Felipa - part 2

With still so much work left to be done on the modest new house we were building for Felipa, the team returned to the work site on Saturday the 9th to finish the job.  We ordered some additional material to complete the expanded scope of the project and got to work first thing in the morning.

Adding zinc sheeting to create the roof...

...and the walls

Coating the wood frame in termite poison

Building the door

With most of the construction done, we turned our focus to moving a boulder that had rested for decades in the spot where we intended to locate Felipa's primary walkway.  Two pry bars, 6 men and an hour later we were able to dislodge and remove the over 2-ton chunk of granite bedrock.  Felipa now has a clear path to the rest of the family compound and the nearby creek.

When I asked when Felipa was going move in to her new home her daughter said, 'as soon as you want to bring her!'  So we hopped in the PazSalud truck and drove just a little way up the road to help Felipa move her things.  When we arrived at her shack, I was surprised to see that it was actually in the process of being torn down by the new landowner and she was living in the half the 10'x15' shanty she occupied before.  Some volunteers and I gathered up her minimal possessions and brought her to her daughters home where we just completed construction on her new house.

Escorting Felipa to her new home

Testing out her new hammock

Me, Felipa and Maira

Felipa was thrilled and overwhelmed with her new home.  In contrast to her old one, her new house is larger, lighter, cooler and safer than her previous space and being located on the same land as her daughter and grandchildren is a huge bonus.  We hope it will be a comfortable and safe place for her to spend her remaining years.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the volunteer team members

A huge 'thank you' to everyone from Tamanique who so generously volunteered their time and effort to realize this dream for Felipa.  Without their labor and their spirit, none of this would have been possible.

A special 'thank you' as well to Jim and Jan Streff and other PazSalud donors who allowed the project to even be imagined.  The total cost of giving a very special old woman a new home was roughly $800.  What may not seem like much to us in the U.S. can literally change a life in El Salvador.  Sometimes modest donations combined with communal effort and a simple vision can accomplish an amazing goal.  That's the work we strive to do every day at PazSalud.

Felipa - part 1

PazSalud recently met an elderly woman named Felipa who lives on the Salvadoran coast not far from Puerto Libertad.  She was living alone in a dilapidated tin lean-to and had built her furniture out of rocks she collected from the nearby creek.  When the heavy rains fell they poured through the many holes in her roof, soaking her and her meager belongings.

Her visitors chair

My father came to El Salvador in October of 2015 and we visited Felipa to give her a PazSalud quilt.  He was so moved by Felipa's living conditions and her positive, resilient personality that he committed to helping her in whatever way she wanted.  Maira (the local CIS promoter) and I talked to Felipa and she told us that what she needed most was a new roof so we got some materials estimates, drew up a proposal and my parents, Jim and Jan Streff, generously donated the funds needed to help her.

Shortly after, I became engulfed in planning PazSalud's General Medical Mission and didn't have the time needed to focus on Felipa's house.  Meanwhile, life intervened and Felipa was going to be forced to move out of her shack because the property it was on was changing ownership and she was no longer allowed to live there.  Fixing her roof wasn't the problem; she had to find a place to live.  Her daughter, who lives nearby, invited her to live on her property but she was going to need to build a place of her own.  So Maira assembled a team of volunteers comprised of builders, carpenters and general laborers, put together a revised budget, got us a good deal on materials and supplies and on Saturday (April 2) I met everyone at the constructions site and we began to build Felipa new house.

We first had to level the land to create a foundation for her house, build a retaining wall out of rocks we foraged from the dry riverbed close by, clear some overhead mango tree branches that could be hazardous in the rainy season, construct the framework and begin applying the zinc sheeting we'll use for walls and a roof.

Even with 15 volunteers on Saturday and Sunday and working 10 hour days, we weren't able to finish.  I'll go back next Saturday (April 9) to hopefully finish the job.  We still have a lot of work to do but we need to finish before the rainy season begins (typically in mid-May) and help Felipa move in to her new surroundings.

Blankets for Tamanique

Every year a former PeaceHealth employee and her sisters hand-make and donate quilts to PazSalud to distribute to needy families and individuals from our mission communities.  This year I worked with Maira - our local CIS coordinator who helped us with our General Medical Mission – to identify some people in Tamanique who greatly needed and appreciated this small gesture of friendship and solidarity with the people of El Salvador.  It was a joy to see so many happy, smiling faces at receiving something they will treasure for years to come.

We made two main stops in Tamanique.  Below are scenes from the first delivery:

Maira talking to the group of women

Selecting a blanket

A happy mother

 We then stopped in another area further away to distribute more blankets:

Using the PazSalud vehicle to display the blankets they could choose

 

Very happy mothers

We met some other very needy families along the way and were thrilled we could give them a blanket:

Patient Pre-surgey Meeting

We just completed out second and final meeting on Saturday to prepare our cataract and pterygium  patients from Tamanique for the upcoming PazSalud Eye Surgery Mission on May 11.  The pre-surgery meetings are designed to go over the logistics of the event, address their concerns and provide them with an opportunity to ask us anything they want.  We're anticipating that we'll have 67 patients this year among which we'll have 48 cataract and 23 pterygium surgeries (some patients have more than one surgery).

A huge 'thank you' goes out to Maira, Rosa and Rosy for all the help they gave me in coordinating and conducting these meetings.

Rosy, Rosa and Maira fielding questions from the group

Rosa registering a patient

Maira conferring with a patient

Medical donations

After every mission, PazSalud donates surplus, unused medications to the local health clinics who are very grateful to receive the items, most of which are not available to them.

This is one of the many ways PazSalud demonstrates it's commitment to the communities with whom we work and show our appreciation for all the support they gave us to make our February, 2015  mission such a success.

Mission volunteers

Absolutely essential to a successful mission is close collaboration and coordination with local volunteers and once again we’re lucky to be working with a motivated and capable team of people from Tamanique.  The volunteer team assists us with myriad tasks during the mission and without them it would be impossible for us to provide the care we do in the rural areas we like to serve.  They identify needy patients for the mission, coordinate their transport to and from the mission site, they register patients, help them navigate the various stages of the mission, interpret for our volunteers and help with many, many additional tasks.

Their dedication and devotion to helping the poorest members of their community is inspiring and we’re proud to work side-by-side with them to create a healthier and happier future for Tamanique.

Maira, our local coordinator, explaining the mission to volunteers

Discussing the patient flow at the mission site

Our diagram of where the medical team members will be located

Mission preparation

Among the mountain of details involved in planning a PazSalud mission one of the most important is coordinating daily lunches for the team.  We need to ensure that the food is healthy and prepared with the hygiene standards to which most Americans are accustomed.  Starting early in the morning and working long days means that good food is integral to a successful mission experience.

Maira and I met last week with a group of local cooks who are experienced in cooking for large delegations.  We discussed menu options and the various hygiene standards to which we’ll ask them to adhere.

Maira meeting with the cooks.

Visit to San Rafael Hospital

It's never too early to start planning the 2015 missions so our local coordinator, Maira Romero, long-time PazSalud friend and nurse, Rosy Melara, and I went to visit San Rafael Hospital in Santa Tecla in August to talk to with them about the eye surgery mission we would like them to host in May.

We met with the new hospital director, Dr. Yeerles Luis Angel Ramírez, to introduce ourselves and PazSalud and talk about how we could work together in 2015 to provide cataract and pterygium surgeries to the patients of Tamanique (the location of our 2015 General Mission in February).

Then on Kathy Garcia’s recent trip to El Salvador took the opportunity to tour the facilities in greater detail and begin mapping out our patient flow and personnel location.  Rosy, a long-time San Rafael Hospital employee, joined us to introduce us to her former coworkers.  This will be PazSalud’s fifth time working in San Rafael Hospital so at this point it feels like a second home.

Maira, Dr. Yeerles, Rosy

Operating room in San Rafael

Rosy and Kathy touring the operating area