The real heroes of the Amazon

The journey of volunteer doctors helping and saving lives in the Amazon. A story of immersion and care in the Médio Rio Negro region, with the right to small and large miracles of modern medicine and gestures of immense humanism.

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CHILDREN!

That was my symbol for this expedition. Perhaps it was because of the affection I’ve always had for them because I did the first examination of most of the five children who underwent surgery, because I have children of my own, or perhaps because I was so sorry to see the little indigenous people with all their potential energy crestfallen because of the cataract that was leaving them blind.
Like everything else in life, it wasn’t going to be easy. Performing a surgery of this size under general anesthesia in a surgical center temporarily set up in an indigenous village was a challenge and involved special logistics and a great deal of multidisciplinary mobilization. Due to the Indians’ natural isolationism, this was probably their only chance.
The wonderful team at EDS pulled it off and we received the best possible reward: seeing the children the next day, amazed, and interacting with the new world that was being shown to them is something I will never forget.
I’m honored to be part of this group, and there’s more to come next year!

Thank you Expedicionários da Saúde for the opportunity to be part of this group and feel the essence of caring for others. May this emotion always live on and serve as motivation to become better people and professionals. It was a privilege to meet such good people who believe, fight for the same goals and make a difference. A special thank you to the indigenous people, on behalf of the Krikati, for welcoming our group. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and see you next time!

Learn… contemplate… get dirty… sweat… sweat and get dirty some more… help… laugh… thrill… and above all give thanks!
These are the main verbs we practiced most during the expedition.
To learn… I learned a lot, a lot about how life can be simpler, how it is possible to meet and make new friends and learn a little bit from any of them.
To contemplate… To contemplate nature, an unparalleled sunset, a spectacular sky full of stars (everyone saw shooting stars except me. 🙂 It was one of the most beautiful skies I’ve ever seen).
Dirt and sweat… and how sweaty! 39 degrees and a dust that will take me a lifetime to remove from my skin but worth every spectacle. Everyone in the same vibe… dirty, sweaty, and dusty, but working hard and running everywhere, making everything happen in the best way.
To help…. this is one of the main lessons I bring back. How it is possible to help and how there are so many people who need help. I understood that if everyone is willing to help others, no matter how small their action, we can do something incredible to change this country! We had the help of many people there and as a result, in just a few days more than 500 surgeries were carried out, almost 5,000 consultations were made, and we helped to improve the lives of many.
To laugh… and much we laughed. At the jokes improvised by your Alonço 🙂 , and at the stories told about past expeditions. It’s a place where everyone is there doing what they love and, when they’re done, it’s a good time.

I was thrilled to see the happiness on the face of an indigenous woman who had been waiting for a long time to be seen by the public health system and couldn’t get an appointment. At the moment we booked her appointment, and she was seen, it was one of the most beautiful smiles I’ve ever seen! I was thrilled to see children under the age of 6, who would spend their whole lives unable to see, out seeing! All because of a simple cataract operation to which they would not have had access. Listening to an emotional speech by the Chief, telling us that we have open doors in his village for the rest of our lives. Hearing him tell us how important our work has been for his community.
And finally, to THANK…. the most important verb. To be grateful for having been able to have this experience. Thank you to my mentors and tutors (Marcia Abdala, Genário Kanashiro, Fabio Costa, Claudio Braga, Ricardo, Renato Adolfs, Paulo Medeiros, among many others) who allowed me to be on an expedition. Thank you to so many new friends. Friends I’m proud to have made. Friends I can’t wait to meet again. Thank you to the Krikati people for being so welcoming, for all their hard work in preparing everything so that we could be there and do our work. Thank you for everything I take away from this experience.
An experience that changed my life… I was bitten by the EDS bug and I’m sure there will be many more expeditions to come!
Thanks to all of you!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love love love writing.

How can I not write when writing has been the bridge to everything I’ve experienced over the last few days?

Today is not just any Sunday evening. I’ve been writing this text for exactly 3 hours, mentally reliving my last 8 days.So I hope this text reaches you and makes you feel good.

It’s been a while since I’ve felt anything close to this.

When 2018 began, I already knew that I would experience great things, but I could never have imagined that I would finally find my place in this world. And I did.

I met the EDS and even after 3 hours I can’t put into words everything I experienced with these incredible people over 8 days in isolation in the village of São José, in Montes Altos in the state of Maranhão. It was the most significant trip of my life, a watershed.

    Half of me stayed there and the other half came back to rebuild and tell you that Brazil does have a way!

There is a way because there is a group of top professionals in terms of excellence and humanity, who are willing to donate their time and knowledge for the benefit of the indigenous community, neglected by us all.

Brazil has a way because this is the 41st expedition, and hundreds of cataract surgeries, hernias, clinical, dental, pediatric and gynecological consultations have been carried out by this team.

It works because large corporations invest in this project, and I am grateful to be part of one of them.

This country has a way because our Krikati, Guajajara and other neighboring ethnic groups believed in this project and worked together to make it a reality, always thinking of the good of all. They welcomed us into their backyard and simply surprised me with their lively traditions, unity, respect for the community and nature.

Our country has a way because on this expedition alone at least 4 children (until September 14) had won the right to see the light of day, until then affected by cataracts.

I mention them because they struck me, not because they were children, but because of the significance of being a child in this context: changing the fate of four lives that might never see the beautiful sunset in that village.

I worked all eight days with the dental team, but I recorded all the ophthalmology facts so that I could take them to my beloved JnJ Vision Surgical team.

I saw cataract surgery for the first time, using a Sensar lens and Intuitiv equipment! What pride! I just cried and I still cry when I remember those moments.

To the surgeons I was able to record, Renato Klingelfus Pinheiro, Mateus L. Matuoka and Michel Rubin, may the Universe repay you for everything you put into this project, I’ve become a fan of yours!(I can’t write more about this because I want to save the excitement for my team in São Paulo).In fact, working with the boys at Odonto has changed me, I’ve lost nothing by being with them, we’ve lost nothing by being with good people who work for something so extraordinary.Our Brazil has a way, because three young dentists who could be doing anything ordinary (they are Renan K. L. Concilio, Afrânio Ferreira and Leo Hida), decided to be there in the middle of Maranhão’s abandonment and bring care to almost 300 indigenous people, including adults and children.

And how I learned from them! They are angels in the form of dentists (I never imagined I’d like dentists, lol).

That’s why I really think you should make a radical change to your lifestyle and start courageously doing things you may never have thought of doing.

Do something extraordinary with your life!

Our country has a way.

I’m grateful for every contact with every soul I’ve come across on this fantastic journey, whoever they are, whatever they are, a little bit of me has gone and a little bit of them has stayed with me.

I would like to thank the EDS family for the incredible welcome, I arrived in tears and left in tears of happiness.

The girls in the kitchen for being so willing and bearing a smile that enchanted me every time I saw it.

To chef Andre for his gift of feeding our bodies and souls.

Edson Oliveira, who made a deep impression on me with his unique way of caring for patients as soon as they came out of anesthesia.

To Marcia Abdala, Mona, Genaro and Ricardo for their short but profound dialogues with me on a daily basis, for being a reference point for the purpose of EDS.

To everyone, right? Ana Paula Moreira Alves, who welcomed me with great hospitality on my first visit to the operating room and took me up on the idea of recording important facts for the JnJ team.

To the friends I made there and the meeting of souls with Daniele Barbosa!

I would like to thank my company Johnson Vision Surgical for the opportunity and the encouragement. If it hadn’t been for you, I would never have experienced all of this and I will be eternally grateful to everyone involved in this project.

Anyone who knows me knows that the big question in my life has always been: what is my place in the world?

In September 2018, at the age of 32, I found it. I am what I have chosen.

EDS, you are the corner of this world that I have found, thank you for being from the same planet as me!

Jungle!

Save our native people, our Amazon.