A sustaining gift

Darren writes:

Single mother Sonia and her 3 children are among the people PazSalud works with to ensure that they are able to meet the many challenges of life in El Salvador.  With a generous gift from PeaceHealth's Chris Keough, Sonia purchased a sewing machine that she uses to make and sell children's clothing to earn a modest living to support her family.  

Simple, affordable donations like these can make a huge impact on someone's life in El Salvador and PazSalud is proud to facilitate this type of empowering, dignifying, sustainable development.

If you'd like to work with Sonia or any of our other deserving families, please reach out to us.

An Atol Fiesta

Darren writes: 

Anyone who has ever served on a mission will testify to the remarkable humbleness, kindness and graciousness of the Salvadoran patients and volunteers at our missions.  One of the best parts of working for PazSalud in El Salvador is getting to continually interact with all those incredible people, many of whom I see on regular basis. 

During our recent eye surgery mission in Cojutepeque we performed a successful pterygium surgery on Maria Cruz (shown in the photo above).  One day she called me up to invite me to her house to drink atol, a typical, seasonal Salvadoran drink made from corn.  Because it's in season we also enjoyed some fresh ears of boiled corn-on-the-cob.  I made the trip to Maria's house with Yesenia - the indispensable local coordinator from both of PazSalud's missions this year - and her daughter Alison (shown below with the bowls of atol and fresh corn on the table).

Maria is poor and could not have afforded the surgery she received from PazSalud.  This was her way of saying 'thank you' for all PazSalud did to help her.  Here she is with family in the portal of her home, the place where company is always received in rural Salvadoran homes.

Clean water for Estanzuelas Families

One of the cornerstones of PazSalud's work in El Salvador is our commitment to our mission communities well after our two main medical brigades are completed.  We live that commitment in a number of ways: one of the most significant is working with a local NGO to provide water filters to families.

During PazSalud's February General Medical Mission, our medical team identifies patients - especially children - who suffer serious health effects from drinking contaminated water and 'prescribes' them a filter.  We then work with our local mission coordinator to follow-up with these families by training them on the need for, and use of, a water filter.  Simultaneously PazSalud raises funds to purchase the excellent and easy-to-use Sawyer water filters (http://sawyer.com/international/products/sawyer-pointone-filter-with-bucket-adapter-kit-3-ft-hose/) in the U.S.  Our goal is to provide 100 filters to every mission community we work with.

We collaborate with the CIS (Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad) to provide the training that makes the water filter project work.  Participants are required to come to three sessions, in which they learn why clean water is essential, and how to install, use and clean the Sawyer filters.  A local Water Committee is formed that visits all the families to make sure they are using the filters correctly.

Here are scenes from the training sessions in Estanzuelas, our 2013 Mission site:

This woman is drilling a hole in her bucket (the filter packets come complete with a small hand drill) as preparation for installing the filter.

The completed assembly: the Sawyer system works with two buckets, with water fed by gravity from a higher bucket through the filter and into a lower bucket.  The group photo below shows what the completed system looks like:

Sister Eleanor Gilmore, 1932 - 2014

Our beloved founder, Sister Eleanor Gilmore, died Saturday, July 12th after suffering a massive stroke. Here is some information about her amazing life of service with PeaceHealth, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and the people of El Salvador:

Sister Eleanor Gilmore, (Sister Estelle), a woman whose life was marked by peace, courage and a  joyful spirit, died July 12, 2014 in Bellevue, Washington.  A Sister of St. Joseph of Peace, Sister Eleanor served in leadership for her community and with PeaceHealth; she ministered to the people of El Salvador during the Civil War of the late 1980s and later returned to found PazSalud, the El Salvador Health Care Mission of PeaceHealth and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. 

Eleanor Catherine Gilmore was born in Seattle in 1932, the only child of Michael and Anne Gilmore.  She described her vocation as a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace as a “mysterious gift of joy” that interrupted her plans to marry a young man she’d met in England.   She entered the community in 1955, earned a B.A. in Seattle University, trained as a nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital, Eugene, Oregon, and earned a Masters in Hospital Administration from St. Louis University.

Sister Eleanor served as Administrator at St. John’s PeaceHealth Hospital in Longview, Washington and as operating room supervisor at Sacred Heart PeaceHealth Hospital, Eugene, Oregon; she was elected as Councilor for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Generalate in 1970 and as Province Leader for the Western Region in 1982, leading  the community through years of great change in religious life.

Eleanor’s life changed dramatically when she decided to work in El Salvador in 1988, during the final years of the Salvadoran Civil War.  With Jesuit Refugee Services, she organized a sanctuary in San Salvador for country people needing to come to the capitol for health care.   Twice arrested during that time when religious workers were often threatened or deported, Eleanor still returned to work with the people she had come to love.  Later, as Vice President for Mission at PeaceHealth, she organized PazSalud, bringing medical teams to  serve poor rural communities in El Salvador.  She led that mission from 2001-2009. 

Since returning from El Salvador, Sister Eleanor has lived at St. Mary-on-the-Lake, Bellevue, WA, playing an active role in the life of the community, serving on PeaceHealth and Mercy Housing Boards, and delighting in travel to visit friends and family. She will be deeply missed by her family, community, PeaceHealth co-workers and many friends in El Salvador and around the world.

The Vigil Service will be on Wednesday, July 16, 7:00 p.m. at St. Mary-on-the-Lake, 1663 Killarney Way, Bellevue, WA.  The Mass of Christian Burial will be at Sacred Heart Church, 9460 NE 14^th St., Bellevue, on Thursday, July 17 at 10:30 a.m. Burial will be at 2 p.m. at Holyrood Catholic Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Retirement Fund or to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace for Paz Salud, the El Salvador Health Mission founded by Sister Eleanor, P.O. Box 248, Bellevue, WA 98009.

More from the Surgical Mission

Rod Butler sent us a sampling from his photos of the 2014 surgical mission, showing the group at work:

Above top, our volunteer nurse prepares patients for surgery; middle, surgeon Bruce and scrub tech in the midst of a cataract surgery; below, surgeon Tony with a patient.

And here is the surgical team, gathered at the Santisima Trinidad retreat house where the group stayed:

Darren sends the statistics for this hard-working group of volunteers:

• 58 surgeries
• 55 patients
• 48 cataracts
• 10 pterigiums
• 1 patient, two pterigiums 
• 2 patients, cataract and pterigium

Now that's a good week's work!

Surgery in progress

Susan writes:

Our 2014 surgery mission is taking place from May 10 - 19 at the National Hospital in Cojutepeque.  I'm not there this time, so I was thrilled that our good friend and most generous volunteer, Rossy Melara, posted photos from the mission on her FaceBook page. 

That's Darren, our PazSalud Coordinator, on the left; Rossy is in the middle, with Bruce and Terry on the right.  And here's a photo from inside the surgery suite:

I should be able to post more info about the week on Monday, when Darren and Kathy will have a bit more time.  This week, I know from five years' experience, they are completely absorbed in making sure that everything is done just right and in dealing with all the unexpected events that are sure to happen.

The patients this week were recommended for cataract surgery (or in a few cases to have pterygiums, growths from the conjunctiva, removed) by the examining optometrist.  Usually we only have patients from our General Medical Mission, held in San Pedro Perulapán, about a half hour's drive from the hospital, but this year we also have a number of patients from Estanzuelas who were recommended during a Bellingham Lions Eye Screening Mission.  This year marks an important first for us: for the first time, our surgeons will be using a Phaco Emulsifier - the equipment most often used for cataract surgeries in the U.S. - for many of the surgeries. 

Stay tuned for more news from the mission!

Before surgery

Darren writes:

After two group meetings/information sessions with our eye surgery patient candidates the next step for them is to complete the extensive series of pre-surgical exams at The National Hospital of Cojutepeque, the medical center hosting PazSalud for the Eye Surgery Mission on May 12-17.  Since we are only allowed to bring 5 patients per day for pre-exams and we hope to have 65 people participate in the mission, Yessenia - our local coordinator - and I have been slowly working our way through the group for several weeks now. 



Our days begin at 7:00 at the hospital when the group of patients meets with the social worker who helps them with the first step; getting a hospital file.  For many of our patients, this is their first time at the hospital, for some a first contact with Salvadoran doctors.  Connecting Salvadorans with their own government-sponsored, free health care system is one of the beneficial by-products of PazSalud missions.  Once the patients are registered at the hospital, the next step is to have a blood test, followed by a chest x-ray, an EKG and the taking of weights and measurements.  The days usually end by 1:30 with an internist interviewing patients to evaluate their fitness for surgery and so far everyone has qualified.  With a dozen patients to go we hope the streak continues.