The U.S. Embassy and its Joint Task Force-Bravo military surgical team, based out of Honduras, conducted a surgical readiness mission in Corozal today.
It was an exercise in one of the most vital forms of bilateral cooperation as a team of military surgeons, operating room nurses, technicians, and an anaesthesiologists worked side-by-side with local counterparts from the Belizean Ministry of Health at the Corozal Community Hospital.
Our colleagues at CTV3 Spoke to Acting Chief of Staff Dr. Angela Gilharry who praised the collaboration and the mission telling them that it's just what the hospital needed to deal with the COVID-19 surgical backlog.
Dr. Angela Gilharry - Acting Medical Chief of Staff
"We have done 8 surgeries up to now in these past 2 days and today we have 4 more scheduled, they were all open surgeries, cholecystectomy, gallbladder removal and it has all been going smooth, excellent team, they came here to work, and they have been giving it full time, our staff as well have been very dedicated. This is not something that we do on a daily basis, we do have an operating theatre, but we do not provide emergency surgical procedures. Elective surgeries have been affected a lot in this past year, they try to resume it, but it would be maybe for a period 2 months and then we would have to stop because of the number of cases that are going up or other shortages in terms of medications because of the same pandemic it is delaying the process of deliveries. Certain anaesthesia medications were short, and we have to reserve for only emergencies, so it's been from one thing to the next and it just keeps adding to the backlog."
Steve Gventer - Joint Task Force Bravo Commander
"The surgeons came up working with the Corozal community hospital here working with their surgeons there, their doctors and nurses, we brought anaesthesiologist, we brought surgeons, nurses and a team to work with them to help facilitate the ability to do some elective surgeries, things that during the pandemic a lot of nations including our own have had a problem doing elective surgeries because they focus their healthcare and a lot of their emergency workers towards the COVID problems but people still have issues, they still have medical needs so this a way we can do a little bit of help, we can come through a region and establish a relationship, build trust and that trust and relationship not only get us towards just doing a surgical event here but it will help in the event that there is disaster, a hurricane or something else. We already understand what we bring to table, we understand each other and we're able to reach out to people that are friends when we have that time of crisis. It's also a way for us to ensure that we are prepared in the event, we don't know when a hurricane is going to go, we don't know where there is going to be, when there is going to be a disaster but when there is, by establishing with the local ministry of health, with the ministry of defence and things where we can reach out and work with people, working to help provide military aid, disaster relief, identify where we can help with building bridges, literal bridges and finding places where we can actually help the people in need at the time, so I think that this is very important for us not just in Belize but across our operating area. The pandemic kind of hindered our ability to get out and move around as well as in different nations for us to be there. This is a great time for us to do this and I think we look forward to the opportunity to doing it again."
Andie De Arment - Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy
"This exercise was postponed and cancelled several times, but we were committed to making it happen and we didn't waver in that commitment. This is just one other example of all the great work that the US embassy is going in partnership with the Belizean government and Belizean communities. I think one of the things to stress about this exercise and everything we looked to do is really have that partnership. Today was a Belizean surgeon taking the lead in the surgery with an American surgeon being his assistant and working together and finding those needs throughout Belize and working with different government entities, civil society, and the local communities, that's what we look to do to continue to strengthen the amazing partnership between the United States and Belize."
JTF-Bravo is a task force under the U.S. Southern Command and has successfully conducted medical and surgical missions throughout Central America for almost 40 years.
