Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Our hosts: Rare and Precious Gems Serving a Country in Dire Need

Surgeons in Ethiopia are all too rare and undeniably priceless. Ethiopia is a country 80,000,000 strong. Out of those 80,000,000 souls, only 500,000 are physicians. An even more alarming and downright staggering figure is this: out of those 500, 000 physicians, only 200 are surgeons! That's one surgeon for every 400,000 people - a rarity the Ethiopian people can scarcely afford. One can only ask, who out of those 400,000 will be lucky enough to receive the priceless healing touch from one of these surgeon's skillful hands?

Another concept that is overwhelming to consider: during the two weeks that we will be in Ethiopia, our twenty-four WSF surgeons will make up roughly 10% of the country's surgeons. You do the math!

On the first day, all of the volunteers from the WSF and the Black Lion Surgical staff met to conduct introductions and discuss the days ahead. Our hosts graciously welcomed us to the Black Lion Hospital and to their beautiful country. The Dean of the Addis Ababa University Medical School, Dr. Miliard Derbew, introduced his staff. Dr. Alvear gave an overview of the mission and prompted the team to introduce themselves individually. A spirit of cooperation and fellowship emerged from today's meeting.

The Ethiopian Team is as follows:
Dr. Befikir Elefachew (Pediatric Surgeon and Team Coordinator)
Dr. Miliard Derbew (Pediatric Surgeon and Dean of Addis Ababa University Medical School)
Dr. Abebe Bekele (General and Thoracic Surgeon)
Dr. Seyoum Kassa (General and Thoracic Surgeon)
Dr. Be-ede Lemma (Urologist and Head of the Department of Surgery)
Dr. Mekonnen Eshete (Plastic Surgeon)
Negatu (Surgical Nurse)
Mr. Meskines (Assistant Head Surgical Nurse)
Mr. Genet Urgessa (Head Nurse Anesthetist)

Oh yes, and do you remember the giant crate of much needed medical supplies and equipment that came in through Djibouti? It's still sitting on a dusty warehouse floor in a remote town about a day's travel from Addis, taken hostage by a band of shady opportunists who hope to put a few more "burr" in their wallets ("burr" is the Ethiopian currency). Not to fear! According to our hosts, these part-time pirates will soon find their plans foiled by the Secretary of Health, Secretary of Education, and the Head of Customs. The cavalry has been sent!

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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.