Monday, May 11, 2009

Day 2 Mongolia

Today we were are the Maternal & Children’s Hospital. There were boys dressed in pink girlie clothes because that's all the families have to dress them in and there is probably a difference in culture with colors; it does not matter like in America. We saw over 27 children in clinic. Many difficult cases. We felt very honored to be able to work among the Mongolian doctors and to be able to help so many families.

The kids were sooo cute! They all wanted their pictures taken; we would take their pictures and show them and they thought it was so cool and they followed us around in herds while we went to see the OR to get more pictures. Some wanted to practice their English with us and others were just grateful and wanted to be around us as long as possible. It was so touching. The American doctors are like gods here in the hospitals. When the door would crack in the Clinic room, which was about as small as the kids room, probably smaller, with fifteen to twenty of us crammed in there, you would find kids peeking in to see what was going on. One cute fourteen year old girl stood in the doorway for about an hour waiting for us to be done (she had already been seen) to ask Dr. David Vandersteen, if she could have his daughter's email, because they both have diabetes...It was a sight to see.

After clinic the team ate Ukrainian food and Dr. Vandersteen kept saying “there are strange membranes I have never seen before and look at these vessels. Then we were off to the Gandantegchenling Monastery and shopping at the Cashmere shops.

What a grand day we all had,
Melinda & Michole
Executive Director and Student at the University of Utah

Saturday, May 9, 2009

We are getting settled in Mongolia

Most of the team arrived yesterday in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia after 3 flights. Today was our first day at the State Central Adult Hospital where the team examined and discussed the surgical and treatment options for 12 men and 4 women. The people all appeared very excited, anxious and grateful to have the opportunity to receive life-changing surgeries.



After clinic we went to lunch and discovered that our host doctors are not only very intelligent but fun. We did some site seeing and saw the Parliament and went to a show which consisted of Mongolian cultural dancing, including the sun dance, contortionist and throat singing.



Tomorrow the team will be visiting the Maternal Children's Hospital. We are looking forward to another exciting day.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Packing for Mongolia


We are packing for our Mongolia surgical workshop. The team is excited as we plan to operate in two hospitals with very skilled Mongolian surgeons along with our team of 10 dedicated volunteers. We are thrilled to include Allison Cumming, board member for her first IVUmed workshop. It is a great site and will be a wonderful excursion.
Melinda
Executive Director