The story below, written by Dayna Rasor, a member of the Dr. Gibney plastic surgery team, took place in March of 1996 in the little town of Altamira on the Xingu River.

It is 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, and I am sitting at this computer. I cannot believe it. Tonight at 10:30 p.m. I arrived back in Phoenix from an experience that will remain close to my heart for many years. It was my Esperanca trip.

When I was in college studying for my nursing license, many years ago, I happened to catch a program on PBS that focused on a group that had a boat hospital on the Amazon. I was very impressed by the program; and at the time, I made a mental note that someday I would like to have the experience of working on a project like that. Well, my dream came true! The opportunity to travel to Brazil was offered to me by Dr. John Gibney and it was my dream of a lifetime.

We left for Belem/Altamira on March 5 from Phoenix. It was a full day of travel, but I was so excited I didn't care. When we arrived in Belem it was raining. The season is winter in Brazil, it rains occasionally - actually every occasion it gets, every day - and then it gets hot and muggy! Being from Arizona I enjoyed all that rain and since it was so hot, I did not get upset at being wet. From Belem we flew to a smaller town called Altamira, which would be our home for the next 2 1/2 weeks. We were given a short tour of the town and shown our hotel, then moved on to the hospital where we would be working and having our clinic.

The most important item to have at hand is your trusty Portuguese/English dictionary. I used it constantly! The people are very patient when it comes to 'seek and find' words in the dictionary. They even laugh and help you with pronunciation. We were fortunate enough to have a bilingual nurse, Jovina. She was the link that we had with our patients, hospital staff and the rest of the Brazilian community. She was also a great asset for me. Every day I received a lesson in culture, menu selection, and Brazilian humor. She was a wonderful roommate, an excellent teacher and had more patience with all of us that I could imagine.

Before we left Phoenix we had been told that there were about 15 cases for us to see and treat. We arrived at the hospital to find that patients started arriving at 6 a.m. to see if they qualified for surgery. There certainly were more than 15 - more like 100. What an afternoon! We triaged the patients to see which ones we could help. We scheduled 37 cases for the next 2 1/2 weeks.

Clea Machado, 5 years old, after surgery to correct cleft nose, is shown with her mother, Maria do Socorro.

The cases that we saw ranged anywhere from burns, cleft palate/cleft lip, to a multitude of birth defects. Once our schedule was full, we were ready to start surgery the next day. We performed surgery every day except Sundays, so our lives were very busy at the hospital. When we were not in surgery our hosts had activities planned every evening and Sunday. There was never a dull moment! I used six rolls of film during my time with Esperanca.

 
Patient Nilda Morales, whose web fingers have been repaired, being treated by Dr. John Gibney and nurse Jovina.

Our stay in Altamira came to a close and I must share with you some of my thoughts on what we did and the impact it had on everyone's lives. What I found to be the most rewarding were the smiles we received from the patients the day after surgery.

To be able to have such a positive impact on someone's life was staggering for me. To see the babies formerly with cleft palate and cleft lip have positive results from surgery and to feel that you have given these children a new start in life was very moving. The mothers looked so happy about the result of the surgeries! To see the appreciation displayed by the burn patients was overwhelming. Although I had a small part in this trip, I feel like I accomplished a lot.

Left to Right: Anesthesiologist Richard Reid, patient Kerly Christina, 9 years old, nurse Jovina and John Gibney, plastic surgeon - the team that author Dayna Rasor was a part of March 1996.

Our surgery team consisted of Dr. John Gibney, Dr. Richard Reid, Mike Sepulveda, Jovina and me. The preoperative and post-operative care- which is vital in the total surgical treatment - is taken by the doctors and staff of the Altamira Hospital. Without them we would not have had an effective outcome. They were all great - especially how they had to deal with our lack of Portuguese knowledge, the use of sign language, and our take-over of their surgery department!

The Esperanca experience gave me more insight and understanding about a modified form of socialized medicine. I will admit that it gave me a refreshing look at our capitalistic system and a greater appreciation of what we might lose in the years to come. It also once again confirmed my belief in God.

Would I do this Esperanca experience again? In a heart beat!