Three rural NYM residents spend time in Ecuador

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Over three decades ago, siblings Henry, Luis, and Beatriz Vasconez, had a dream of giving back to their homeland through their own skill set. The three siblings were born in Ecuador and had all found success in their respective medical fields in the United States. Out of that dream came Medical Mission Ecuador USA (MME), a mission trip from the United States to Ecuador for the purpose of providing free healthcare services to those in need.  ¶  While the program has been going on for over 30 years, one local family has found their place as medical missionaries within the organization over the past four years. Mary Peeters, Butler, has been a Registered Nurse for the past 44 years and was the first in her family to take the plunge and found herself a part of the general surgery team in Ecuador four years ago.

“It’s always been on my bucket list to go,” said Mary. “Dr. Monson, who I’ve worked with in Wadena, he went the year before and came back and said, ‘Mary, you would really like this trip, it’s very rewarding.’ So he’s the one who asked me to go.”

Mary participated in her first medical mission four years ago and has since enlisted the help of her sons, Frank, Charlie and Jack, the latter two joining their mother for the first time this month. All three sons are also Registered Nurses and are engaged in the medical field.

“This year, Charlie was more free so he came and Jack graduated as a Registered Nurse, so he came,” said Mary. “I thought it would be quite an experience with the three boys and me to go, because we need help, and they were really a lot of good help. I told these guys, it’s not a vacation. You’re going to be working, and they found out that these are some long days.”

“It’s definitely demanding,” agreed Jack. “You’re on your feet a lot.”

“The first day, I think I put in 24,000 steps just in the hospital,” said Charlie. “You’re constantly on your feet.”

In Ecuador, they all filled a role in the General Surgery team where they assisted MME surgeons at the Regionalle Hospital in the city of Ambato. In an eight day trip, they assisted with surgery from Monday through Friday in 12 hour days and were able to perform 52 surgeries within their specialty.

“On Sunday we got to the hospital and set up our supplies,” said Mary. “We brought all of our supplies in—gowns, gloves, sutures, bandages, medicines, sterile equipment, mesh, stapling devices—we did laparoscopic procedures and we brought in the machine and counsel from a storage unit. We set up our rooms, our supplies, and our instruments and put together packs for hernia repairs and gallbladder surgery.

“The surgeons visit with the people coming in,” she continued. “These are people who have no means to pay for services, and they are told every year when we come, it’s always a week in February that this particular mission trip comes to their town. Dr. Monson and Dr. Sticca did surgery and we were part of the general surgery team.”

Around 70 medical professionals from throughout the United States attend this annual mission trip and the specialties including OBGYN, plastics, orthopedic and rehabilitation are also able to provide much needed care for the local Ecuadorians. Surgeries included hernia repair, gallbladder surgery, cleft palate procedures, club foot procedures and physical therapy.

As a surgery manager at home, Mary was in her element caring for the people of Ecuador. Frank and Charlie enjoyed being back in the operating room after the past few years of working from home in the health insurance field and Jack was able to get his feet wet as a newly certified Registered Nurse.

“I’ve been a registered nurse since 1982,” said Mary. “I’m a surgery manager, that’s mostly what I’ve done. I did teach nursing for a couple of years, but I went back into surgery management.”

“Frank and I have had the same path,” said Charlie of their medical background. “We both went to nursing school together in Wadena, we both took our boards together in Bismarck, and then we both started working at Sanford in Fargo in orthopedics. Then we both started working at home for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota. We’ve had very similar career paths.”

“I just graduated nursing school winter of 2025, so I’m fresh,” said Jack. “I went to school in Duluth at Lake Superior College and I’m going to try to stay in Duluth and get a job there, I’m on the search.”

After working in the insurance industry, Charlie especially enjoyed getting back to his hospital roots while in Ecuador.

“The surgery part was really fun for me,” he said. “I enjoyed that aspect because I haven’t been in an OR for three years. I work behind a computer exclusively now, so that hands-on engagement was really fun.

“The food was also incredible,” he added. “A lot of really great food and fresh fruit. And the people that you meet and run into, some of the team members, I would go again just to see them.”

Mary and Jack also found great reward in being a part of the general surgery team and really appreciated the reactions from patients, which brought them a realization of just how much these procedures meant to each individual and their families.

“Inside the hospital, my favorite part would be in the recovery room when the patients are waking up and getting ready to go, they’re very thankful,” said Jack. “You go out and get their family members and they are even thankful—they’re shaking your hand, taking pictures with you—it’s very satisfying to see how good they all feel.”

“They’re a grateful culture,” agreed Mary. “They’re pretty stoic, but most of them have been suffering for several years, so getting these items taken care of and fixed, they’re just very grateful and they’re very vocal about it. We had a lot of interpreters because they’re Spanish speaking, but you could see through sign language, just how thankful and grateful they were.”

“The impact with the patients, their relief and their reactions to how grateful they are,” said Charlie of the most rewarding aspect, “You feel like you’re hardly doing anything, but to them, it’s way more than just one simple procedure, it’s going to change their whole life’s trajectory.”

Another aspect the family all enjoyed was getting to know the many medical professionals from across the United States that they worked with day in and day out during their mission. With new lifelong friends that they would never have met otherwise and a greater perspective of life outside of the United States, returning to Ecuador doesn’t take a second thought.

“I would love to do it again,” said Charlie. “It’s a broader impact than helping one individual, it ripples out.”

“Absolutely, I’m definitely going again,” said Jack. “The good feeling from helping the people, and you also get to have a good time with these other medical professionals, you get to share this experience, it’s pretty fulfilling. I would go there a couple days sooner just to be able to travel about. If I could rent an electric bicycle, the way they cruise around there would be so fun.”

Along with the enjoyment of the trip came the appreciation for the humanity of the trip and the ramifications of what their presence in Ecuador truly meant to the locals. Learning different approaches on how to be resourceful with their limited supplies, critical thinking skills, and seeing how healthcare was regarded across the ocean made an impact upon them as well.

“That was woven throughout the whole trip, we all had that commonality of wanting to provide care to these people,” said Mary. “So there was this like-mindedness of wanting to provide this care and bringing forth what we have in our skill set to help these people that are less than able to do it themselves.

“It was rewarding for me too, to have the boys along,” she continued. “I never imagined that all three of them would become nurses, so for all three of them to be nurses and then also to share my passion for surgery, was a pretty awesome feeling.

“It was really special for all of us to be there, doing the same thing, enjoying the same thing,” agreed Charlie.

“A lot of good stories,” finished Mary,” and a lot of good laughs!”