We are so blessed on the wards and in the OR to work with surgeons that really, genuinely care about their patients. It gives me great joy to see Dr. Gary round on his patients. He takes time to answer the patients questions and he shows them that he truly cares. He has been on the ship for over 20 years and knows the cultural implications of West Africa. He thinks about those things when issues come up and he teaches those of us who are not aware of these foreign thoughts, practices and ways of life. He is kind and gentle and is an artist in the way he patches up our patient’s deformities.
Dr. Jose is from Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands. He has been working ashore in West Africa for over 2 decades. I am not sure how he does it but he finds children with problems I have never even seen before. He has brought many of his patients that he has been working with for a long time onto the ship. Many of his patients need their esophagus dilated due to swallowing something like bleach and causing them difficulty or inability to swallow. Dr. Jose can be abrupt but he has the biggest heart, especially for his patients. When he is rounding and the patients are allowed to start eating and drinking he says “You need to drink juice and eat biscuits (cookies).” in his Spanish accent. When his patients see him they give him cuddles and high 5s, even though all of the procedures they have had done.
Last week one of the translators overheard the mama’s talking about Dr’s that she had never heard of. Esther heard them referring to Dr. Patch Patch and Dr. Juice. She asked them who they were talking about and they answered “Dr. Patch Patch is Dr. Gary cuz he patch up faces. Dr juice is Dr. Jose cuz he says “drink Juice, drink juice.” When I told Dr. Gary and Dr. Jose about their nick names they laughed, actually I think that they really likethem.
