April 2003  -   Arequipa, Peru

Surgical Humanitarian Trip to Peru: 2003 This was a Children’s Surgery International’s first trip to Peru. The organization had previously gone to Venezuela, but because of the unstable political situation, the organization felt that it should explore other mission sites in South America. Interestingly, a Peruvian ophthalmologist who was doing some ophthalmology studies at the University of Minnesota was put into contact with CSI, and he asked the Board to consider a mission to the southern part of Peru. He agreed to help orchestrate such a trip on his end, where he practices in Puno. Puno is at a very high elevation, and it was felt that Arequipa (which is a bigger city and at lower elevation) would be a better location. An advance group went down to review the sites and felt this would be an excellent location. After talking to some of the local physicians, we felt that there was a significant need in the area. Accordingly, we organized a trip for the spring of 2003 and did almost 100 surgeries on this particular trip. Patients came from not only Arequipa, which is the second biggest city in Peru, but also from the cities of Puno and Juliaca. Patients from Puno and Juliaca were bussed down to the local hospital in Arequipa, and arrangements were made for them to stay with host families in town, as many of these people are unable to afford hotel accommodations. This was a very successful trip, however we were unable to meet all of the surgical needs and felt that we would be definitely returning next year to finish all of the cases that could not be completed on this particular trip. We also knew that there were several primary lips repaired on three- or four-month-old children that would need to have their palates repaired next year. During our trip there, we helped educate the residents, medical students, and local doctors on the techniques that we use to repair lips and palates. There were four surgeons from the United States on this trip, and each of them gave a lecture at their medical school. These talks were open for the entire medical staff to attend.