Operation Walk counts with the support of dozens of dedicated, long-time volunteers. But we also love welcoming first-time volunteers and hearing their perspective on our teamwork and mission. And of course, we hope the new volunteers keep coming back!
Andrew Chhen is a circulating nurse in the operating room who joined us for the first time in Cuba, during the April 2022 trip at Hospital Fructuoso Rodriguez. He writes:
“I was really amazed by how everyone comes together. At home, there is a hierarchy; if you don’t get what you want, when you want it, you complain. I was speaking to my colleagues and mentioned that this is the only place where you can tell a surgeon that we don’t have that piece of equipment or instrumentation and it’s okay. We just get the job done, we all have one goal.
When Trish Lindsey, an Operation Walk team leader, mentioned that I should go to the floor to visit some of my patients, I thought: Why? I never visit my patients back home. We are focused on getting the next patient through surgery.
My colleague Ploi and I decided to visit a patient and she remembered who I was. She was so happy to see me. I asked her, “What are you doing after you recover from surgery?” Her answer was, “I am going to live my life without pain.” I thought: what a different perspective.
It makes sense to me now, how everyone–the volunteers–keep coming back. The tradition continues. I’m glad I was a part of it.”
-Andrew Chhen, RN