Success in the DR

This year In the Dominican Republic I decided not to do a daily journal. Actually, I didn’t decide to not do a daily journal entry, I just didn’t do it. So it was not a conscious decision but by default. I was ask to do a devotion toward the end of the second week and I shared on a topic that comes up frequently for all of us as we return home from a mission trip.


Inevitably, as we return people will ask, “How was the trip, was it successful?” So in anticipation of that question, I began to think and ponder the trip and our time in the DR. I first sought the Webster’s definition of success because I knew that success had to be more than a money or business term. I found that success can be defined many ways but the first definition was: the favorable termination of endeavors or the accomplishment of one’s goals. I also look to the antonym or the opposite and found failure. Then I went to my Bible software favorite, You Version and searched for success. I found more references than I could ever look up and read that success is something separate from financial prosperity. 1 Samuel 16:14 says “In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him” speaking of David. In Proverbs i8:18 it says “with me are riches and honor, prosperity and success.” So, success appears to be much more the monetary gains. So, I chose to look upon the success of the trip in light of the attainment of our goals.

If you are like me, you probably don’t spend a lot of you day setting daily, weekly or even monthly goals. But in regards to the mission trip each year, I do spend some time setting goal and planning for our trip. So I thought I’d share with you some of them and the results of our Monte Plata 2014 trip.

Goal One: Glorify God

This one is pretty basic in the life of a Christian. Everywhere we read in the Old and New Testament we are told over and over that our only job is to glorify God in all that we say and do. Everything is secondary. So, I can say that what we did in the DR was for the glory of God and we tried to be his witnesses and ambassadors to the people of the DR. Goal One – Success

Goal Two: Be Faithful to our Call

Well we did pretty well on this one too. God had selected just the right group of people to be here this year. Each of us felt a call, a tug on our heart or something that stimulated us to come on this particular trip. All of us showed up, paid our fees and worked hard the whole trip, knowing that we were appreciated by a people that would not have had the access to the type of health care we provide. Goal Two – Success

Goal Three: Travel Safety

Our travel down, while there and back, while not exactly as we planned in all cases (in case some of you forgot the harrowing bus trip thru the palms) was free of accidents and injuries. Goal Three - Success

Goal Four: Maintain Health of Participants

This year we all stayed relatively healthy, except for some minor ailments associated with cramming 40 close friends into a smaller space that we are used to be. But, by and large there were no big problems for all who came. Goal Four – Success

Goal Five: Metrics

Metrics are the score cards that are used not only to record what we did but also to communicate to the Dominican Government and MMI office what we were doing while there. I do a budgeting process early in the year before a project, to try to anticipate how many patients we will see and treat. The supplies and medications that we take are somewhat determined by what is donated, but also what we think we will need. We didn’t run out of anything this year either in medications or supplies. There are many of MMI’s projects that don’t have enough to do what they want to do. Success

In the medical clinic, we saw and cared for 445 Adults and 381 children. Also we treated 757 patients for parasites. Over 1400 patients received health education by a trained Health Educator in their own language. Almost, 2700 prescriptions were given to those in need. Success

We were honored to help inaugurate a new Provincial Hospital in Monte Plata that had been under construction for at least the last 3 or 4 years that we knew of. We saw 181 patients in consultation and did 87 major surgeries and 47 minor cases in our two weeks. We had much closer interaction with the local health care providers than in any year in the past. Success

The seed of the Gospel message was planted in the lives of over 1000 people during their stay with us. No one was required to respond but 30 people answered a call from God on their lives to follow Jesus. Success



So, I guess you can see that by all measures, we had a successful project to Monte Plata, Dominican Republic in 2014.

Case Log for 2014

1. Inguinal Hernia 20

2. Umbilical Hernia 7

3. Circumcision 9

4. Skin/soft tissue surgery 45

5. Tubal Ligation 24

6. Hysterectomy 11

7. Cholecystectomy 7

8. Ganglion Cyst 5

9. Salpingo Ooperectomy 1

10. Posterior Repair 1

11. Femoral Hernia 1

12. Removal of Extra Digit 2

13. Epigastric Hernia 1

14. Bartholin Cyst 1

15. Lymph Node Removal 1

Total 125

Interesting Cases 2014

1. I saw a 3 year old child and mom in the consultation room. At 5 months of age the child has a serious illness and had to have a colostomy. Since that time they had not been able to have a reversal surgery until the mother or family could buy the stapling instrument necessary to do the surgery The child was normal in every other way, except that he had to wear pull ups since they didn’t have colostomy supplies.

2. A young man came in a wheelchair with open would from infections on both ankles. It had been present for months and he didn’t know how it started.

3. We had several kids with extra digits on their hand. We even had one with an extra thumb and one with fused third and fourth fingers.

4. Two children with hypospadius and epispadius deformities of the urinary tract.

5. One child that had an undescended testis.

6. Several young girls with keloids, some on the ears.

7. A 10 year old boy presented with a large neurofibroma of the right lower quadrant that we were able to debulk.

8. We had more Haitian patients that could not speak Spanish, just Creole. Fortunately we had two interpreters who spoke both and English as well.

9. Several patients with large hernias from prior surgery that would require larger surgeries than we could do. They hadn’t been done because the patients couldn’t afford the mesh necessary to repair the hernia. We were able to give some to them.

10. As usual there were many patients with high blood pressure. Had to cancel some patients who were told early in the project to take their meds and return only to still be too high. The highest I saw was 219/126.

11. One child came in for tonsillitis and the mom wanted us to do a tonsillectomy.

12. Some came in with arthritis which we couldn’t help and one lady came in to have her hernia fixed. When I ask where her hernia was she pointed to the C-collar she was wearing then produced an MRI showing her “herniated” disc.

13. Saw a 4 year old with a massive abdominal hernia that was the result of a surgery for a congenital abnormality where the stomach is outside the abdomen at birth.

14. I saw a mom and baby that was told that he had a hernia at 2 months of age but was anemic so they couldn’t operate. She has struggled for 2 years since she could not afford the meds to fix the anemia and afford the surgery. As it turns out the hernia is gone and the baby doesn’t need an operation after all.

15. We had a total of 4 cancellations due to excessive BMI and BP, but in each case we were able to fill the schedule with a patient who showed up NPO in case we had a cancellation to fill their slot.

Two Words, Maybe Three by Steve Trembley

Being a medical interpreter, is not an easy job.


But I loved interpreting, for Melissa, Josh, and Rob.

And Ty was great, and Sally too, when I got in a bind.

But there are just two topics, that always blow my mind.

Two subjects that don’t come up too much, at least around my house.

Subjects farmers don’t discuss, unless we’re talking cows.

Two particular topics, are hard for me to do.

I’m speaking of gynecology, and yes urology too.

The first is gynocologia, or gynocologo.

The second is urologia, or urocolgo-go.

I can’t pronounce them correctly, or say what they’re about.

The only thing I really know is, you cannot live without.

Sometimes I get frustrated, or some say even lost.

When dealing with these subjects, my Spanish gets criss-crossed.

Each part has very different names, and does what must be done.

You have to know each one of them, and never forget one.

And how they work, and what they do, from the front to the behind,

And act like you’re an expert. It’s like playing ping-pong. Blind.

I’m like Christopher Columbus, who sailed the ocean blue.

Who thought he was in India, but didn’t have a clue.

We took a little bus ride, that could have ended badly.

But compared with discussing pregnancies, I would have traded gladly.

Embarrassing is putting it mildly, I can’t begin to say.

The Kaegle exercises confuse me to this day.

They need to squeeze what I don’t have, and do what I can’t do.

That’s time to get a lady translator, although they’re very few.

When a lady says “Estoy preparada”, I think “Prepared for what?”

Has she prepared a chicken, and put it in a pot?

Oh wait! There is another one, that drives me up a wall.

I’m referring to the prostata, or prostate to you all.

I’ve never actually seen one. It’s hidden out of view.

I’m not sure if I have one, but my doctor says I do.

And being deaf doesn’t help. I know that’s hard to believe.

People have to yell 3 times, before I hear “Hey Steve”!

So thank you for your patience. Helping you was grand.

My wife will probably kill me, but I hope you’ll understand.

Two Words, Maybe Three