Many Hands Help One Child

How many Children of the Americas volunteers did it take to make the scene in this photograph happen? This little boy was one of our surgery patients this past January in Guatemala. His mother brought him to our free medical clinic in hopes of getting his hernia repaired, which was something she had not been able to afford to do for her son.
The gown he is wearing was donated to our organization, and one of our volunteers drove to the donor hospital, and loaded the boxes of gowns and other supplies into her car. Roger Teague, our volunteer in charge of trucking supplies, drove the boxes to our warehouse, which is located in Winchester, KY. The blanket that is lying on Pedro was lovingly made by a sewing group in Mt. Carmel, Indiana. They drive over a hundred hand-made quilts down to us every year, which we donate to our pediatric patients. These items are usually the first new blanket any of our patients have owned. The supplies used to give Pedro a bath before surgery were donated by Supplies Over Seas in Louisville, KY. Going through their warehouse meant a team of our COTA volunteers spent a long and very hot day going through box after box of items we might need, and packed them for all of the "Pedro's" who might benefit.

The IV in his hand, the armband on his wrist and the sheet under him were all gleaned from different hospital donations around the U.S. and saved in garages and basements until COTA had our packing day in September. The medicines Pedro needed post-operative were donated by our board member Mike Branstetter, who is one of our volunteer pharmacists.
We fed Pedro and his mother while they were with us in Guatemala with funds donated to COTA. Each medical caretaker he encountered paid their own international plane ticket to provide care for him. The surgeon left his two little boys and his wife in the states for a week to be able to use his talents to operate on Pedro. The monitoring machines in the operating room were donated and hand-carried to Guatemala by our anesthesia volunteers. Betsy cared for Pedro in our post-op unit, Kelley used her pediatric talents to nurse him back to health on the unit and Bernice volunteered her language skills to translate medical care questions and directions to Pedro's mother. None of the above events would have come together without the diligent efforts of our COTA board members who spend many months planning our team trips to Guatemala.
When Pedro was discharged, he faced a long and painful walk of 4 blocks to the nearest bus. Erin made sure he had money for a taxi. After all that, what do you think was the one thing he asked for?
Money so that he would pay his school fees and return to his education. Jennifer donated the necessary funding.
How many hands of United States volunteers did it take to make this happen for Pedro? Too many to count. We hope he is carrying his newly donated backpack to school, no longer in pain from his hernia. Many hands, many hearts and countless hours helped 128 patients regain their health this past January, and are preparing to do the same in early 2013. Job well done!