Our 2010 Team (in alphabetical order)
Frank Baudino, MD is a family practice physician and also the primary instructor for Resident physicians at Mercy Medical Center in Merced, CA, where he says "the best part is seeing them enjoy learning something new. They are a stimulating group of young people." Dr. Baudino has volunteered for a number of medical missions in the past, including spending six months in Sudan with Doctors without Borders. He has also served in Peru, India, Romania, and Tanzania. For this mission trip, he says, "I hope to have a positive influence on a few lives. I hope to present a good example of Americans at our best. I hope to be a learner as well as a teacher. Finally, I hope to take back to the U.S. and my Resident physicians some insights into what life and medical care is like for the people we will serve in Guatemala and for the majority of people on this planet."
Sandy Brambila is a Marketing Specialist at Community Hospital of San Bernardino. Though this will be her first time on a medical mission, she has experience as a literacy volunteer in underserved communities of Los Angeles County. "I have always wanted to do something meaningful with my skills. I am aware that people are often captivated and moved by certain photographs. My goal is to create a visual library of images that will bring awareness to this medical mission. I hope that through stories we can create a community and culture of caring that extends beyond the group of volunteers serving in Guatemala. Of course I am also ready and willing to learn and grow so that I can be useful to the best of my ability. I am grateful for the opportunity to help in such a meaningful way!"
Candy Camarena, RN is a labor and delivery nurse at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. She says she loves her job and is "blessed to witness the miracle of life everyday I work." Candy is mother to four beautiful kids and wife to an amazing man. She choose to be part of this medical mission to give, to learn, and to grow. "I want to give and make a difference in the world. I want to be part of an organization that gets involve and wants to transform our world," she says.
Seneca Carrillo, MD is an emergency physician at Chandler Regional Medical Center and Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. Even though there is a hospital five minutes away from her home, Dr. Carrillo chooses to commute 45 minutes because "the nurses are EXCELLENT at those hospitals and for me it is all about the team you work with." Dr. Carrillo says she has always had aspirations to do international medical work on a volunteer basis but hasn't been able to get her feet wet until now. "My kids are finally getting big enough to understand why I might need to be gone for two weeks helping out people who might not have any medical care….or not enough," she says. "I hope that the people of Guatemala are able to teach me as much as I hope to provide some sort of service for them while I am there. I also hope to set a good example for my kids by giving back to populations needing help as well as to my colleagues who will hopefully be inspired to do the same some day."
Pamela Davis, MD is a family physician and a Program Director for the Northridge Family Medicine Residency Program at Northridge Hospital and Medical Center. She serves a largely underserved population of patients and her passion is to educate family medicine residents and inspire young doctors to balance their practices with service to the needy. She is married to a family physician and have two sons, ages 23 and 20. Dr. Davis has cared for Latino patients for years and has aspired to work in a Spanish speaking country. She feels that now is the right time for her since her sons are grown.
Tiffany Edmiston, RN is a relief nurse in the emergency department and the intensive care unit at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, CA, where she says her greatest reward is both assisting her co-workers and supporting and comforting patients and families in their time of need. Having previously traveled to Peru for a medical mission, Tiffany says that she is eager for more and is very much looking forward to serving on the Esquipulas team. "I am open to learning new things continually and I hope to learn many things before and during this mission," she says. "I hope to gain new friends and colleagues along the way. I am very grateful and excited for this mission."
David Ferneau, PT has worked in rehabilitation at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento for nearly eighteen years. He is the director of the Rehab department and has the privilege of mentoring and collaborating with nearly 100 employees on a daily basis. His personal focus as a clinician was wound-care and ICU and he always felt that health care was not just a profession but also a calling. "I believe that to whom much has been give given much is required and that only through giving can one truly be measured," he says. "I have a firm belief in family and that family is the basis from which all other relationships are formed. So I counsel others to cherish and nurture their families as we only get one go around at this."
Brian Fong, MD has been practicing emergency medicine St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Calif. for nearly 10 years. He says he strives to treat every patient like a family member or best friend. "Listening to patients and taking time to explain things carefully goes a long way and is becoming something of a lost art in medicine," he says. Dr. Fong has been active in international missions for many years, having completed 20 day-long trips to Mexico and an extended volunteer mission in Peru. "To be able to combine my volunteer experience with my medical practice has made me a more compassionate and a more complete doctor and person," he says.
Elizabeth Gonzalez, PharmD is the clinical coordinator for the pharmacy department at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in Henderson, NV. The oldest of eight children, Elizabeth remembers going to the local Catholic church to receive free food and clothing. "Thanks to the kindness of others in our community...we did not go hungry nor without clothes," Elizabeth says. "It is a great honor to give back now." With a specialty in infectious disease, Elizabeth will be an instrumental member of the 2009 team.
Tricia Griffin, MFA is the director of corporate communications and issues management at Catholic Healthcare West and also serves on the Advisory Board for the Foundation for International Health. A writer by training, Tricia's role in the Guatemala mission is to document the work being done by the caregivers through photography and blogging. "Stories are perhaps the most effective and powerful resource humans have for communicating meaning to one another," she says. "We don't remember numbers. We remember stories. I'm honored to be counted among these remarkable people and to be the legacy bearer for this important work. It is vital that we tell the story of the people we meet, of the actions we take, of the way we are impacted ñ as much for ourselves as for those who will come after us."
Pamela Hearn is the executive director for the Foundation for International Health. She is primarily responsible for raising the funds necessary to sustain CHW's international ministry. In working with the Advisory Council on this mission trip she says she kept remembering an old saying about the disparities between the northern and southern hemispheres - The North will save the lives of the South, but the South will save the souls of the North. This will be Pamela's first experience on a medical mission, though through her fund raising efforts over the last 10 years she has been involved in supporting care for children, in Catholic social teaching, and aid to the developing world.
David Hora, CLS, MFA is the hematology/urinalysis supervisor for Community Hospital of San Bernardino’s clinical laboratory. He is also a poet. "I love that my job breaks down the human body (much in the way poetry breaks down language) into its constituent microscopic and molecular parts," he says. "In examining these elements, I can then report on the status of the whole—microcosm versus macrocosm. I chose to be part of this team because the need exists and I have the skill and will to help others who, in different circumstances, could be me." David has been part of many teams, from U.S. Air Force deployments during Desert Storm, to CHW’s Transformational Care Initiative, to his current tight-knit laboratory family. "Our team leaders have done everything they can to prep us for the mission, yet I feel exhilaratingly unprepared for the journey ahead. I know the logistics of the mission; the rest is an un-carved block of possibilities with everyone, from the team members to the basilica’s monks to the patients we will treat, as sculptors."
Nancy Link, RD has been a volunteer dietitian for seven years at the CHW White Rock and Folsom Family Charity Clinics in Sacramento, CA. She is retired from a career in public health, primarily in the Women Infant and Children (WIC) Program where she still works part time. Always involved volunteer work, on retiring she spent a year in Chicago as a Dominican volunteer at Deborah’s Place a program for women who are homeless. In Nicaragua she volunteered at Casa Materna assisting high-risk pregnant women from rural areas.
Beatrice Martinez, RN is a pediatrics nurse at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada. This will be her third trip to Esquipulas with the CHW Foundation for International Health. Her mission experience with CHW has been deeply transformative. "I learned a new depth to my compassion," she says. "I met wonderfully dedicated people who were there all doing the same thing: giving loving medical care." She has no expectations of this years trip, only noting that she will take it day by day and maybe even moment to moment. Beatrice brings more than 15 years of nursing experience to the mission.
Carmen Montano-Cornado, RN works at Woodland Hospital in Woodland, CA. She has been with CHW since June of 1989 in varying nursing roles. "Ever since I can remember I have always wanted to be a nurse," she says. "I love to help people and enjoy any kind of a challenge." Carmen has always wanted to go on a medical mission and now that her four children are grown she feels like this is the right time for her to follow this calling. "I am very happy and excited to be able to participate in this mission," she says.
Alicia Moran is an analyst for the Discrepancy Unit at Glendale Central Business Office in Glendale, California. She has more than 13 years experience in various areas of the medical world. It brings her so much joy to be able to assist in the 2010 Guatemala mission. She will be primarily translating for doctors and nurses as well as digitizing patients' medical records. However, Alicia looks forward to helping in any way she can. "I bring to this mission my grandfather Agustine's words and actions to always care for and see to those in need. I feel giving back is the best way to give thanks."
Virginia Okabayashi is the Pharmacy Clinical Manager at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, CA. Serving on this medical mission is her way of answering the "voice inside me that tells me 'it is time.'" Virgina 'grew up' in health care. Her first job, at 16 years of age, was as a kitchen helper, then she moved on to become a patient transporter, nurse’s aid, unit secretary, pharmacy aid and finally a Registered Pharmacist. Virginia is passionate about leading from where she stands, whether in the hospital or in Guatemala. "I desire to join a team to make a difference in a focused effort that will improve the lives people in an underserved community. It is important that we provide care for the immediate needs of individuals and education so that these interventions are sustainable. I see this experience as a spring board to my engagement in future medical volunteer opportunities by integrating my knowledge of health care and medication management with the logistics of a medical mission project. I am ready to travel and to contribute to the success of caring for others."
Mia Paredez, OTR/L has served as an occupational therapist at Northridge Hospital Medical Center since 2007 in the Acute Rehabilitation Unit. Mia says she chose health care as her profession because "I wanted to have a job where my responsibility was to help people every day." She has been fortunate enough to have volunteered internationally in both Haiti and Nicaragua. "There has always been tremendous work involved [in these missions], but I like being professionally challenged." The 2009 trip to Guatemala will be Mia's first true medical mission. "I am looking forward to collaborating with the multi-disciplined team to provide health services and promote wellness to as many people possible," she says.
Jennifer Perez, RN, is an emergency room nurse at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, CA. She is also a flight nurse. This is her third mission trip with the CHW Foundation for International Health but she has also served on missions with the U.S. military and with the Flying Samaritans.
Mary Carol Todd, RN, MSN, CMAC is the clinical team leader for the mission. She has served with CHW in different capacities for the last 25 years and currently holds the position of vice president of medical management and palliative care. Her involvement with the CHW Foundation for International Health began after hearing from the Pontifical Council on End of Life Care about the magnitude of medical need in developing countries.
Herbert Villafuerte, RN is the emergency services manager for Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center in Glendale, CA. "I chose health care as a profession for the opportunity to give back and truly make a difference in one’s life," he says. "Not long ago I was a patient myself and was in need of a helping hand. Health care has been my way to give back for all of those people God has placed in my way to help me." Herbert volunteered for this mission because he believes in living a life of service. "By traveling to Guatemala, the country of my birth, I feel my time will be well spent helping a community I know first hand truly is in need. Many times we volunteer our time to causes that have been well supported through time. By serving a truly underserved community, I feel my time will significantly make a difference."
Trish Warren, RN is a Pediatric Nursing supervisor at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, CA. She has worked for the hospital for 25 years. "I work with a wonderful crew of nurses," she says. "Taking care of children and babies has been a joy for all these years." Trish has been married for 23 years and has three wonderful kids. "I have felt the pull to go on a medical mission for many years. I feel part of why God gave me medical skills was to help someday in this area," she says. "I'm excited to be able to be part of this mission and to help in Guatemala in whatever way possible."
