Wednesday, April 22, 2009 – Day 3 Clinic

Unlike the isolated, impoverished rural villages of our first two clinics, Anayito is a crime-ridden, urban area. Many of the people living here were displaced by such traumatic events as civil war, earthquakes, volcanoes and natural disasters. With nowhere else to go, a community of 380 families was created, with another 90 families living nearby as squatters. They are extremely poor. Most people in Amayito make their living as garbage collectors.



Our trip during the day was safe as we had our security escort but by night this area is considered dangerous. Violent crimes – shootings and robberies – are a nightly occurrence. Gangs are prevalent, many recruiting boys as young as 10 years old.

In the centre of it all is Virginia. Now 48 years old, Virginia was adopted as a baby by a loving middle class couple. She experienced an extremely caring upbringing. When Virginia learned at age 14 that she had been adopted, she realized how lucky she was to have grown up in such a loving, safe environment, and that many children were not so fortunate. It became her goal in life to give to others the gifts that she had been given.

Virginia has run the community center in Anayito for 12 years. She works to provide families in the area with a safe, loving environment where they can receive food and education. She feeds 150 children lunch, three times a week and strives to empower them with knowledge. Her efforts to create a compassionate oasis in the midst of such a violent area are immediately felt upon entering the center, where our medical-dental team set up today’s clinic.



While Virgina’s community center provides respite during the day, families often fear for their safety in their homes at night. Our doctors met many patients suffering from a high level of anxiety.

As Dr. Tony aptly said, there is no medicine we can give that will take that anxiety away. What the team could do though was share a moment of empathy, provide comfort, a hug, and a smile, to let the people of this community know that they are not alone.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 – Day 2 Clinic

This morning the team made the two-hour journey to San Juan Buena Vista. One of the first patients we saw was an 83 year-old woman who had lived there her entire life; she remarked that this was the first time doctors had ever come to the community. She was very grateful.

San Juan Buena Vista is an interesting case. The village is fortunate enough to be relatively close to a new medical clinic, recently built through donated funds. Unfortunately, there was not enough money to staff the clinic, and so it is not operational.




An invaluable component of FTC Canada’s projects is the dental clinic. An average family of 10 in rural El Salvador collectively earns about $80 USD per month. A visit to the dentist for one person for a simple cleaning costs around $40. Understandably, many of the patients we saw today had never been to a dentist.

With so little access to dental care, extractions are a large part of what our team does. Dr. Mark commented that he performed around 40 extractions today, as compared to his practice in Canada, where he performs perhaps one extraction per week. Some patients had to have as many as 8 teeth pulled in one sitting.



But what is so impressive about what FTC Canada’s dental teams are able to accomplish on these projects is not how many teeth they remove, but how many they are able to restore! One 19 year-old man visited us very upset. He had broken off the lower third of one of his teeth, and naturally assumed it would have to be pulled. He was very anxious about losing a tooth. Dr. Jack was able to not only save the tooth, but also to cosmetically alter it to look as though it had never been broken, allowing the young man to keep his beautiful smile. He was simply ecstatic.





Our dental team arrives at every site an hour before the rest of the group, in order to set up the large amount of equipment necessary to provide such care. Even with extra time taken to accomodate such extensive build-up and tear-down of equipment, there is often more demand than our dental team can meet. Patients are often reluctantly turned away as it begins to get dark, and it becomes unsafe for us to continue. Today, our dental team was able to see every single patient.

Our medical team were also able to see every single patient. Some particularly interesting cases included Rosa, a four year-old girl with such a bad heart murmur, she is only the size of a two year-old. FTC Canada was pleased to be able to arrange for her to travel to San Salvador to receive an echocardiogram, which will determine what further treatment she requires.

We also saw Rosalina, an 11 year-old girl who has had a large piece of pencil lead lodged in her forehead for 3 years. It is innocuous, but she loves soccer, and the lead makes it hurts to hit the ball with her head. Dr. Elizabeth once again scrubbed up and removed the lead, helping Rosalina to continue her soccer career pain-free.

Perhaps the case that most affected the team today though was that of Marcos and Roberto. Marcos is an 87 year-old woman who walked several hours to come to the clinic today. She hoped a doctor would be able to come to her home to see her son, Roberto, who has cerebral palsy and was unable to make such a journey. Dr. Paul happily obliged with a house call.





Roberto is not Marcos birth son. When he was only two days old, his birth mother, seeing his disability, did not want him. With no family of her own, Marcos happily took him in. Roberto is now 43 years old and although she is so poor and can often only afford to feed him tortillas and salt, it is a testament to Marcos’ loving care that Roberto has thrived. Dr. Paul treated both Marcos and Roberto for parasites, fevers and colds.

Monday, April 20, 2009 – Day 1 Clinic

At 7:30am this morning, the team wound their way up a mountain via a steep, narrow dirt road towards El Cedro, a small community clinging to the side of a cliff. El Cedro is home to approximately 800 families, each of which typically consists of 10 to 12 people. One of the first patients the medical staff met was a young woman who had 15 children.




Most families in the area are farmers, the primary crop being coffee. The average family of 10 people collectively earn around $80 USD per month.

The nearest medical services to El Cedro are more than two hours away by bus, so there was understandably great excitement for FTC Canada’s visit. Several of the children were dressed in their finest to see the medical staff, and many were receiving their first ever check-up.



The 2009 El Salvador project is fortunate to have 12 medical personnel; doctors, nurses and paramedics. While almost every patient expressed much gratitude for the clinic, some patients were more profoundly affected by the team’s visit.


13 year-old Erica has slowly been losing her hearing for over a year. It has become so debilitating that she has failed her school year. Dr. Tony examined her ears but was unable to see any sign of damage, leading him to suspect neurological damage. The only way to diagnose this would be for Erica to travel to San Salvador and undergo expensive testing. FTC Canada was very pleased to be able to arrange to pay for her to receive that testing.


Juan Antonio suffered from a benign lipoma, essentially a large collection of fat on his ribcage about the size of a tangerine. He was unable to afford to have the growth removed. Dr. Elizabeth and the team quickly scrubbed up to perform minor surgery and successfully removed the growth, much to Juan Antonio’s relief.


35 year-old Evelio was walking home at night when thieves attempted to rob him. He fought back but during the fight he was unfortunately shot in the foot. He was lucky that the bullet passed through cleanly, but a month later, his wound still hadn’t healed. Paramedic Christine was able to treat him with much-needed antibiotics and a fresh dressing.

With over 600 patients seen this day, the FTC Canada 2009 El Salvador Project is off to a great start. All the team’s members are eager to continue in this spirit and see even more patients tomorrow.

Sunday April 19, 2009

Today was the first real opportunity for new and experienced team members to get acquainted and begin planning for the first of five clinics that will start bright and early at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

Each day, the FTC Canada medical-dental team will bus to a different village and set up a project site. Project sites may be set up in a local school or even an open field. Facilities with roofs and electricity may be available, or the team may have to set up under tarps and bring in gas-powered generators to run the dental equipment.

Locations are selected during a scouting trip months in advance and are based on a variety of criteria, not the least of which is a communities need. Each clinic has several components, all working in tandem: patient registration, medical care, dental care, a pharmacy, and a distribution centre which dispenses food and supplies such as clothing, shoes, toys and undergarments.

The needs at each clinic are different, and every country and even every individual site within a country provides unique challenges and learning opportunities for the teams. This requires a lot of flexibility, and often creativity. One of the great strengths of the teams is their ability to constantly evolve to meet the needs of their patients, and the willingness to always seek solutions and opportunities to hone their process to deliver better, more efficient care.

The entire 2009 El Salvador Medical-Dental Team is eager to officially kick off the project’s first clinic, early tomorrow morning!

Saturday April 18, 2009

Months of preparation culminated in a sleepy but excited 6:30am gathering at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport this morning. All 24 members of FTC Canada's 2009 El Salvador Medical-Dental Mission assembled, bags loaded with supplies and donations, eager to embark on a week-long journey to bring primary medical and dental care to needy families in five rural El Salvador villages.



FTC Canada President, Ken Dick and Medical Team Advisor Dr. Tony Brown and the FTC crew seamlessly orchestrated the day’s travel; we arrived safely in the country’s capital, San Salvador, to an enthusiastic welcome. There is a feeling of great excitement for this particular trip. This is the first time an FTC medical-dental team has come to El Salvador in over 10 years. Hopes for the care we can provide here are high.

The team arrived at our hotel by 2:00 pm local time, and quickly began the tedious task of pre-packing thousands of children’s chewable vitamins into individually bagged doses. In addition to any prescribed medications they may require, each patient visiting the clinic will receive 30 days worth of vitamins. All of the supplies must be prepped before heading out into the villages.




There are both new and familiar faces on this year’s team. Sunday will provide an opportunity for all the team members to meet each other and receive orientation as we prepare for the week of clinics ahead.