Surgery

Today I interviewed the Operating Theater Coordinator/Anesthesiologist, Luke Bot. He volunteered periodically at Faith Alive in the past, but joined the staff in February after working 35 years for the government. Asked the difference between Faith Alive and government hospitals, he looked at me as if I’d asked the difference between night and day. “It’s so glaring,” he said. Government jobs are just that – jobs. People at Faith Alive see their role as a calling, and actively invest in the poor, the widows, and the orphans.

Luke says the greatest surgical needs are ‘gadgets’ (tools and supplies) and people (doctors and nurses mostly). Surgeries are performed by volunteer doctors, both local and international. Since May they’ve performed 25 surgeries, from appendectomies to a total abdominal surgery (thanks Dr. Kieft!). You’ll see in the photo how the current operating table is being supported by an upturned stool. Faith Alive has a newer surgical bed stored in a container, but is waiting until after the rainy season to get it. The hard rains come suddenly, the table is underneath a lot of things, and they can’t risk taking things out and ruining them in the rain. Luke assures me the table’s sturdy as it is. It was wonderful to see boxes of surgical gloves that were once in my garage ’warehouse’ in Colorado. Please contact me if you’re able to donate any surgical tools or supplies, want to make a donation, or can volunteer at the clinic (any anesthesiologists out there who want to support Luke?).