More than a decade ago, Dr. Juan Alejos and two other physicians made a humanitarian trip to Peru. Recently, Alejos has been organizing a similar trip, but this time around, the number of people in his group exceeds 40 ““ an overwhelming prospect he never expected.
Saturday, Alejos, a pediatric cardiologist from UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, will be traveling through Peru for the next two weeks in an effort to help treat children suffering from heart conditions. He will be accompanied by 40 other volunteers.
Plastered in his office are photos of prior patients, drawings made for him, and a multitude of thank-you cards, which Alejos said is a constant reminder of how close he is with his patients. Personal care is a repeating philosophy in his career, he added.
“This isn’t some big impersonal organization going out there, its just about a group of Americans coming out to help children who are in need of medical attention,” Alejos said.
The motivation for the trip came from his first trip down to Peru as a doctor, when he realized there was a huge need, he said. Since then, Alejos has worked to fundraise and solicit donations to make additional trips a reality.
The source of passion and inspiration Alejos has for his work is not singular.
The group of surgeons, doctors, nurses, other assistants and one dentist will be flying to the country tomorrow with plans to perform 25 open-heart surgeries, 60 dental procedures, hundreds of clinical evaluations and many other medical procedures.
Among the volunteers is a dentist, Dr. Eric Sung, who has never been to South America. He said he is not sure what to expect, but hopes that he can contribute and help do his part in bringing quality medical care to some of the underprivileged children there.
“The children we will be seeing don’t have access to care, so the goal is to ultimately help these individuals,” Sung said.
Sung will also have help from Iris Goshen, a registered dental assistant and administrative assistant in the department of pediatric cardiology. The duo will be performing extractions, or pulling teeth out, and many cavity fillings.
While a trip to the dentist is usually not an experience many children look forward to, Goshen said they have collected many toys, friendships bracelets and clothing from donations to help bring more to the patients than just medical attention.
Both said they anticipate a lot of fear from the patients, which they hope will dissipate with their kind and gentle approaches.
Goshen said he hopes to use his own experiences to help his work with patients.
As a child, Goshen’s father would often take him to the dentist to get X-rays done or to get his teeth cleaned. They would then go out to lunch, a simple tradition that Goshen said meant a lot to him.
“(It is) something I looked forward to very much. But some of these kids don’t even have parents who can hold their hand when they go into the dentist’s office,” Goshen said. “I’m sure I’m going to be doing a lot of hand-holding.”
Some team members will also be providing services to children in orphanages, a collaboration between Alejos’ group and another organization, Peruvian Hearts, which provides aid to orphanages in Peru.
Peruvian Hearts was founded by a young girl, Ana Dodson, who was born in Peru and adopted by an American family at the age of three. The organization’s mission is to help enhance the quality of life for children in Peruvian orphanages through education, health care and better nutrition.
“We are thrilled to have the ability to have experts look at our children, then offer hope,” said Judy Dodson, Ana’s mother. “In Peru even when a condition is discovered in children it often goes untreated. Medications are started and not renewed. For us to have the opportunity to get guidance from a team of medical experts is a dream come true.”
Mariela Tejava, a medical student at Hospital Goyeneche, one of the two hospitals the team will be visiting, shared Dodson’s sentiment.
“We are very grateful and happy for the presence of the physicians,” she said.
Tejava said the children need help and care since most come from a low socio-economic background, said Tejava.
And addressing the needs of these children is what Alejos and his team plan to do.
Alejos said that treating children is a source of happiness for him, and being able to give back to his father’s homeland has served as a constant reminder of how fortunate he is for all the lessons his father taught him as a boy.
“(If my father were here today) he would be very proud, but probably not surprised. … This (trip) is about giving back and that’s one of the lessons he taught me when I was growing up,” Alejos said.