Archives - 2005 Newsletters/Updates
Hello Everyone:
It was wondrous! A week with Dr Aurora Riera MEMO's Cuban director and Dr Freddy Castillo Placetas Hospital director. To hear them tell of how the Placetas hospital has been changed so it can provide modern life saving treatments brought the reality of what MEMO has accomplished to life. We really have made a difference in suffering Cuban's lives.
Aurora and Freddy spent several hours in the Thunder Bay Regional Hospitals operating rooms watching and studying the use of laproscopic instruments similiar to the ones we have made available in Cuba. All of this was a Medical Equipment Modernization Opportunity.
Satuday evening was a joyous celebration of what MEMO has accomplished in Cuba heard first hand from Aurora and Freddy. It was a time of remembrance as Gary Cooper took us down memory lane with pictures of MEMO from it's beginning. It was a time of pleasure as we listened to the Latin music of Estaban Ari and Heather. Then on Sunday morning we listened as Steve Neufeld MEMO's international director reminded us that life is not about getting"stuff" but of serving God by helping others. Thankyou to all of you that made this time a reality.
But MEMO is not about celebrating or self congratulation or even making oneself feel good. It is about helping our suffering Cuban brothers and sisters to better health care. This involves heavy work moving equipment, long hours in a dirty warehouse organizing things, interminable counting of unusual things for inventory for permission to ship and then when the time comes spending hours packing an Ocean container. And maybe for most of us the most difficult, giving up money that we could spend on selfish pursuits. My father used to say "God is no persons debtor" and I believe this is true.
So the inventory involving over a thousand items has been submitted. It includes beds, xray machines, ultrasounds, wheelchairs , a commercial kitchen and a complete modern laboratory, all the things needed to complete the modernization of Placetas hospital.
MEMO miracles continue to "happen". When Brian Thordarson,Gary Cooper and myself visited the Childrens Hospital cancer ward in Santa Clara during our visit in May we asked"What do you need. We expected to be asked for a cobalt bomb or a cat scan. The head pediatrician asked for a laminer flow cabinet.
I said we would see what we could do. I subsequently learned a laminer flow cabinet sterilizes air in the cabinet where intravenous chemotherapy drugs are prepared by nurses. This prevents the children whose immunity is low from being infected by injection of contaminated drugs. The cabinet also exhausts the toxic fumes from the drug preperation to protect the nurses working with the drugs. Aurora told me that the average life expectancy of a childrens cancer nurse in Santa Clara is 15 years from the time she first begins preparing chemotherapy! But these special fume hoods cost tens of thousands of dollars.
A few weeks after returning to Canada I was walking through the empty laboratory at McKellar hospital and in the gloom something caught my eye. There was a laminer flow cabinet sitting inconspicuously in the corner. The TBRHSC said we could have it. Another MEMO Miracle.! But we had no manuals to send to Cuba on how to operate it. Last week as Aurora and Freddy toured the cancer centre we stuck our heads in the Cancer Centre Pharmacy. There were sitting two running laminer flow cabinets. A short conversation later the Pharmacy staff had happily photocopied their manual for us. So the miracle was complete and this life saving peice of equipment will soon be on its way to the childrens hospital.
Our technical team will be leaving Dec 2 for Placetas. Part of the team will be orienting Cuban docters and nurses to the laproscopic surgical instruments and modern anaesthetic machines we have sent. Our laboratory technition will be orienting the Cuban lab technitions to a completely new blood chemistry analysing machine that has been donated to MEMO for Placetas. We still need donations to cover the cost of blood tests. One dollar pays for one test.
At TBRHSC hundreds of blood tests are done every day. In Placetas they will be limited to 20 per day because of cost. Perhaps as a Christmas present you would like to donate a days worth of blood tests or a months or........! See our "Donation Information page"
Cuba has been spared major catastrophies so far this year. But as we follow events in the news we know Cuban's need our help especially in giving their trained health care providers the tools for good hospital care. We can do this through MEMO where every donated dollar goes where you intend it to go.
Thanks so much to our volunteers and supporters that make this ministry possible.
Jerome Harvey, M.D.,CEO MEMO Cuba
Hello to all our MEMO supporters,
It is with great joy I am finally able to write this update. OUR DEBT IS COMPLETELY PAID OFF! What an accomplishment.
Last October we owed $70,000. MEMO continued to operate and pay expenses as well as obtain that $12,000 image intensifier to make the xray in Santa Clara functional. And thanks to so many of you with gifts large and small, the final cost of shipping those last 8 containers is paid off. We thank God that now we can return to MEMO's core business of sending life saving and life enhancing medical equipment to Cuba .
But that is not all.
Those of you who have been on work teams to Cuba can vouch for the fact that the transportation in vans with 600,000 miles under the floor boards is some times a bit unreliable. I really got to appreciate Cuban's roadside mechanical ability during the four hours we spent sitting on a curb in Havana while our driver took the engine apart and got it running.
Steve and I have been dreaming about the possibility of getting a good deisel van to ship to Cuba for MEMO's use. Aurora our Cuban MEMO director often uses crowded slow public transport on MEMO business when we are not in Cuba.
In response to an email mentioning this need someone wrote and said that he and his wife felt led to provide this need for us. PTL This kind of generosity inspires all of us to redouble our efforts to share God's love in practical ways with our Cuban brothers and sisters.
We are just tabulating our inventory for submission to the Cuban government for authorization to ship the next two containers. These will contain high priority items for the Placetas hospital. This includes another 50 beds, labour and delivery tables, 100 pentium 3 equivalent computers, commercial kitchen.
COMMERCIAL KITCHEN you say. Yes last month I mentioned we needed a commercial kitchen to upgrade Placetas two burner oil stove. Guess what! St Josephs Care Group gave us the Hogarth-Westmount hospital kitchen they were storing in the LPH basement for a rainy day. And the Lord caused rain!
On October 15th we will be having a Dinner Celebration with the Community of Thunder Bay to review what we have accomplished in the last year with God's help. We hope the Cuban ambassador will be with us. Dr Aurora Riera (MEMO’s Cuban director) and Dr. Fredy Cantonelli are being allowed to come to Canada to celebrate with us. Friends of Aurora and Fredy are sending special gifts to EFCCM to pay her way. You might like to be part of this. We are also expecting a couple of cancer doctors from the Santa Clara area to join us and the following week meet with Regional Cancer Care doctors to discuss cancer care in Cuba.
Gary Cooper will be giving one of his famous presentations in the form of "A MEMO Family slide show".
Steve Neufeld and his wife Myra will be here and will among other things provide impeccable English-Spanish translation Estaban, Ari and Heather will give a mini concert of Latin music for our pleasure Chef Inez will work her magic with roast beef, black beans and rice.
Tickets are only $15 and only a few are left. However you can meet Dr Aurora and Dr. Fredy for breakfast at Grace Free Church(391 Court street North at 9:00 am Saturday, October 15th, 2005).
On October 16, 10:30 a.m. at Central Free Church on Balmoral, MEMO will be holding a spiritual celebration and thanksgiving service with Dr. Riera and Steve Neufeld sharing. Those of you who remember last Augusts MEMO service that was so awe inspiring will not want to miss it.
Finally, I mentioned last month that MEMO would announce hands on projects that you can be involved in right here in Canada . Click here for more info.
MEMO Cuba is alive and well thanks to you who give and pray and volunteer. Jerome Harvey, CEO MEMO
Hello to all you interested in MEMO
Here is our July update on exciting developments in our ministry. In May when Brian, Gary and I were attending an evening church service in Placetas we noticed a cute little girl about 6 years old. She didn't seem to be aware of what was going on and wandered from pew to pew. Later on we discovered she was deaf from birth. Her name is Anna Isabel. We just received a letter from the young pastor asking if we might help with hearing aids. We will have to get a lot more information but this is just one more opportunity we have to show God's love. Perhaps some of you reading this will be moved to provide money to MEMO so we can help this little one.
The exciting news this month is that we are shipping 532 lbs of very critical medical and surgical equipment to Placetas. The Cuban government is allowing us to ship this free of charge on Cuban airlines. In the Placetas hospital if you have a cardiac arrest during surgury you just die as up to now they have not had defibrillators(the machines that shock stopped hearts into action) We were given 25 portable moniter defibrillators by the ambulance service of Thunder Bay District. The newer units replacing them cost $14,000 each. These portable unit's batteries only last three hours on continuous use, so they are not practical for ICUs in hospital.
Alf Woelke an electrical engineer and his wife Lina and Dale Pearson an electrician rewired each unit so it can be used continously with a fixed source of electricity. Now each operating room in Placetas and Santa Clara Celistino hospital will have a defibrillator to save lives. As well the ICUs in these hospitals will have cardiac moniters beside each patients bed. This really is Medical Equipment Modernization Opportunity.
As well Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences O.R. nurse Kathy Harman has been looking for redundant surgical instruments needed in Placetas.(She had lists of things needed after visit to Placetas in March) Another MEMO miracle as she has been given most of the instruments needed. They have all been packed off to Cuba as well. Our partners Friends of Ostomates of the World have given us 132 lbs of dressings and other hospital consumablde to be shipped.
We praise God that the $70,000 dollar debt we incurred to ship containers to Cuba and the Philippines has now been reduced to $15,000. Can you help us eliminate this debt so we can get on with the business of sending the five containers of hospital equipment and furnishings now sitting in our warehouse.
MEMO in its first year was very much the responsibility of Grace Evangelical Free Church of Thunder Bay. This congregation of about 60 people proved themselves with God's help to be mighty even though small. Mostly because they didn't know any better! Now that MEMO's focus is primarily on Cuba, the Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission has assumed the financial and legal administration. I will remain the CEO under Steve Neufeld the Latin American director of EFCCM. Our MEMO Office located in Grace Free Church will continue to look after the myriad of details that often go unnoticed. by the public. The only noticeable change will be that donations will be handled through the EFCCM in Langley B.C.
Next month we will have some information on some exciting new endeavours. These will allow every one of you reading this to be involved in some "hands on" MEMO work, right in your own home and community.
For now we continue to need your prayers and financial support. On behalf of our suffering Cuban brothers and sisters, I am Jerome Harvey, CEO MEMO.
Hello to all our supporters and those seeking information about MEMO
TBRHSC O.R. Nurse Kathy Harman and her husband Wayne completed a week of work at Placetas and Santa Clara hospitals.Kathy identified and demonstrated many of the surgical instruments to the O.R. staff that we had sent. Wayne was kept busy with Aurora's(MEMO Cuba Director) husband Armando doing repairs. Wayne said the week working was more fun than the week at the resort. Kathy on a CBC radio interview said "We went with half a heart and returned with a whole one"
Brian Thordarson (Project director), Gary Cooper (Media director), and myslf went to Cuba for a week May 1st. This was necessitated by the need to negotiate with the Cuban Ministry of Health(MINSAP) for the allocation of the five containerfulls of hospital equipment we are putting together in Mini MEMO" We have already been given up to 80 hospital beds, an xray machine ready for shipping three beautiful labour-delivery beds, 200 sets of bedside curtains, tons of bed linens, stretchers, physiotherapy equipment and two 20 room wards full of hospital furnishings.We have been given 30 cardiac moniter defibrillators. We have already begun packing and will continue to do so every Tuesday from 9 a,m, to 4 p.m.. You can volunteer to help by calling the MEMO office and leaving a message at (807) 345-6455 for information.
Last month I mentioned we needed a replacement Image Intensifier for one broken on the xray machine in Santa Clara used for diagnosing bowel cancer. Erwin Stuka our xray guy found a used one in Utah for $11,000 and put it on his visa. Now there is a good reason to max out your credit card! We are still praying for a donar who will feel led to pay for part or all of this. we took this two foot square box as luggage on the plane (Thank you Air Transat for treating it like a baby). It arrivaled safely in Santa Clara, was installed in two days. Now Celestino hospital has a functioning X-Ray machine that can diagnose bowel cancer.
There are several very exciting developments in the "visioning" stage for MEMO but will have to wait to see if they are really going to happen before talking about them. You are invited to come June 23th 7:00 pm, at Grace Free Church (391 Court Street) for a report on what has been done so far and what MEMO will be doing next year. In the meantime please continue to pray for MEMO and continue to give to MEMO as we still have a big loan to pay off before we can get on with the part of Mini MEMO that costs money. As the Apostle James said "We show our faith by our works"
Thanks to all of you who are part of the Miracle that is MEMO.
Kathy and Wayne Harman just returned from Cuba where they spent two weeks organizing and making the surgical instuments, fibre optic scopes and other operating room equipment usable. Here is their report.
One more example of God's blessing on Cuba.
My husband Wayne and I have just returned from our trip to Cuba, We went to work as volunteers for MEMO.
A co worker invited me to come to Grace Free Church to help sort out operating room equipment that was being shipped to Cuba and to the Philippines. I work as an operating room nurse and have worked at both the Port Arthur General and McKellar hospitals before they were closed and I was familiar with the equipment being sent. We worked many evenings after work and on weekends sorting labelling and dividing up the instruments. Dr. Harvey informed me that someone would need to go to Cuba to help train the hospital in the use of the equipment. I volunteered immediately.
As I was preparing for my travels Dr. Aurora told me that a bronchoscope was needed and that same week a bronchoscope had just come out of service and my manager gave it to us to take to Cuba. My husband Wayne arranged to have the bronchoscope repaired with Endoscope Canada and they had it fixed for us and had it delivered to us for MEMO to give to Cuba.
We noticed that we had orthopaedic equipment being sent to Cuba but there didn’t seem to be any drills to go with it. I called Linvatec and told them our dilemma. A week later Linvatec called me back and they are sending drills that are coming out of service and he is sending them our way along with a promise of sending more equipment in the future. The helping sprit is catching on to all of us.
The staff at Plecetas welcomed us with open arms. This is where we spent most of our time. The hospital personnel took us on a tour to show us the new x-ray machines. They are already in use.
The operating room staff took me on a tour. They can`t express enough just how thank ful they are to have this equipment. Not only do they have new operating room instruments, but they have new operating room lights and scrubsinks.
The intensive care has the hospital beds, and night stands. shipped from Thunder Bay. It was very nice to see it all being put to such good use.
We went through hospital equipment with them that will allow them to do minimally invasive surgeries. We worked most of one day gathering and assembling equipment for laparoscopic surgeries and arthroscopic surgeries.
There are now scopes to perform gastroscopies and bronchoscopies as well.
My husband worked along with Armando and together they purchased florescent lights and with the electrician hooked them up. We all worked together as a team and accomplished all that we could. The equipment that we couldn’t identify we photographed and passed the photographs on to Dr. Harvey.
We were also able to see the other Celistino Hospital in Santa Clara. They are already doing mammograms in this hospital with the equipment sent from Thunder Bay.
I must say that this has been the most rewarding experience I have had. I left Thunder Bay with half of a heart and came back with a whole one.
Hola Jerome and Memo team,
The MEMO project has been in our hearts and minds for just over a year. Even though we have seen the photos of the hospitals in Cuba and in the Philippines, and heard stories about the conditions, nothing compares to actually visiting the site and meeting the people involved!
As many of you know, there is a direct flight between Thunder Bay and Cayo Coco, a sandbar of resorts on the Northeast coast of Cuba. It seems odd to arrive in Cuba in less time than it would take to drive to Minneapolis, including the delays at Customs. I learned that our Canadian Passports must not expire within a few weeks of a Cuban visit. "Valid" has a different meaning for Cuban officials.
Rick Chicoine and I spent Wednesday March 16th visiting with Dr. Aurora and Armando Riera, bringing pharmaceuticals, manuals and eyeglasses as well as some personal items for their family and friends. We only had time to visit the hospital in Placetas. We hired a driver for the day, who not only made good time at 120 km an hour on the straighter stretches, but also moved through the checkpoints without any searches. The town is inland about 240 km. Tourists at resorts don't often see the real Cuba...cows and sheep on the roads, old guys on bikes carrying little kids and a chicken. Dr Riera had lunch ready - quite extravagant - rice and beans, tender pork with a green tomato cabbage salad, custard for dessert, delicious espresso. The coffee is a wonderful deep roast, sweet on its own. We talked about each of you, and how much MEMO has meant to all of us; but I think she will nominate Dr Jerome as a national hero!
Describing the hospital conditions is not easy. If you could take any industrial unfinished basement area, unpainted, and load it up with 20 - 25 beds per ward - some flimsy mattresses, few real pillows, open slats in some windows... a single toilet....a kitchen with a double oil burner that puts out as much smoke as heat... an emergency area with not more than a few chairs, stretchers with bare lattice and no comfortable padding, apparently with no aspirin available that week... director's office with one of our computers, an old desk and 3 wobbly chairs... and the most wonderful, caring, smiling happy staff! They are so proud of their new instruments and equipment.
We were pleased to be taken on the full tour and quickly noticed the Canadian flag stickers on each donated item! What a difference our "used" donations make. The adult beds, nightstands, and cribs for the babies are gleaming and comfortable. The nursery is just being painted, Mickey Mouse cartoons on a blue sky background. Two rooms are being prepared for scopes, and will be dedicated to MEMO. The X-ray area still seemed to be under construction, though the machines are installed and ready to go. We noticed that construction workers were straightening out old nails to use and I wished that we had brought screws and nails in addition to medicines. Steve Neufeld's contingent was there a few weeks ago to paint the lobby and some hallways. The area seemed so fresh and clean compared to the chipped concrete walls elsewhere. The kitchen continues to be a big concern: inhumanly hot, smokey and ill-equipped. Boiled rice is "the" menu; pots and pans are almost non-existent. And though we were well-intentioned in sending the ice machine from PAGH, it doesn't seem like the electrical system can handle the voltage.
Returning to the resort, we had the opportunity to share the experience with other tourists from Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. They were all curious! MEMO seemed to be a familiar word although many did not realize that the project was still in progress. I will be following up with some personal letters, even though we did hint that financial donations would be most welcome at any time. We need to capture the contrast between the tourist experience and the Cuban reality in our fundraising efforts. Think about what could happen if each person on these charter flights would donate just $5.00 of their vacation spending.
The day was the highlight of the trip. It was an honour and a privelege to visit our MEMO family in Cuba, as it has been working with our team in Thunder Bay
Blessings,
Maggie