With Dr. Joe Hurley, center, and Dr. Carcamo, a Salvadoran obstetrician.

As a Catholic physician with an interest in surgery, I was very excited to learn about Helping Hands Medical Missions and the work they have been doing around the world. Since 1996, teams of about 25-45 volunteers, nurses, dentists, and physicians (both primary care and specialist) have been setting out on annual week-long trips to the third world, including Sonsonate and Santiago Texacuangos, El Salvador, to provide medical care to thousands of impoverished patients. More importantly, through their encounters the missionaries also aim to bring the gospel and it’s saving message to every patient they encounter.

Although it wasn’t my first time in El Salvador, it was the first time I visited in the capacity of a physician. On arrival, I learned that with the exception of general surgeon Dr. Joe Hurley and orthopaedic hand surgeon Dr. Don Condit, I was the only one with significant experience in the operating room and as a result I would be spending most of the week assisting the surgeons.  I spent the first three days operating with Dr. Hurley, and together we repaired approximately thirty hernias, which in an agricultural economy like that of El Salvador can be very debilitating. The next day I spent with Dr. Condit, who had a variety of cases including excision of a wrist ganglion cyst, a free toe phalanx transfer to lengthen the fingers of a child with a malformed hand, and a tendon transfer operation to restore some hand and wrist function to a patient with a permanent nerve palsy.

I also was able to spend two days with the primary care team, where my Spanish came in VERY handy. Although some patients presented to receive vitamins and over-the-counter analgesics like ibuprofen and tylenol, and others just for someone to visit with, I was satisfied to make a few diagnoses including ringworm and asthma and initiate the appropriate treatment.

Woven into the mission work was a great spiritual program. The week was structured almost like a “mini-retreat,” with daily Mass and time for private reflection. Father James Perez served as our chaplain.

In the future I hope to involve the TLAU becados in the HHMM mission in Sonsonate. Many Salvadoran students and volunteers, both medical and non-medical, provided great help to keep the mission running smoothly. I think it would be a great opportunity for them to join the HHMM volunteers and witness firsthand what it means to take the talents you have received and give them to others.  The Least Among Us always emphasizes that scholarships are not merely paths to material advancement, but widespread cultural change and a lifetime of self-improvement.

I met many very enjoyable personalities and made many friends during the trip. Although everyone worked very hard, we still found time to have fun. It may have been my first mission with Helping Hands, but it definitely won’t be my last!

For more photos, see our Picasaweb page. For more information about Helping Hands Medical Missions, or if you wish to make a donation or volunteer on a mission trip, visit their website for more information: www.hhmm.org.

(Disclaimer – My Helping Hands Medical Missions trip was not funded by The Least Among Us.  As stated in our mission statement, 100% of all donations are used directly on educational capital projects and scholarships.)

Assisting Dr. Don Condit with a tendon transfer procedure to restore some finger and wrist function in a patient with a disabling nerve palsy.