Grace Estremos reports back:
Dear Darryl Hodgkinson,
I would like to thank you most sincerely for your generosity in sponsoring my trip to Singapore. It was a learning experience that I will never forget. From what I have learned there, I will be able to pass on information to my staff here in Lapu-Lapu District Hospital.

I was indeed very fortunate to have been able to attend such a prestigious international seminar. It's impossible to apply some of the things I learned in Singapore, but we can always improvise; Filipinos are good at improvising. So I am sure that when you come back here next year, you will see some new, and hopefully improved systems at the hospital.

Singapore is so advanced in technology compared to us here in Cebu. In the burns unit, all the things I saw were very far from reality for us here. But at least I have now the idea of the Parkland formula, which we do not use. All we know here is the rule of nine.

I have already talked to one of the doctors regarding the T.B.S.A. Management, and have some xerox copies of different forms that will be very useful to my staff, especially in making referrals regarding burns. I also have some HIBI scrubs which I will start using for dressing or cleaning wounds. Now I am using the Silvazine ointment that you left with us when you came earlier this year. But an ointment like that is very expensive here, so when we run out, we will just use whatever is available locally.

Management of chronic wounds is not easy, especially when we don't have the different kinds of dressings that I saw in Singapore. All we can do is control spread of infections in our own simple ways. We do the correct dressing, keep the area dry and see what happens next.

I know we have many things to learn, as we are still very far behind, but I assure you, through your help I will do my best to educate my staff to uplift the standards at our hospital. Once again, thank you very much for your generosity and support.

Before and after an Operation Restore Hope Australia operation
Operation Restore Hope Australia's 1999 mission scheduled to leave for the Philippines at the end of February will be the charity's largest mission ever. Dr. Hodgkinson's team includes four plastic surgeons, three Oral and Maxillofacial surgeons, an Otolaryngological surgeon, four Anaesthetists, a Paediactric Intensivist, six Nurses and a Biomedical Engineer.
Fifteen of the team members come from Australia but we are also lucky to have two surgeons from Japan, a surgeon from Singapore, one from Germany and one from the United States.
As always, the team has to take every piece of equipment and every single supply right down to sutures and gloves. The logistics are always incredible and the planning to ensure the team's success began months ago.
Donations of time, supplies and equipment have begun to arrive in earnest as we grow closer to our departure date for this year but more help is always needed.

If you can help, please phone Katherine Hassler or Kim Castrey on (02) 9362 7400 or you may send a cheque payable to Operation Restore Hope Australia to P. O. Box 1185, Double Bay 1360.

(Note: Operation Restore Hope Australia is a registered charity which puts 100% of all donations into the mission - all administrative supplies and costs are donated.)