Getting ready

My very long to-do list (last time I looked it was heading out the door in the direction of San Juan Opico) is slowly getting shorter. We have the permission of the Junta Vigilancia de la Profesión Médica in hand - those beautiful apostilles with the state seals in silver and gold were just what they wanted. The bodega (storage room) is full of snickers bars and napkins and bottles of water and maps and bags of coffee and plastic bags for pills and vitamins. Tomorrow I hope to finish my shopping, and Thursday our friends from AMES, the Archdiocese' pharmaceutical storehouse, will deliver a big order of medications. Wednesday or Thursday we should also receive a permit for importing the medications we bring with us. And then it will be time to iron shirts and get ready for the big week. Our Mission Team arrives Saturday evening - it includes some who've been part of our missions before, notably Dr. Dale Heisinger, a pediatrician instantly loved by all kids; Elba Solano, a translator and San Juan Opico native who now lives in Eugene; Dra. Silvia Pleitez, a Salvadoran doctor now living in L.A. who handles patient instructions in our pharmacy; Dr. Ken Henderson, who makes sure we have plenty of eyeglasses; Dr. Melissa Doherty, usually an ER physician, but on this mission as a pharmacist. Others are new, and it will be great to meet them. There's two special cases, Sister Amalia Camacho, who will be one of our interpreters, and Jane Kortz, an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, our photo-journalist - both are dear friends of mine & I'm looking forward to working with them all week.

Here, for the beauty of them, are some of the faces of San Juan Opico, the people we'll be getting to know in the coming week.