Operation Walk Virginia

2010 Guayaquil, Ecuador

Fundraising 

Inventory & Packing

Operation Walk Virginia is on the move!

Our next trip is scheduled for September 12-19, 2009 when Operation Walk Virginia is heading for Ecuador!  We will be working in a small hospital called Hospital de los Valles which is just outside Quito in a town called Cumbaya (yes, just like the song we all sang around the campfire).  In February, Ericka Pitts and Julie Warner travelled to Ecuador to meet with the Executive Director of the Futuro Foundation – an Ecuadorian foundation that is helping us make this trip a reality.  We also met with the Minister of Health to discuss what was needed in terms of paperwork, with a staff member from the American Embassy, and had a personal escort from Ricardo Bowen, Honorary Consul General for Ecuador for Houston, TX area.  The staff at Hospital de los Valles was extremely positive and are looking forward to their part in this mission.  Without any and all of these people, we could not possibly manage this trip.

• In April, Erica Pitts and Will Young made the first trip in search of supplies for our upcoming trip. They successfully returned with boxes of dressings, IV tubing, bandages and OR equipment from Amerisource.
• In June, Alex Bain and Erin Zug travelled to Gleaning for the World in Concord, Virginia to pick up supplies for our trip to Ecuador. Thanks to Mount Vernon Rotary Club we had the use of a donated truck saving our much needed dollars for the trip itself!
• In June, superstar fundraisers Aaron Lipsey and Ethan Orhiner hosted (with the support and help of their parents!) a very successful silent auction which raised more than $5,000 for the cause!
• July 18 comes our big packing day! We look forward to team members and friends joining in to count, catalog, measure, weigh and pack all our donated supplies for shipment to Ecuador.
• Julie Warner is working with our Southcom partners to arrange for supplies to be shipped at no cost to Operation Walk.
• We are working once again with Ellie Turner of ATT Travel to make the travel arrangements for our team to get to and from Quito.
• Operation Walk is moving forward toward realizing the goal of bringing the spirit of volunteerism to medical and nursing students. Our first medical student will accompany the team as part of a fourth year medical study abroad elective. Michael Gaspar, will spend one month at the Inova Joint Replacement Center observing surgery, pre and post operative care and research with his experience culminating in the trip to Ecuador.
• Another Operation Walk first! Joining us on this mission are two military volunteers.  We would like to welcome Chris Valdez, nurse anesthetist and Marie Lindsey, PT to our team.

  Thanks to our Mount Vernon Rotary Club for their outreach to their counterparts in Quito, Ecuador. The Quito Rotary will be providing our team with lunch on the very busy surgery days! These lunches will be set up in the doctors' lounge at Hospital de los Valles for the team members to eat on the run between cases.