ISHI is planning to return to the Philippines in 2012, this time to Dapitan City in Mindinao. Thanks to Rey Sygaco, our liason, we were introduced to the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte, where the average worker earns less than a dollar a day. ISHI was invited by Mayor Patri Chan to hold a surgical mission in Dapitan City. After identifying this area to be one of need, and one where ISHI services would be beneficial, we confirmed our interest to bring a team. We will be partnering with Jose Rizal Memorial Hospital over our two week stay.

Objectives and Goals
We are planning to provide 70-80 major operations and well as about 60 minor procedures. The patients will be triaged on Monday January 30, and surgeries will be scheduled for appropriate candidates for the week up until February 7th. The ISHI team also plans to provide lectures and/or talks to the local staff on topics of interest, and pertinence to their practices. We recently learned that the area of the disastrous typhoon (typhoon Sendong) is nearby to the city we will be volunteering in. Typhoon Sendong caused torrential rains and flooding in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, resulting in the death of over 600 people, and has been responsible for another thousand people either missing or injured. Dapitan City, where ISHI will be volunteering in February is also on the island of Mindinao, but no reports of typhoon affecting Dapitan City area have been reported. The ISHI team is in communication with locals nearby to determine if any additional help can be offered by our team during our visit, in the aftermath of this typhoon.

Mission Dates
Arrival in Dapitan City January 29, 2011
Leaving Feb 9, 2011

Mission Supplies
ISHI team will be taking about 20 boxes of supplies and medications to provide the operations which are planned. These include all supplies such as iv's, syringes, gauze, surgical gowns, etc. Also included are medications such as antibiotics, and medications which are used to induce general anesthesia. Currently, about 75% of the supplies and medications have been donated, and the effort to collect is ongoing. Some of the medications, such as narcotics and other restricted medications which are necessary for general anesthesia will be purchased once the team arrives in Manila, as they cannot be transported from the US.

Team
The team for this mission has been finalized and includes three surgeons, three surgical residents, two anesthesiologists, one nurse anesthetist, three OR nurses, 2 ICU nurses and one advanced nurse practitioner. We are also lucky to have Megan Blaskewicz joining us, who will be documenting the mission for us and helping with logistics and data collection. We also look forward to being joined by Marlone Villadar, who is an OR nurse in Escalante City, and worked with us during our surgical mission there this past February.

Asha Bale, Surgeon, Team Leader
Chia Chi Wang, Surgeon
Ravi Chokshi, Surgeon
Leslie P. Osei-Tutu, Anesthesiologist
Marcelino Potian, Anesthesiologist
Marlene dela Pena Ngo, cRNA, Anesthesia
Socorro Israel Galano- Rogers, OR Nurse
Irene Banares, OR Nurse
Mildred M. Aganon, OR Nurse
Luz Jalowski, Nurse
Vibien HamoyMyles, Nurse
Cathy M Blaskewicz, Advanced Practice Nurse
Advaith Bongu, Surgical Assistant/ Resident
Amrit Adi Rambhajan, Surgical Assistant/Resident
Benson Joseph Pulikkottil, Surgical Assistant/ Resident
Megan Blaskewicz, Logistics, coordinator
Rey Sygaco, Organizer