06 July 2007
Panamanian Boy Receives Gift of Hope on U.S. Navy Hospital Ship
Michael Ibarra hopes to regain use of his hand after reconstructive surgery
Colón, Panama – Nine-year-old Michael Ibarra is a star pitcher and shortstop on his baseball team at the Omar Moreno Foundation's baseball school in Puerto Armuelles, Panama, and he achieved this distinction with only one hand.
At the age of 4, Michael broke his left arm, and subsequent complications resulted in a loss of tendons, nerves and bone, leaving him with an atrophied forearm and only limited use of his left hand. Michael's father has taken him to see numerous doctors in Panama, but they offered little hope of repairing the boy’s arm because of the limitations of facilities available locally. One doctor even recommended amputating Michael's arm, but Michael's father would not hear of such a solution.
Former Pittsburgh Pirates star baseball player Omar Moreno took a personal interest in Michael's situation. Moreno founded a baseball school for disadvantaged local children in his hometown of Puerto Armuelles, and believes Michael is one of his most promising young players. When Moreno heard that the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort would call in Colón, Panama, as part of its four-month tour of Latin American and Caribbean countries, he arranged for Michael to visit the ship's medical staff.
The Comfort is visiting 12 countries during its tour of the region, providing free primary medical care and minor surgeries at each stop. The ship carries more than 500 doctors and nurses who set up clinics in the ship's ports of call to provide general pediatric, obstetric, gynecological, dental, ophthalmological and physical therapy consultations. To provide more extensive care for more serious cases, the ship has 12 operating rooms, X-ray facilities, a CT scan unit, a blood bank and a pharmacy.
After a consultation with pediatric orthopedic surgeon Eric Shirley aboard the Comfort July 5, Michael heard a more encouraging prognosis on his condition. Shirley said that with multistage reconstructive surgery of the soft tissue, tendons and bone, Michael could regain significant function in his left arm and improved physical appearance.
Shirley said the procedure was too complicated to undertake during the Comfort's five-day stop in Colón, but he was able to refer the boy to hand specialists in the United States for further care. The U.S. Embassy and the Moreno Foundation now are looking for ways to facilitate Michael's treatment in the United States.
Michael was just one of nearly 4,400 patients that received medical attention during the Comfort's first day in Colón. The ship's doctors extracted teeth, distributed reading glasses, performed CT scans, administered electrocardiograms and tended to all manner of aches and pains.
Although the primary purpose of Comfort's visit to the region is to provide humanitarian medical assistance in disadvantaged communities, Comfort's medical corps commanding officer, Captain Bruce Boynton, said it serves other purposes as well. He told USINFO July 5 that the exercise provides useful experience for the ship's doctors in dealing with medical situations and working conditions unique to developing countries. He said it also allows them to build networks with local doctors and develop stronger long-term cooperative relationships.
The ship's medical personnel have invited local doctors to join them on board and are holding training sessions for local medical service providers on advanced cardiac life support. In addition, construction brigades are rehabilitating a local clinic to ensure that the ship's visit will have a long-term beneficial impact on the community's health services.
During a ceremony to inaugurate the ship's services, the ship's commodore, Captain Robert Kapcio, underscored the importance of building networks with local doctors. “Comfort is here to make a difference not just in the short term, but in the long term as well. The U.S. is committed to cooperative partnerships with our friends in this region,” he said.
Panama's minister of health, Camilo Alleyne, said the ship's visit is a sign of “the good will, solidarity and good relations of hope that exist” between Panama and the United States.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
