The First Encounter

Ecuador has increased its monthly wages consistently in the last years, with the current average salary hovering close to 500 USD per month. While the healthcare system is outwardly public, the role of the private sector is increasingly a leading one, and most surgeries performed by CAMTA are offered in the private sector. However, even with employer's benefits, only a minority of Ecuadorians can afford those costly surgeries, ranging from $7000 to $10,000 USD (per hip). 

This first workday of the mission is spent organizing the supplies, and meeting all hopeful patients. Multiple stations are set-up to evaluate the health condition and surgical needs of everyone, and to schedule them into the week's timetable. This week saw a major increase in the number of cases: 76 new patients and 20 follow-ups (from prior years). The great work from Team 1 aired on regional news last week, which attracted many new patients to the hospital Un Canto A La Vida (“A Song to Life”) for the second week of the mission. 

The patients are pre-screened by a social worker and local doctors before going through CAMTA's clinic, which consists of the admission, a quality of life survey, the consultation with surgeons, a general health screening with our general practitioners, a nursing history by our nursing team, an anesthesia assessment and some pre-op teaching by the physiotherapy team.