St. Martins parishioner shares nursing expertise during surgeries on medial missions in India
Shannon Gaono, nurse and supervisor of the pediatric Operating Room team at University Hospital, Columbia
Sometimes when Shannon Gaono closes her eyes, she sees faces of people she’s gotten to help.
They are smiling faces of children whose futures look brighter due to the surgeries she and her medical team have been able to provide.
“The things we’re able to do for these kids is absolutely life-changing,” said Mrs. Gaono, an active member of St. Martin Parish in St. Martins and an operating room (OR) nurse and supervisor of the pediatric OR team at University Hospital in Columbia.
Earlier this year, Mrs. Gaono took part in a medical mission to a hospital in Nagpur, India, sponsored by Peedh Parai International (peedhparaiinternational.org).
“Just having the opportunity to do something that I love, that I do every day, but providing it to people who don’t have access to the things we take for granted here, it’s so amazingly satisfying,” said Mrs. Gaono.
It’s also eye-opening.
“The OR there is not the OR here at MU Healthcare,” she noted. “They don’t have a lot of the things we have here.”
She said the local doctors and healthcare professionals in Nagpur are “super-wicked smart,” well trained and adept in their fields.
“Together, we’re able to figure it out and bring the outcome to the kids,” she said. “It’s amazing and super-humbling.”
Once isn’t enough
Mrs. Gaono and her husband, McClellan, who goes by “Mack,” have been living in St. Martins for about 10 years.
Mrs. Gaono grew up in a military family in Waynesville and was a member of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in St. Robert.
A lifelong desire to help and care for people eventually led to a career in nursing.
She and her husband got married right after high school, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. They were stationed in Germany right away and lived in various locales before settling back in Missouri.
Mrs. Gaono studied nursing at Lincoln University in Jefferson City and completed her studies at the University of Missouri in 2003.
Through work, she got to know Dr. Sumit Gupta, an orthopedic surgeon at University Hospital.
He’s a longtime friend of the Peedh Parai International mission’s founder, Dr. Ashwin Pimpalwar, a pediatric general surgeon who previously served as professor of surgery and pediatrics and surgeon-in-chief at Children’s Hospital in Columbia.
Dr. Pimpalwar is from Nagawara, India, and did his medical training there.
“It was his dream to be able to go and give back to his own country,” said Mrs. Gaono.
Dr. Gupta had been taking part in the mission in Nagpur for several years and told Mrs. Gaono about it.
“I’ve always had an interest in doing a medical mission,” she recalled. “So, three years ago, I went.”
She went again a year later, and again this year.
“You just want to go back, you want to share your skills with people who are less fortunate,” she said. “It’s a big thank-you for having the means to do it.”
“Worth every bit”
This year, the medical teams performed 110 surgeries, ranging from fixing improperly healed fractures and repairing diseased joints to collaboration on complex procedures.
Each can make a lifetime’s worth of difference.
“Even removing an extra toe,” said Mrs. Gaono. “Something so simple, but now, you can fit in a regular pair of shoes.”
The medical teams use vacation time to go on the mission, and pay their own way. They also spend time away from their families, who miss them.
“It’s worth every bit of that,” said Mrs. Gaono, “just to be able to help kids who truly need the care. They’re so grateful for it, and their lives are changed forever.”
Peedh Parai International started over a decade ago and originally moved its missions to a different locale each year.
For the past several years, it’s been at a hospital in Nagpur, a city of about 3.2 million people.
“It’s pretty amazing there, the medical community alone,” said Mrs. Gaono. “There are tons of hospitals and clinics. They’re everywhere.”
Although India is famous for its large cities, more than half of the nation’s nearly 1.5 billion people live in rural areas and villages.
All the children and families who come to the mission are from rural communities that have limited access to healthcare.
“Obviously, they can’t pay for any of the surgery, so, everything is done for free,” said Mrs. Gaono.
The weeklong mission is the culmination of a monthslong process. A team of healthcare professionals heads out into nearby villages in search of children who need specialized surgery.
They coordinate care leading up to the surgery, including tests, X-rays and other preliminary work.
“Then, the mission brings them all to Nagpur and feeds them and houses them and gets them home after the surgery is done,” said Mrs. Gaono.
The mission itself moves like clockwork.
“We see patients on Sunday in a clinic-like setting, and then we operate Monday through Saturday,” she said.
Most of the children have some type of congenital anomality.
“Most don’t have access to healthcare and are deficient in nutrients,” said Mrs. Gaono. “That’s what mostly leads them to have these conditions.”
Many have simple deformities that in the United States would be corrected shortly after birth.
“But there, they don’t have the means to get what they need, so we’re taking care of these things years later,” she said.
Hub of activity
Mission teams come from near and far — Germany, Sweden, Italy, the United States, and of course, from throughout India.
“General surgery, orthopedic surgery — we cover a lot of services,” said Mrs. Gaono.
Available surgeries vary each year, depending on which medical teams are able to take part.
A spine surgeon has been coming for the past 10 years.
The hospital that hosts the mission ceases regular operations for the week.
“Because there are so many kids and families there, the patient rooms have to be used for the surgical patients,” said Mrs. Gaono. “So, they essentially turn the hospital over to the mission for a week.”
The hospital’s staff helps with the mission.
“So, everything these families need while they’re there — food, testing, care they need after surgery — it’s all available in the hospital for them,” she said.
The mission teams usually spend a day before the mission exploring the city.
Dr. Gupta takes his team to nearby Hindu temples and ancient ruins and shares the local history with them.
“Each year,” said Mrs. Gaono, “the evening before the mission, we visit a local temple and receive a blessing for a successful mission, healing and the safety of all of the team, the children and their families.”
The children and families are incredibly grateful for the care they receive.
“It’s like we’re celebrities,” said Mrs. Gaono. “Everybody wants pictures with us. It’s really amazing.”
The mission teams get to hear from some of the children and families from past missions talk about the impact of the surgeries they’ve had.
“It’s truly moving,” said Mrs. Gaono.
Some of the children come back more than once.
“They remember us, because we’re the same faces,” she said. “And we remember them, too. It’s an amazing feeling. It really is.”
Last year, Mrs. Gaono’s team did one side of a hip replacement for a young man.
“He did so well, he came back the next year to have the other side done,” she said. “So, he’s walking now.”
Making the most
Three years on the mission have broadened Mrs. Gaono’s worldview.
“Just seeing how other people live in the world, and just how fortunate we are here in America to have things right at our fingertips, that’s very enlightening,” she said.
“At MU Healthcare, we’re a huge teaching institution, so we have cutting-edge everything,” she noted. “We’re very fortunate and blessed to have all the things we have. So, being able to go and help make things come together and do so much with so little is very humbling.”
The hospital in Nagpur coordinates with surgeons who work in other hospitals in the city.
“If they have something they use in their normal practices, they might say, ‘I have this instrument tray I can bring over during a day of the mission,’” said Mrs. Gaono.
Some teams have sponsors that send medical equipment on the mission with them.
“All the instrumentation for the spine surgeon is shipped over there from the United States,” she noted. “It’s tons and tons of things.”
Mrs. Gaono’s team takes a few things, such as surgical instruments and some bandages.
“But mostly, we’re able to do the things we do with the stuff they have there,” she said.
Joy and hope
The medical teams are exhausted after every day of the mission.
“But it’s a good kind of exhaustion,” said Mrs. Gaono. “It’s so rewarding, but when the week is over, we’re ready to get back home.”
Her end-of-day prayers throughout the mission were simple.
“Mostly ‘Thank you,’” she said.
“I feel so grateful,” she said. “I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to go, that I have the means to do it, that I have family support that can take care of all the kids back home.
“You want to go back, you want to share the skills with people who are less fortunate,” she said. “You don’t think about opportunities like these and being able to encounter them in your lifetime.”
The participants have a big celebration at the end of the mission, to reflect on and celebrate everything that’s been accomplished.
The team members stay in touch with the local surgeon and attendants in Nagpur and get regular updates on the patients’ progress.
“They stay in contact with the families in the weeks, months and years to come,” said Mrs. Gaono. “The local surgeon gets feedback and we can all see it.”
She remains in contact with the people she meets on the mission each year.
“I’ve made some great friendships,” she said. “They look forward to us coming as much as we look forward to going.”
She hopes to return to Nagpur for next year’s mission in January or to have someone else go in her place.
She asks for prayers for the children who were patients of this year’s mission to complete their recovery without any major difficulties.
“Pray that their lives are changed dramatically, so they can go on to do the things they want to do in their life, without any limitations,” she requested.
“And also pray for the teams of healthcare professionals who are able to provide their talents to such things as this,” she said. “For nurses, doctors, and all the ancillary people to keep feeling that desire to serve others, to serve people who are less fortunate.”
