Sunday, January 25, 2009

20 Foot crates, the Coast of Africa, and Surgeons with a Mission

In less than three weeks the World Surgical Foundation will be in Ethiopia!! Our hosts are anxiously awaiting us. Our cargo (a 20 foot crate containing equipment, supplies, and medications) has arrived in Eritea and is on its way to Addis Ababa. The hope is that it will arrive in Addis Ababa intact.

Dr. Alvear has encouraged the surgeons to bring extra instruments and other necessary materials (sutures,stapling devices,IV antibiotics,oral antibiotics,oral analgesics,etc.). The WSF and their participating surgeons often donate instruments and equipment to hospitals in host countries.

The doctors will communicate with their counterpart specialists in Ethiopia so that patients can be located and prepared for them.

Exciting news! The WSF will not only be leaving a legacy in Ethiopia with the profound life-changing affects of healing but also through the training and education of Ethiopian medical professionals!

Dr. Rolando Mendiola is coming to demonstrate the use of the laparoscope. He is an instructor for a laparoscopic company. The other General Surgeons with the team are also experts in Laparoscopic Surgery. We may have a course in Laparoscopic Surgery with satellite video so that you can have more people who can watch outside of the operating room.

Dr. Levitt and his group will be coming during the second week and we will provide a satellite video presentation while he is operating. We will be bringing our personal supplies and equipment including instruments and harmonic scalpel during our trip so that we need someone to meet us at the airport so that we won't have any problems at the airport.

Our surgical team members include:
• Pediatric Surgery - Dr. Domingo T. Alvear
• Plastic and reconstructive surgery - Dr. Dennis Banducci
• Ob-Gyn - Dr. Joseph Bachicha
• Adult Urology - Dr. Emerson Knight
• General and Laparoscopic Surgery and Endoscopy
• Dr. Rolando Mendiola - instructor in laparoscopy
• Dr. Adnan Alsiedi
• Dr. Peter Rovito
• Dr. Paul Stauffer
• Dr. George Faries
• Orthopedic and Hand Surgery - Dr. Maxine Coles
• Vascular Surgeon - Dr. Julius Garvey
• Anesthesia – TBA
• Nursing - TBA

By the second week we will be joined by Dr. Levitt's team and a thoracic surgeon, Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran.

Other team members include:
• Ossian Or and Sandra L. Valle, MPH – videographers
• Kristen Straw (Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia) – Cultural/Travel Guide
• Other volunteers - TBA

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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Some Questions and Answers

Question: Briefly, how does Ethiopia rank relative to other African countries in things like poverty level, etc.?

Answer: Health care availability especially in rural Ethiopia's health care system is among the least developed in Sub-Saharan Africa and is not, at present, able to effectively cope with the significant health problems facing the country. Ill health of a fast growing population, now estimated at over 75 million, is an impediment to social and economic development and has committed to salvaging the country's failing health system. Widespread poverty, poor nutritional status, low education levels and poor access to health services have contributed to the high burden of ill health in the country.

• Life expectancy at birth is currently about 54 years and is expected to decline to 46 years if the present HIV infection rates are maintained.
• According to government statistics, 3.5 percent of the population in the age group of 15-49 in 2005 are reported to have HIV/AIDS.
• Malaria is the primary health problem in the country; it is the leading cause of outpatient visits and is responsible for 8 to 10 million annual clinical cases and a significant number of deaths. The number of physicians specialists and other health professionals in the public sector has decreased significantly.

Since the government policy is strengthening primary health care; curative care has not been given much attention. Curative care receives the smallest share of the public health resource allocation.
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Introductions: The Blog and the Blogger

My name is Jeff Bucs. I am a friend of the WSF and will be joining the team to document their achievements and experiences in Addis Ababa.

Blog posts will include a chronicle of daily events, interviews with patients and volunteers, and photographs.

Please accept our “virtual invitation” to join us on this profound mission, this exciting adventure!
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Viewing our Blog in Ethiopia

The previous post on January 15 was sent directly from Ethiopia by a friend of WSF. This blog server (“blogger”) is blocked within Ethiopia by the Ethiopian government, and therefore all posts will need to be emailed from Addis Ababa and posted in the U.S.

Test successful!
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Thursday, January 15, 2009

This is a test post directly from Ethiopia.
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How to Use this Blog

Read about the World Surgical Foundation and its mission to Ethiopia under the entry entitled "Overview of the World Surgical Foundation's..." below.

The Ethiopia mission blog posts begin at the top of the page starting with the most recent post.

Some brief advice on reading blog posts.
1. Go to the top of the page to find the most recent post.
2. Read the date at the top of the latest entry.
3. Read the entries from the bottom up for each date. Each entry posted on that date will be time stamped. This will help you read the posts in order (this may be relevant if we are following a particular story of a patient or event).
4. To find a list of all blog posts, go to the bottom right hand side of the blog. The entries are listed by date and title.

Overview of the World Surgical Foundation's Mission to Ethiopia

Read about the World Surgical Foundation and its exciting upcoming mission to Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa

The Mission

From February 13 - 26, 2009 the World Surgical Foundation will bring its medical team to Addis Abab, Ethiopia. According to a report by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements in January of 2000 "Addis Ababa...shows a paradoxical situation in Ethiopia. On one hand it, with the highest concentration of facilities per population than other centers in the country, enjoys a privileged position. On the other hand the city is not capable of accommodating the increasing population that is being attracted by the luring facilities and seemingly employment opportunity. Hence poverty is rampant and widespread in the city...urban poverty beleaguers the city and requires serious attention to curb the consequential disaster."

The Blog: February 14th - 25th, 2009

This blog will chronicle the daily achievements of the World Surgical Team in Addis Ababa from February 14 - 25, 2009. Here you will meet the doctors and nurses of the mission and read about them in action. Here you will meet the patients, each with his or her own unique story to tell. Here you will read about the surgeries, each promising to deliver an account of healing and transformation. Please tune in!

The World Surgical Foundation

Created in 1997, the World Surgical Foundation inc. (formerly World Mission of Central PA), serves people in developing or impoverished countries where modern healthcare is not available or is too costly. This volunteer organization of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, nurses and other caregivers performs at least one surgical mission per year to bring hope and improve the quality of life for hundreds of people who could not otherwise receive surgical care. The WSF also provides teaching, supplies and equipment for hospitals and medical facilities around the world and supports smaller groups or individuals with the same goal or mission in the United States and abroad.

We Need Your Help!

Dear Friends of the World Surgical Foundation,

We have seen that great acts occur when caring individuals just like you join together in support of building—and in many cases—rebuilding community.

You are needed for our mission to Ethiopia! This is a volunteer mission, and as always the Word Surgical Foundation relies on the generosity of its donors in order to bring life-changing surgery to those who need it most. The doctors and nurses of WSF are poised and ready to bring a better quality of life to the underserved people of Addis Ababa. The Addis Ababa University Medical School has arranged for the WSF to work in area hospitals in order to assist them with their tremendous overflow of patients. Most of the patients who will be served by the mission will have no hope of ever receiving the surgical procedures they need without the WSF. These people are quite literally waiting for our help!

This is a tremendous opportunity for both the health care professionals who serve on the mission as well as those who support it financially to transform the lives of people in need.

The mission to Ethiopia is still in need of essential funds for the following items.

1) Funds to ship a 40 square ft. of cargo at a cost of $11,000.00
2) Operating tables costing $4,000.00 each (5 tables = $20,000.00)
3) Anesthesia machines at $6,000.00 each (we need 4).
4) Laparoscopic equipment totalling $13,000.00.
5) Other equipment and supplies totalling $50,000.00.
6) Support expenses for nurses and others volunteers who have insufficient funds.

In total $100,000.00 needs to be raised in order to make the mission to Ethiopia a success.

Please join us in creating transformation for the people of Addis Ababa and Ethiopia. We invite you to send any amount that works for you. Any gift amount will get us one step closer to raising $100,000, and helping to rebuild and transform lives. We will then share with the people of Addis Ababa your generosity and let them know that they, their families and their community have never been alone.

Sincerely,

Dr. Domingo T. Alvear
President, World Surgical Foundation

Please Send Donations To:

World Surgical Foundation
P.O. Box 1006
Camp Hill, PA 17001

For more information, you can reach the World Surgical Foundation by sending an email to mail@worldsurgicalfoundation.org, calling Nancy Cohen at (717) 232-1404 or visiting our website at http://www.worldsurgicalfoundation.org.