routine and everyone is bringing their own past experiences. For a medical team that has never worked together it is a phenomenal picture what we can accomplish. For the volunteers it is an amazing experience for them and quite an eye opener. We have some amazing pictures and stories to share. This hospital is a children s hospital and really is quite nice by South American or Mexico standards. It is one of the best I have worked in in the 3rd world but it also has it draw backs.

Well someone else is waiting to use the computer so I must finish my stories later. We are fine and by days end too tired to do much except eat and go to bed to get ready to start the next day.

Comments and questions may be addressed to webmaster@rotary5220.org. We hope you enjoy your visit.

Rotary District 5220 - Serving California's Central Valley and Mother Lode