“It’s not about the numbers.” That was the mantra heard daily — sometimes several times a day — from Dr. Bernard Quebral and some of the other 100-plus Minnesota volunteers on a medical mission last week to Mariveles District Hospital in the Philippines. It was heard Sunday after a “soft opening” that was meant to screen 300 patients who were there for surgeries that …
Out came the teeth, 12 in all. The extractions would at least temporarily stop the pain of one Filipino man, but it was emblematic of a nationwide crisis that yanked at the heart of an American dentist. “He’s 28. He has two children, and this was the first time he had been to a dentist,” said Dr. Kordie Reinhold, a Minneapolis dentist. “I …
As surgeons sliced a volleyball-sized tumor from the tummy of one anesthetized woman, another team of doctors about 10 feet across the room tied the tubes of another. In the room next door, teams fixed cleft palates on a pair of youngsters. Privacy, smivacy. Patients who have come to get help from the American doctors with the Philippine Minnesotan Medical Association are …
Jeff Turner calls it the happy station. There are no needles, no scalpels and no painful recoveries. The best part, though, is the almost instantaneous smiles that come with success. Turner is in charge of one of the busiest corners in an extremely busy Mariveles District Hospital in the Philippines. The new facility officially opened Monday, when a team of 100 Minnesota …
For some, Sunday was a very good day. For others, it was very hard. For all, it was historic. Under sunny skies with a cool sea breeze cutting the 90-degree heat, the new Mariveles District Hospital opened Sunday with Minnesota doctors screening about 300 Filipinos to determine who they could help via surgery in the week ahead. Three-year-old Bernard Fajrlo …
Time was short and decisions were necessary. Now. So they came up with a plan to surround Mariveles District Hospital with portable toilets and park a water tanker truck outside to supply water. It was far from ideal, but they were looking at a disaster. Scott Zimmer, of St. Paul, and an advance team of a handful of other Minnesotans …
(A group of Minnesota volunteers is on the way to the Philippines to provide health care to thousands in an impoverished area. Since the group is out of touch for about 24 hours while traveling, here’s a little more background on Dr. Bernard Quebral, who is leading the group — and the trip itself.) It wasn’t unusual for little Bernie …
In a few hours, I will board an airplane and fly about 8,000 miles to a land where I have never been to mingle with people who I have never met, amid more sickness and suffering than I have ever seen in one place. It’s a trip I chose to take. And I am not alone. About 100 residents of the …