First Cases - Healing in Venezuela
April 1, 2000 6:03 PM Barcelona, Venezuela

D'Juanna White Satcher, a pediatrician with the Operation Rainbow team carries a patient scheduled for repair of "club feet". The surgery is one of 13 completed by the Operation Rainbow surgical teams Saturday, April 1, 2000.

In many of the surgical cases, Operation Rainbow doctors are working side by side with Venezuelan medical residents and doctors, helping them learn new skills and improve techniques learned during their education.

Dr. Steve Drew shares insight into a case with Venezuelan surgical residents. Drew, who was repairing a cleft lip, has completed 5 other missions with Operation Rainbow.

The parents, family and friends play games and pace with children in their arms as they wait for surgeries scheduled for later in the day. In addition to the 20 Operation Rainbow volunteers, a local volunteer organization, Fundamigos HLP, has dozens of volunteers assisting the surgical team, entertaining children, and coordinating logistics of the medical mission.

Operation Rainbow Nurse Elva Williamson, RN comforts a child during a walk down the hallway to the operating room. Williamson is the Team Head Operating Room Nurse on her third mission with Operation Rainbow. "I enjoy working with children and helping people in third world countries. I also enjoy sharing ideas and learning from the people I work with."

After surgery, a child wakes afraid, and in some pain. The Operation Rainbow team tries to get parents into the recovery room quickly following surgery. Here, a father comforts his crying child minutes following surgery at Razetti hospital.

At the close of each surgery, the Operation Rainbow team surgeons document care and condition of the patients placed in their charge. Here, Dr. Rick Bosshardt turns a hospital bed into a desk and writes post operative instructions in a patient chart.

First Looks - Assessing the need
April 1, 2000 9:20 PM Barcelona, Venezuela

The hallway in the basement of Dr. Luz Razetti hospital erupted into applause as the team of 20 volunteers from Operation Rainbow made their way to a small room which doubled as reception hall and assessment room. Waiting for the team were potential surgical patients and their families. The expectant looks from each expressed the hope that the visiting doctors, nurses, and lay volunteers would provide change in their lives by repairing the deformities and birth defects.
[. . . read more . . . ]

Delivering the instruments of change
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 transferred to a military C130 for a short flight to Barcelona, on the northern coast of Venezuela. [. . . read more . . . ]

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.