Operating room area
We are now back in the sterile area where I have to change into scrubs to go there. Here we have the laundry, supply room, instrument preparation room, operating room, and recovery room.
This is the laundry room. The drapes we use in the OR are cloth and need to be washed thoroughly after each use.
This area contains some of the most important work of the clinic. If the laundry is not cared for properly, then the patients are put a higher risk for infection. It seems like a lowly area but in reality work done here saves lives.
Next to the laundry is a large room filled with shelves for storage of all sorts of supplies. This room has become more and more filled each time I come. It is encouraging to me to see how much equipment Jane has accumulated to be able to deliver top quality surgical care.
More of the storage room. This is a monitor for laparoscopy.
Another view of the supply room
A wall filled with supplies.
Now we are entering the instrument room. Here the instruments which were cleaned in the laundry room are brought for rewrapping and sterilization. The drapes and sheets are also folded and wrapped for sterilization.
The instruments are organized and stored. The humidity here will seep into wrapped instruments if left on a shelf for some time. These stainless steel instruments actually do rust. So they need to be left unwrapped until needed and then wrapped and sterilized.
Shelving for towels and small drapes to wrap instruments. The tables are used as work tables for wrapping large and small packs.
The autoclave is open with several packs already sterilized for use this next week. The glass cabinets contain supplies that can be accessed from both sides allowing placement from the instrument room and access from the operating room.
Looking through the glass cabinets into the operating room.
In the operating room. The shelving is filled with various types of sterile suture. Jane uses the desk between surgeries to work on the patient’s chart.
Looking at the door into the operating room and part of the glass cabinets.
Jane is stocking some of the shelves with supplies we will need available this next week. We see also the anesthesia machine and part of the OR table.
Operating table. This is where we will be standing for most of the daylight hours next week.
The supplies are stocked and the room is ready for use.
There are two swinging doors that open from the OR to the recovery room. The recovering patient is only a few feet away from the OR team and the anesthesiologist has direct visual control of the patient while in the OR.
The OR team can monitor the recovering patient directly through the large window and can be at the bed side in a matter of seconds if a need arises. This gives a lot of safety for the patient. The patient recovers in the time the next surger is performed and then is taken awake and alert with stable vital signs to the alberge for continued post-op recovery.
Medical Missions 
Hi Marvin, Lillian forwarded your blog info and I have enjoyed seeing
the pictures. It is wonderful that Jane has so much equipment and
I’m sure it builds a lot of confidence in everyone. It is great that
you have been a part. Just a note, we enjoy Dr. Jeremiah every
Sun am. Love Dorothy