Sunday, June 17, 2007

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants


Hospital Vozandes del Oriente has been here in Shell for 49 years. We do some great work with very little, and have a great reputation. We have patients who come 11 hours to see us. People seem partly to trust us because we are gringos, but mostly because we are Christians. We don't recommend surgery because we want the money but because we think it is best for the patient.

We are reaping the good reputation built up over years by great doctors who came here when there was nothing here. Everett Fuller was the first doctor here, even before the hospital existed. He was a surgeon. His wife Dorothy was a nurse. Dr. Fuller had a operating room and a clinic. Before he had completed the hospital, all the patients that needed to be hospitalized were placed on the first floor of a small hotel down the road. After surgery, the patient would be wheeled down the road on a gurney. One of the people pushing the gurney would hold an umbrella over the patients face to shield them from the sun or the rain. It's either sunny or rainy here in Shell.

Dorothy Fuller was Everett's scrub nurse in the Operating Room. In most hospitals, the custodians or the nurses are responsible for cleaning the Operating Room, but not in the early days of Hospital Vozandes del Oriente. Dr. Fuller loves telling the story that when his wife was his "assistant" and he had a particularly bloody surgery, Mrs. Fuller would hand Dr. Fuller a mop and say, "You put the blood on the floor. You need to clean it up!" Dr. Fuller is sure that he is the only surgeon who ever had to mop his own Operating Room floor.

We are living the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John, "Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." (John 4:37 & 38)

Jerry