As in previous years, we organized another mission trip to Paraguay with Dr. Enrique Dürksen and his wife Dr. Gloria Dürksen. Our team this time consisted of Dr. Klaus Exner, Dr. Enrique Dürksen, and myself, Dr. Bianca Baican, as plastic surgeons; Dr. Gloria Dürksen as a pediatrician; Dr. Pablo Ramirez as a surgeon; Dr. Genia Kunits and Dr. Livia Köhler as anesthesiologists; Dr. Kilian Köhler as an orthopedic surgeon; Aaron Warnke Marinay as a nurse anesthetist; and Dorothee Köhler as a surgical nurse.
In the previous year, a proper road was built from Asuncion to the more remote settlements. Many viewed this with suspicion and concern, fearing that they would also be connected to crime via this road.
In the meantime, even hotels had sprung up. We stayed in one of these family-run businesses. At the hospital, we met the doctor we knew from previous years, who had started working at this hospital a few years earlier as a university graduate. It was a great reunion.
The clinical pictures of our patients were diverse again. What was special was that we were also able to perform several ear reconstructions.
For the children, as with many other missions, we brought stuffed animals from Germany. This time, my godson, Julian Bayer, collected a lot of toys that he wanted to share with the children who don't have as much.
