Getting Ready to Open the Clinic - Lunes

First of all, we need to give our thanks right up front. We give praise and thanks to our Lord. We know that through Him, all things are possible.

This medical mission wouldn't have happened  without the School Sisters of St. Francis. These four very energetic Peruvian sisters have been working with our medical team for the past year to make this happen.

They ordered furniture for the clinic, arranged for translators, worked with the community to make all of the appointments, picked up 13 large boxes of donations, and have opened up their school and home to our team.

They had to work with the Peruvian Customs personnel so that eight more suitcases of medications could be brought into the country with the medical team. They also had to work with the Ministry of Health to ask for permission for the medical team to enter the country. Both organizationswere both helpful and approved the requests.

And then there's Charlie.  There aren't enough nice words to say about her. She's an angel in disguise. She's worked so hard over the past year, building the team, ordering medications and supplies for the trip and communicating well with all people involved in this mission trip.

And of course, there's the entire team of eight Christian women who were called to do God's work. Thank you for everything you are doing!

Donors...thank you. This medical mission couldn't take place without donors. The medical team would not be able to treat children of their intestinal parasites, provide vitamins for the pregnant women and children, treat the many elderly that have lung problems and arthritis and provide a variety of treatment here in Peru.

Now the work begins.

On Monday, it was a very busy day. The team had to unpack all of the 13 boxes of medical supplies that were sent through St. John the Baptist Church in Oklahoma. Thanks to Cheryl for sending our supplies.

Bulk vitamins and de-worming pills were purchased through Blessings International. For example, the one box of prenatal vitamins contained 14,000 vitamins and another box of children's vitamins contained 18,000 vitamins. These bulk vitamins had to be packaged into individual 30-day supply of vitamins. That was a big job!

 

 

Shelley's flight arrived at 7:30 am on Monday morning. Sister Matilde and Deb picked her up from the airport. It requires that one take a moto (5 minute ride) to the bus stop, take the bus into Piura (50 minute ride), take a taxi to the airport (15 minutes).  It is quite a trip.

Peggy arrived at 5:15pm that evening and the same round trip transportation was taken to pick her up from the airport. 

What do you think of how the clinic looks? The sisters and the team spent a lot of time setting it up. Hopefully, it will be okay once the patients arrive!

We've Finally Made it to Paita

It's been a long day and it's only 1pm on Sunday afternoon. Our last blog was 12 hours ago. It seemed like days ago. We had over seven hours at the airport. Once we deplaned, we had to go through immigration, customs and wait around until our last flight to Piura. Five of us took Avianca. Oh, what a nice airlines. The airplane we were in reminded us of the old Midwest Express with those large leather seats and excellent service. We were glad to experience a new airline company.

We left Lima at 5:40am this morning and deplaned in Paita around 7:30. It was in the low 70's and is to get up to the 80's today.

We sat with the sister and talked with them about our clinic and nutrition classes. Because the travelers were so tired, everyone decided to take a nap before the 7pm Mass this evening. Four people checked in at the local hotel (Nancy, Catherine, Miranda, Charlie) and two people are staying with the sisters (Deb and Ellen).

Here are a few pictures of our travels today.

In Peru and Tired

It's almost 1am and six of us are now in Lima, waiting to connect to our final flight to Piura.

Charlie, Miranda, Nancy, Ellen and Deb were all on the same flight, flying through Chicago to Panama and into Lima. Catherine just arrived from  Miami. Shelley was in Atlanta and encountered  thunderstorms. The storms delayed her flight causing her to miss her connecting flight to Peru. She's changed her reservations and will now be arriving on Monday morning. Peggy will arrive Monday afternoon after her trip to Machu Picchu.

The six of us willl be arriving in Piura at 7:30am today.

We'll post more later!

Meet Shelley

Shelley is very excited to join our team and we are lucky to have her. She is a certified nursing assistant, medical assistant and a fourth semester RN student at WCTC. She will graduate with her RN degree in December.  She has completed clinical rotations at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, Rogers Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph’s Medical Clinic in Waukesha.

Shelley is originally from the state of Arizona and moved to Wisconsin in 2006. She and her husband Eric have been married for 16 years and have 2 beautiful girls, ages 9 and 14.  She and her family live North Prairie, WI.

Meet Dr. Stickney

Dr. Peggy Stickney is a Family Medicine Physician and works with Froedert and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree in 2002 from the Medical College of Wisconsin as well as her residency at St. Michael’s Hospital with MCW. She currently has her practice in Sussex, WI.

Dr. Stickney is known for her caring and compassionate approach to patient care. In 2010, the Wisconsin Medical Society recognized Dr. Stickney with the 2010 Citizen of the Year Award for her commitment to the community in which she lives and her work with our team is another example of that commitment.

She and her husband Chuck have 3 beautiful daughters and live in Menomonee Falls. She loves to travel and is an accomplished athlete. She recently completed her first triathlon in Green Bay and came in 3rd place in her division.