As many of you know, I was bitten by the medical camp bug last year and am once again joining a team to provide care where it is so  difficult to come by.  Although many on the Team Broken Earth crew went last year, I am joining for their return trip this coming November 23-30, to San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic.

As the Team has been there already, we feel that we will be in a good position to accomplish even more, as we should be better prepared – we will be able to make adjustments to how we work, bring more of what we need, and less of what we don’t. It will also be nice to be working with the same local team, with whom we have forged a strong relationship. 

The 2024 team welcomes back several members from last year, as well as a few new teammates, including myself! It will be a strong mix of Nursing, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery (pediatric, mainly), Anesthesia, Physiotherapy, and General Medicine. 

The purpose of each surgical mission is to provide free care to local patients who cannot afford immediate care – as was discovered last year, although health care is covered in theory, many patients wait weeks or months for basic trauma interventions, in order for their families to raise enough money to pay for the necessary implants… and this also holds true for open fractures, making post-op infections all but inevitable!  As for for the pediatric plastics side, for which I will be providing anesthesia care, the same holds true for cleft lip and palate repairs, as well as release of burn contractures and repair of hand injuries.

There is lots for us to do over the coming months: raising funds is the first order of business, as it will allow us to do everything else we need:
- collect equipment and supplies
- organize travel and lodging
- build a fund that will cover patient surgeries
- buy necessary medications, for anesthetic care and post-op pain management, anticoagulation, infection prophylaxis, etc.

Many of us will pay our own way, so you know that the bulk of your donations will go towards patient care…

We thank you for your support, and urge you to share this message with as many people as possible – the more the word spreads, the more successful our humanitarian efforts will be!! So if you want to organize fund raising events of your own, go ahead… and remember, you will receive a tax receipt from Team Broken Earth for any donation you make!

Here are links you need to checkout
- to make a donation to my personal page: https://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=2250&AID=3524&PID=777137
- to see all team members and group fundraising effort :   Support Us – TeamBrokenEarth (gifttool.com)

- to learn more about TBE: https://brokenearth.ca.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and be prepared for the photos and updates in November!