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March 2010
"Not only the surgeons but all patients have benefited much from your help. After 15 years
there has not been even one complaint from any patient about your team. We really think
Face the Challenge has been the main team to help us improve and do advanced techniques
to give a good reputation for our hospital.
I write you as a friend who has the same purpose. I have been working with you for a long
time and know very well what you have done to help us (both Vietnamese surgeons and
patients). We are always thankful for your great efforts. We are improving now because of
learning from your expertise and using your donations. Every time we were confused and
had any difficulty in our work, I thought of you and asked you to lead us in how to go."
Dr. Le Thi Viet
Department Director
OdontoMaxilloFacial Hospital
Ho Chi Minh City, 6 February 2010
Dear Friends,
We cherish Dr. Viet's words on behalf of her Vietnamese patients. She cares for them as if they
are her own family. Ever since Face the Challenge was established in 1993 we have desired to
show the "I Corinthians 13 love" of God in action — patient, kind, humble, calm, protective,
trusting, hopeful, believing and persevering love.
We recall the first patients abroad ever to receive surgeries were Costa Ricans and Bolivians.
Next were Vietnamese and Chinese patients. Many of those who were children are now young
adults. Time has passed and we are witnesses to this continuum of life. We want to live our
lives until the end however we can honor God.
In what is ahead, Dr. John MacArthur's comments on love guide us:
". . . the only people who really contribute in the world are the unselfish ones . . . .The
really useful people are the people who have given their strength to the weak, their
substance to the poor, their sympathy to the suffering, and their hearts to God. And
that's what love does."
17 m.o Nhi with her mother in a hammock, post-op ward. Mother holds 17 m.o. Nhi after bilateral CL repair. 5 y.o. Hung and his mother, post-op ward. Van, OR charge nurse and Thuy, PACU charge nurse. 12 month-old Ngan's mother sings her a lullaby in the recovery room. Ginger, Dr. Phuong, Dr. Robinson point to their jaws prior to surgery.
Right now there are many human tragedies and needs throughout the world. We are inspired
by the examples of others addressing acute and ongoing needs. Their efforts to alleviate
suffering in these waves of catastrophes show His protective, persevering love in action.
We are thankful our next team of skilled members will offer His redemptive love through facial
surgeries. They will go on our collective teams' 21st trip to Ho Chi Minh City, 7-18 April 2010.
They include:
- Nancy Colby, CST, Surgical Technologist, Broomfield, CO
- Bill Hicks, BSN, RN, USAF (Ret.), Pararescue Diver, OR Nurse, Colorado Springs, CO
- Brenda Hicks, RN, Oncology Nurse/Post-Anesthesia Care Nurse, Colorado Springs, CO
- Ginger Robinson, BSN, RN, Liaison/Post-Anesthesia Care Nurse Centennial, CO
- Randy Robinson, MD, DDS, Craniomaxillofacial Surgeon, Centennial, CO - Leader
- CAPT. BC Shauver, CRNA, USN (Ret.), Nurse Anesthetist, Jacksonville, FL
- Gabi Stoeger Stevens, BSN, RN, Post-Anesthesia Care Nurse, Evergreen, CO.
We plan to operate again at the Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital (OMFH) and the National
Hospital of Odontostomatology (NHOS). These life-changing surgeries restore function,
improve speech, eating, and appearance, minimize infections, allow students to be educated,
increase chances for employment, enable marriages, and permit general acceptance by others.
On this next trip we are pleased to be donating:
- ~$2,000.00 worth of Prolene, Gut, Vicryl, and Silk suture, enough for nearly 40 pediatric cleft patients when Dr. Viet's team travels to province hospitals
- Porex Surgical Medpore Cheek and Chin Implants for trauma patients
- Stryker Craniomaxillofacial Colorado Microdissection Needles for complex cases
- Covidien Indermil Skin Glue to close cleft lip incisions
- Verathon Medical GlideScope (intubing bronchoscope, on loan for safer anesthesia)
- Exergen Temporal Scan Thermometers, and
- Nellcor Hand-Held Pulse Oximetry Units lacking in the recovery and post-op wards
The "basics" and implants will allow the Vietnamese themselves to do more for their patients.
We are grateful to Lisa Sabatinos of Physician Sales and Service in Denver for her kindness in
placing our suture, medications, and supplies orders yet again. It is not easy.
In summary, our Face the Challenge teams and their associates have taken 28 trips abroad to
bring supplies, teach, and/or do ~1,052 free facial reconstructive surgeries. Over a period of
seventeen years they have been to Bolivia four times, Ukraine, Moldova and Siberia once, China
three times, and Vietnam twenty times. Thanks to each of you, our mission continues.
As once was noted of a humble leader, we appreciate your support that also:
". . . at all times and everywhere gives strength to the weak, substance to the poor,
sympathy to the suffering, and his heart [ your hearts] to God."
— Quote based on a simple tombstone epitaph sacred to the memory of General
Charles G. Gordon killed in Khartoum, Sudan in 1885, St. Paul's Cathedral, London
Randy and Ginger Robinson
Face the Challenge remains an all-volunteer humanitarian non-profit organization. There are no paid employees. Donations go directly toward surgical efforts. Financial gifts may be given by check or through PayPal @ www.facethechallenge.org
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