Scenes from the Wating Room

They wait in a bare hallway--often for hours--for surgery. Although they have not eaten all day and there are more patients than chairs, I receive lots of happy holas.

Scenes from the Recovery Room

What would the world be like without nurses? A few words about history's most famous one: Believing she heard the voice of God calling her to service, Florence Nightingale refused marriage and decided nursing was her destiny. Although there's a lot of myth that surrounds her, my favorite fact about Florence Nightingale is that she was called "The Lady with the Lamp". I like the idea of somebody who brings light into darkness.

She got the name "The Lady with the Lamp" from a phrase in a report in the Times that said:

She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.

Scenes from the OR

The doctors, nurses and surgical technologists start work by 7 am and don't leave the hospital until 9 or 10 pm. Their tireless focus is an inspiration.

Scenes from the Sixth Floor

The 6th floor is an unused floor the hospital lends to us for the mission. The children live here with their families until the day of surgery. It is very hot, but everyone still manages to have fun.