A smiling group of UCLA nurses caring for twins Maria Teresa and
Maria de Jesus Quiej-Alvarez ““ who were conjoined at the head
before undergoing an operation at the UCLA Medical Center ““
took center stage at a press conference Wednesday as the medical
community and country took time to acknowledge the work they
accomplish every day.
Visiting UCLA, U.S. Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao took a
tour of the Mattel Children’s Hospital to thank the nurses
who watched over the twins before and after the surgery and to
encourage others to join the nursing profession.
Chao also had the pleasure of meeting Maria Teresa, Maria de
Jesus and their parents during her tour.
At a press conference doctors, who lead efforts in separating
the twins, praised the nursing staff who spent two months around
the clock on the pediatric floor caring for the girls.
Dr. Jorge Lazareff, lead neurosurgeon, said without the support
of nurses the rest of the medical staff wouldn’t achieve
anything.
Dr. Henry Kawamoto, lead plastic and reconstructive surgeon
echoed Lazareff’s sentiments.
“The bottom line is that you’ve got to have great
nurses,” he said.
A desperate need for more nurses was expressed by Chao, who
called on more Americans to enter the medical field.
Chao said there will be one million job openings for nurses in
the next eight years, and programs are already in place to help
those of all economic and education levels become nurses.
Nurses who have already made the commitment to making a
difference in people’s lives have no regrets about choosing
to work at UCLA.
Terri Garcia, a nurse in the pediatric ward in charge of the
twins care, said that she contributes the success of the surgery to
the cohesiveness, expertise, morality and camaraderie of the
staff.
“I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else,”
Garcia said.
Registered nurse in the operating room, Dianne Moya, agreed with
Garcia and said she drives an hour to and from the hospital just to
work at UCLA.
She would encourage young people to go into nursing because
“it is a wonderful field, extremely diverse, and for (those
who are) parents it is extremely flexible.”
The efforts of such nurses contributed to the twins’
progressing recovery.
Lazareff said he is confident that the twins face no life
threatening obstacles. Kawamoto said that in the future the twins
will need more operations, but none are scheduled for the immediate
future.
Kawamoto was concerned with some wounds on the girls’
heads and used synthetic skin as a replacement to heal them. Maria
de Jesus underwent the procedure on Aug. 30 and her scalp has now
grown enough to cover her entire skull, according to a press
release from the Medical Center.
Maria Teresa underwent the same bedside procedure on Sept. 17,
having the special skin substitute applied to encourage cell growth
and promote rapid healing, said Kawamoto.
Maria de Jesus is alert, playful and loves to eat while Maria
Teresa, who has always lagged behind her sister, is slowly
improving, said Clarice Marsh, a registered nurse attending the
twins.
Lazareff hopes to see the twins back in Guatemala by the middle
of October, and Kawamoto has talked to plastic surgeons in
Guatemala about the twins future medical needs.
The twins separation was one of the biggest story to hit UCLA
this summer, with media flocking to campus in order to capture the
medical, humanitarian and, now, political interest in the tale.
The girls journey began with a long trip from their home in
Guatemala to the Medical Center at UCLA ““ the trip was
provided by Healing the Children, a nonprofit group which finds
medical care for children in developing nations.
The first step in separating the girls, who shared vital veins,
began on July 24 with a skin expansion procedure. But it was not
until Aug. 5, when the large medical staff at UCLA preformed the
three part $1.5-billion procedure for free, that the media took
such a keen interest in the twins.
This type of surgery has only been preformed five times in the
last ten years, and not always with success, but in the case of
Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus things are looking good.