| Each volunteer on the mission is invited to share their thoughts and reactions to the project with you here. You can respond to their comments via e mail or on the discussion page. |
March 31, 2000 6:44 PM Barcelona, Venezuela
Operation Rainbow's mission to Venezuela hit the ground at 8:54 PM Thursday local time, arriving at Simon Bolivar airport in Caracas. The team then transfered to a military C130 for a short flight to Barcelona, on the northern coast of Venezuela.
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The mission team is 20 volunteers: 5 surgeons, 1 pediatrician, 9 nurses, 2 nurse anesthetists, 1 anesthesiologist, and 2 program coordinators. According to Dr. Ana Velasquez de Manyon, President of Fundamigos, a non profit organization in Venezuela who invited the Operation Rainbow team, this is the fourth medical mission team to visit the hospital in Barcelona, but the first team from Operation Rainbow.
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Dr. Ana Velasquez de Manyon greets Sue Ellen Ruggles and the rest of the Operation Rainbow team at Simon Bolivar airport in Caracas, Venezuela. |
Friday's schedule involves initial patient assessments of the group of patients selected by the local medical teams. The week's operations, called "cases" by the mission team members, are scheduled after an assessment by the Operation Rainbow surgeons and their Venezuelan counterparts.
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"Today began with a very warm welcome from the medical director of the hospital Dr. Fernando Rodriguez, and a blessing of the mission by the hospital chaplain. Then we were introduced to our professional counterparts from Venezuela. Then they took us to our rooms where we began patient assessments," said Sue Ellen Ruggles, Executive Director of Operation Rainbow. "The rest our day includes extensive teaching, unpacking supplies and setting up the operating rooms," Ruggles said. |
 A truck loaded with supplies for surgeries backs up to a military C-130 aircraft Thursday evening in Caracas, Venezuela.. |
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In addition to the 16 boxes of orthopeadic supplies and the 7 boxes of plastic surgery supplies carried by the team on the flight, a cargo ship arrived in Venezuela last week carrying a container filled with 335 boxes of donated medical supplies. The medical supplies were donated by Maxxim Medical and additional supplies provided by Texas Children's Hospital, Leesburg Regional Medical center, and Ethicon. |
 Venezuelan military and civilian volunteers load a military C130 aircraft with some of the 22 boxes of donated medical supplies |
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"The majority of these supplies will be left as a donation to Fundamigos, and Hospital Razetti," Ruggles explained. The team has a three fold purpose: to enhance the training of the local doctors who specialize in plastic and orthopaedic surgery; to perform cases which are difficult or require the expertise of the team members, and to bring necessary supplies to do the cases which are unavailable in Venezuela. |
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The
Universal Language of Caring
F.R. "Fritz" Nordengren -
Project Producer
Welcome and thank you for taking time in your life to share the stories contained in this site. What you are reading is the result of work begun in August, 1999 in Armenia. During the mission there, the idea for this site was born.
Now, though the cooperation of the project sponsors, and my fellow producer Tom Burton, we are able to bring our work and the work of Operation Rainbow to you via the web.
This web site gives you, the reader, a chance to participate in a mission to heal children in Venezuela. While you may not be able to attend in person, what you will read here are the thoughts, reactions, and observations of the events, as they unfold. Once or twice each day, the project participants will publish new stories, photographs, and interviews with the team members, patients, and families making this project possible.
The people who you will meet and get to know come from a variety of backgrounds, nations, and families, yet all share a common language . . . the language of caring. We look forward to having you with us March 31, - April 8, 2000.