Series a learning experience for all

All politics is local is how the saying goes.

But what about all news stories?

How can you make a case that following around a group of medical

professionals from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian into the

Amazon jungles of Ecuador is a story fit for the local community

paper?

Yet after six days of coverage in our Hands that Heal series by

reporter Deepa Bharath and photographer Don Leach, we think we may

have done just that.

Led by local plastic surgeon Larry Nichter, the group known as the

Plasticos Foundation travels to Third World countries to perform

surgeries on those who otherwise would never get help.

Children and adults with fused fingers, cleft palates, cysts,

raging infections and burned skin can now have hope that their lives

will possibly be normal and whole because of the doctors and nurses

of Plasticos.

While the work of this group is but a small gesture in a world

large with strife and war and maladies, from a purely local

standpoint, those in Ecuador and Newport-Mesa, it’s a grand effort

that deserved to be chronicled.

And we were more than happy to be the ones to do it.

What we learned from the series is pretty undeniable. That for all

our griping and sniping, we sure have it pretty good.

We all take good healthcare for granted and it isn’t until we read

of the tribulations of those like Yu Piruish, Maria Anchuar, Brigit

Aray or Shiki Chumpu, whom the doctors were unable to help, that we

realize the outstanding care we get is a blessing we should all be

thankful for.

We learned that people who have very little, need very little in

return to make them happy. We learned that you can have all the

luxuries of living in coastal Orange County and still take the time

to risk life and limb for people in need.

So we would like to show our gratitude and thank those who helped

us bring this story to our Daily Pilot readers.

First, and foremost, is Dr. Nichter for inviting us along as well

as his Plasticos crew, which included: Dr. Robert and Ruth Ann Burns,

nurses Jane Collins, Kathleen Fodor, Virginia Burns and

anthropologist and coordinator Denise Cucurny.

Next is the people in and around the town of Macas, Ecuador, who

let our reporters into their lives in some of their most trying

moments.

Finally, thanks to Bharath and Leach for performing under

less-than normal working conditions and bringing us back some quality

journalism.

We hope the readers enjoyed this weeklong tale and that for them,

like us, the learning experience has been immeasurable.