Heading Home October 30 and 31

Tim and Pat left Hanoi on Friday night to head home to MN. Really looking forward to the marathon flights! Rick leaves on Sunday night November 1.

Good Bye Vietnam! Thank you for your warmth, welcome and generosity!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, October 28, 29 and 30 Experiences

We had a wonderful break and took in Ha Long Bay, east of Hanoi on the Bay of Tonkin off the China Sea. This was an oasis of rest and relaxation. It was fun to travel with some new found forever friends, Reed and Ann Franklin.

Monday - Tuesday, October 26 and 27 Experiences

We started our second week a the Hanoi National Cancer Hospital. Rick and Pat went to surgery to observe a laparoscopic low anterior resection. Lots of practice differences here...we were quiet amazed at some of them. Tien and Tim taught staff about PICC placement along with Chen Chen the Bard Sales Manager for the region. We spent our last afternoon enjoying some social time with Chen Chen before we parted ways.

Sunday, October 25 Experiences

Church, Shopping and visiting an orphanage.

Saturday, October 24 Experiences

Today we headed to our northern destination, Hanoi. Our Hanoi hotel and Rick with Brad in front of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Unfortunately, it was closed due to Ho's body beautification project...

Friday, October 23 Experiences

Friday was our first day off. It was a productive week, with surgeries, presentations and PICC insertions. We were received very warmly from our hosts at both hospitals. Today, Tien and Tim had to return to the Cho Ray hospital to check an x-ray on a PICC patient who's line had to re-adjusted. This is a normal part of the PICC placement process. All was good. Rick and Pat took in a little shopping in the local stores and took a trip to Ho Chi Minh Museum. This was interesting, much about the Vietnam War era.

These photos are from an amazing dinner outside in a rain storm with Rick's son Brad his fiancee Lisa and Tracy our translator. We greatly enjoyed Brad and Lisa's company! Tracy took such great care of us, by keeping our belongings in tow, when we were involved in patient care or doing our presentations. Thanks to Tien who has so many wonderful connections in Saigon to family and friends. Good Bye Tracy-- you took such good care of us! When we could not communicate.

It was great fun at dinner--it felt like eating under a tent at the State Fair. The Vietnamese food is fabulous and healthy!!!

Thursday, October 21 Experiences

Today was spent at Cho Ray Hospital, this is a university hospital. The medical staff are doing good things with their research, in fact working to administer antibiotics similarily to the US. We presented to medical and nursing staff. Dr. Nemer attended a colon rectal case. Pat Schlagel toured the operating rooms. Here there were operating rooms where two patients are operated on in the same OR! Unheard of in US. We all gave presentations through out the day to very interested nursing and medical staff. Tim was able to train staff on 2 patients for PICC insertion.

It was a good day!

Tuesday October 20 Experiences

HCMC Cancer Hospital

· Perform two surgery cases
o Our first patient was a 59 year old woman; with cancer low in the colon very near the rectum. Dr. Nemer guided the surgery team in a surgical procedure using internal stapling devices. In preparation for our mission trip Dr. Nemer determined the surgical devices we should bring to teach for low anterior resection procedure. These very surgical staplers prevented a colostomy for our patient.
o Our second patient was 54 year old man; with cancer low in the colon, very near the rectum. On examination the patient looked emaciated and with abdominal distention. There was a concern this patient may have metastasis and will not be a candidate for the resection. This indeed was the case. The procedure was an open and close.
· In the afternoon Pat Schlagel, RN presentations on Patient Safety in the Operating Room and Retained Foreign Objects

In the evening our team went out to dinner in a local restaurant.

Monday's Experiences

We started our visit with a hospital leadership welcome meeting, this meeting included hospital administration and physicians. We reviewed the schedule and toured the hospital. Ho Chi Minh City Cancer Hospital treats all ages of patients with all types of cancer. We were told that 8700 patients are inpatients and outpatients. That is an incredible number of patients compared to US hospitals. The patients arrive and wait; a number system is used. The patients are inside the hospital lining hallways, stairways and in an outside veranda area. The hospital environment is not healing due to the amount of activity, sights, sounds and odors. The hospital is not air conditioned on the patient wards, only in certain areas, such as the operating room. Many patients bring their family to wait with them, this makes the hospital building very crowded. There are as many as 4 patients in one patient bed. Families care for the patient's needs, preparing food, providing care. There are 6-8 beds per ward, with up to four patients per bed, as well as multiple family members waiting on their loved one, this makes it challenging to provide nursing care. Nurses care for 20-30 patients per shift.

We saw many sad scenes, teen agers with amputated arms, due to cancer. One father showed us his son's arm tumor on a cell phone. This young boy showed much bravery as we stopped to visit him.

The afternoon schedule included our surgeon, Dr. Rick Nemer presenting on colon rectal cancer procedures and Tim Werner, RN presenting on the use of PICC venous access use in patient care.

Our first day ended with a van ride back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Arrived Safe!

We have arrived safely after our long 27 hours of air travel. Sunday, enjoyed being part of the Vietnamese culture. We attended Catholic Mass (in English) at Notre Dam Cathedral, went shopping in the Post Office, visited the Vinh Nghien Pagoda along with taking in the sights of the busy city of Saigon. Tomorrow we start our first day at the hospital.

2009: Two Teams, One Mission

2009 Mission is leading by Thuy Tien Truong. With the mission of bringing home much needed medical cares to the poor, Tien has been working tirelessly for a year to coordinated and will bring two separated teams to Viet Nam for four weeks. On October 16 the Cancer Team including: Dr. Frederick Nemer, Patricia Schlagel, Tim Werner and Tien will be leaving to Saigon. They will be spending their time from October 19 to 21 at Saigon Cancer Center teaching and performing colon rectal cancer surgeries, teaching peripherally inserted central catheter, and infection control to the center surgeons and staff. Then they will be spending another day on October 22 at a nearby Cho Ray hospital doing the same thing. A little break and a short flight will bring them to Hanoi Cancer Center where they will spent the following week providing the same services and that will conclude their mission on October 31.
On November 1, the Cadiostart Team of 30 members will meet up with Tien in Hanoi. They will be performing heart surgeries to pediatric patients in the two weeks from November 1 to 13 at Viet Duc hospital. The team then will depart and come back home on November 14.
With the outbreaks of H1N1 flu all over the globe, especially in Asian countries, we hope that all will be well. We wish them successful missions, good health and happy spirit.