Delia in her apron after one of her first days working at the sandwich cart.
When Delia Martin discovered that she needed surgery for her rare chronic disorder, Caroli Disease, her primary concern was not the physical pain and distress she would have to undergo- she didnt have the privilege of focusing on her personal suffering. She was worried about how she was going to feed her children while undergoing the lengthy recovery, during which she would not be able to hustle through the difficult commutes and long walks required to survive in Lima’s informal economy, the primary source of income for those who live in the cities slums.
After meeting Delia in a Mobile Clinic, MEDLIFEâ’s nurses visited her in her home and spent enough time with her to understand that her illness was not just a medical issue requiring a medical response. If we wanted to really help Delia, we needed to take things a step further and find a way to empower her to care for her family. After talking with her, we decided that in addition to paying for her surgery, we would give her a food-cart that she could make and sell sandwiches from. She could do it right in front of her house and while sitting down- so it would not interfere with her recovery, and she could continue with this work after she had recovered.
Delia’s situation required a special response, and because of donations from our supporters, we had the ability to give it her. MEDLIFE brings this philosophy to all of our follow-up patients, and it is this approach that distinguishes us from a medical mission. We specialize our care and quickly adapt it to meet patients real needs, which we discover by building a personal relationship with them inside and outside of medical facilities over the course of years.
Delia is not the only one, in the MEDLIFE patient archives there are hundreds of stories like hers.
MEDLIFE Nurse Carmen visiting Maura after an operation.
Maura Morales has been a MEDLIFE patient for almost two years. She was in a tragic accident while working as a moto-taxi driver that left her leg mangled, useless and in need of major reconstructive surgery. Maura’s bad fortune continued when after finally getting the surgery using the public health system, Maura became the victim of malpractice and was left with an improperly reconstructed bone and an infection that threatened to take her entire leg.
When MEDLIFE met her, she was in need of another more expensive surgery and had no way to pay for it. She could hardly get to the base of the hill her house was built on to get to a paved road, there was no sidewalk or staircase and the steep dirt path was nearly unnavigable on crutches.
MEDLIFE began following her case closely, and our nurses got to know Maura very well, an inspiring woman with an unbreakable spirit who never stopped smiling and cracking jokes with them no matter how many steel rods were sticking out of her leg or how much pain it was causing her.
In addition to getting Maura on health insurance that would cover her surgeries and paying for what was not covered, MEDLIFE built a staircase in Maura’s community. We went with her to every appointment, and even carried her down the staircase when she could no longer walk on crutches after her surgery. Then, we redesigned her bathroom, which was just a hole in the ground, to make it handicap accessible.
Maura is recovering and MEDLIFE nurses continue to visit her regularly.
John before he got his prosthesis.
John Caisaguano was 3 years old when a simple toddlers fall went horribly wrong and caused him to lose his eye. After 10 years and thousands of dollars, it still remained a gaping hole is his face that made him the subject of ridicule in school, caused chronic pain and was at risk for infection.
John needed a prosthetic eye.
Adequate prosthesis of any kind are hard to come by in the impoverished mountain communities of the Ecuadorian Andes. The barriers to access are significant for those families who attempt to seek healthcare up to modern standards in the cities. For subsistence farmers, long trips, expensive travel costs, long waits and a baffling bureaucracy all conspire to prevent even the most determined from getting the treatments they need. That is why ten years after the accident, John was still without a prosthetic eye.
John with his new prosthesis.
MEDLIFE was referred to Janet by the family of an old MEDLIFE patient who we had helped get a heart surgery to correct a birth defect. The family was contacted by a man in a nearby village whose daughter, Janet, had the same problem, and our old patient’s family put them in contact with us. MEDLIFE nurse Maria set out to go find the family. After hours of driving around remote indigenous villages looking for the family, who had no cell phone, she tracked the father down in a market selling produce. He brought us to his daughter who was helping her family work the fields. MEDLIFE was able to get Janet an appointment with specialists in Quito and she will be getting her surgery soon after preparatory procedures are completed.
MEDLIFE began when Nick Ellis decided he was going to find a way to get Darwin a heart surgery, who was then a young boy with a similar condition living in the same region of Ecuador. Today MEDLIFE is still finding these types of patients. Janet’s surgery will be the fifth heart surgery that MEDLIFE has done for children in the Ecuadorian Andes.
This holiday season, MEDLIFE is trying to raise the money that will allow us to keep specializing our care in 2017 for our patients who require a unique effort on our part to help them. MEDLIFE has been able to support many patients this year and we are eager to help many more this holiday season. All funds from our Holiday Campaign will go to specialized care for our patients.
A heart surgery for Janet, prosthetic eye for John and food cart for Dehlia are just a few of our patients cases supported by MEDLIFE’s Project Fund. What separates MEDLIFE from other organizations is that 100% of all funds raised during this campaign will go straight to patients, assisting them with medical costs and continuing their healthcare in our sustainable follow-up program. We appreciate all of your support and hope you have a wonderful holiday season! Find out more here!
https://goo.gl/jTr6Nq