Introduction from our Medical Director

Rotaplast Team members Guatemala City 2007,

We will soon meet in Guatemala City to start our 2007 Rotaplast project. Previous teams have done a wonderful job there and their experience will make it easier for us to organize our team and accomplish as much as possible in helping the poor children of Guatemala who have congenital deformities. I am very pleased to see experienced people returning to volunteer their time and effort in order to make this project a success and particularly want to thank those of you making your first trip. We will be working in the Military Hospital which has been used on several previous Rotaplast projects. It is an excellent facility and the staff has always provided enthusiastic support.

The local support has been the best that I have experienced. Jeannette Umana is again in charge of local arrangements and support and has had extensive experience working with Rotaplast teams, providing unbelievable help with her team of volunteers. I have worked with six organizations over many years and have found that the Rotaplast model has been by far the best that I have experienced. We again have a complete team where every member will have a vital role in the success of the project.
We can all expect long hours of hard work but the satisfaction for a job well done should be a special reward for each of us. I'll never forget the father of child bringing tears to our eyes when he told us "God will pay you".

We are fortunate to have Milton Solis on our team. He is an exceptional Guatemalan plastic surgeon with excellent training and extensive experience in repair of cleft lips and palates. He is a veteran of our previous trips to his country and has been critical to the smooth operation of Rotaplast in Guatemala. Frank Leake has been a member of all the previous Guatemala City teams and his experience as the director will be a great help. Ann Bailey is perhaps the most important member of our team. Ann is an experienced pediatric anesthesthiologist who improves everyone's performance by making every procedure with a small infant safer.

I recently had a long conversation with Diane Mahan, who was head nurse in Guatemala City last year and will have the same role with the team this year. Her experience and enthusiasm have made me eager to get started. There inevitably will be some confusion during our screening of patients and the initial organizing of the team, but I expect that we will be able to keep it to a minimum and, with everyone working together, this should be a project of which we can all be proud.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you on the 18th and want to thank each of you for volunteering.

Frank Virnelli
Medical Director