Sunday, December 7, 2014
Home Sweet Home!
Most of us left Ethiopia late Friday night. We had a layover in Frankfurt Germany Saturday morning, and several of us took the train to a nearby town where we walked around, had coffee, went to a local park, visited the Farmer's Market and bought treats to take home! It was a nice way to pass the time and start to re-adjust to our life outside of Addis.
It was a successful trip with about 50 surgical procedures, lots of patients seen in clinic and hearing evaluations and hearing aids. We are already planning our next trip.
Friday, December 5, 2014
December 5
December 5, 2014
We are preparing to go to the airport for our flight
home. Today included 2 orthopaedic cases
and 6 ENT cases, ENT and audiology clinic , and teaching sessions for ENT
resident and anesthesia students. Some
people did a little shopping and relaxing for a few minutes before packing.
It was a very successful trip, and we are grateful for all
of the kindnesses shown to us.
Most of us are leaving tonight, a few are staying longer.
We are already planning our next trip in a few months.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
December 4
December 4, 2014
Today was a full and busy day. The audiology team returned to the School for
the Deaf where the audiologists evaluated all of the patients who needed
adjustments to their hearing aids or new hearing evaluations or new hearing
aids. Two of the ENT doctors went along
to examine the ears of the children who needed exams.
Dr. Hoda went with Dr. Mary to a local government hospital
to help with some difficult pediatric cleft lip and palate surgeries and then
Dr. Hoda and Dr. Jay went to another government hospital to take care of an
adult patient with a complex sinus tumor.
At Cure we had 5 orthopaedic surgical cases and 3 ENT
cases. One was a relatively straight
forward ear surgery, one was a 6 month old baby with a large mouth tumor that
needed a biopsy to get a diagnosis, and one was a teenager with a large tumor
in the sinus that needed to be removed.
The sinus tumor was a complex one that took all day and had many
potential complications. Fortunately
everything went well.
Most of the team went to the local cultural restaurant that
has traditional Ethiopian food, music and dance. I spent the evening with Dr. Mary and her
family. Tomorrow we have some surgery at
Cure, and a teaching session for the ENT residents and the anesthesia
students. Some people will go the Hamlin
Fistula hospital to visit in the afternoon.
This is a well-known and well-regarded local hospital started to treat women
who have serious and complex complications after childbirth. These complications have devastating
consequences for women in developing countries.
The issues are rarely seen in Western developed countries and are often
relatively easy to treat in the right setting.
It is hard to believe that our week is almost at an
end. There has been a pilot’s strike by
Lufthansa again, but so far it looks like our flights will be ok.
Time for sleep!
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Wednesday Dec 3
Today was an OR and clinic day at Cure. The ENT team saw about 60 patients in the
clinic, some new patients, some follow up from previous visits, some pediatric,
some adult. The audiology team saw about
30 patients, did hearing screenings, and fit and did trouble shooting on
hearing aids. There were ten orthopaedic
cases in the OR as well as 3 ear surgeries.
Dr. Glenn and I met with people who are looking to increase the
ENT partnership at a local government hospital, and we also visited a
guesthouse to have options for future teams and also other visitors and
volunteers from the US.
Many of us had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the
hotel. Some people have had local
cuisine (Injera) at lunch at Cure.
Tomorrow the audiology team will return to the School for
the Deaf and there are several OR cases at Cure including one big facial
tumor. Dr. Mary and Dr. Hoda will go to
a local government hospital to help with two difficult pediatric cases, and Dr.
Jay and Dr. Hoda may go to another hospital to help with an adult surgical
case. It might depend on whether the
hospital sterilization equipment is working tomorrow.
Our team is a really good and cohesive one and everyone is
working hard and enjoying working together.
There are still several other educational activities planned before the
end of the week.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Dec 2 2014
Tuesday Dec 2, 2014
Our team was scattered today. The audiologists and some of the ENT doctors
went to the School for the Deaf where we go each time. The students were evaluated, hearing aids
fixed and some hearing tests done (limited by the lack of electricity). They will go back on Thursday to finish their
evaluations.
Two ENT doctors went to a local government hospital to work
with one of the recently graduated Ethiopian ENT surgeons. They saw patients in the outpatient area and
scheduled some for surgery later in the week.
The anesthesia team and other ENT doctors were at Cure. We had two orthopaedic cases and four ENT
cases: two ear surgeries, a
tonsillectomy and the removal of a large facial tumor. Tomorrow is clinic and OR at Cure. One of the ENT doctors and his son are going
to another city several hours away by plane tomorrow to work with another of
the recently graduated Ethiopian ENT surgeons.
Later in the week we have more OR cases and clinics, a
practice surgical skills lab for the ENT residents, and lectures for the
anesthesia students.
We had a group dinner tonight at the local Korean restaurant
where we have been many times before.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Monday December 1, 2014
Today was our first full clinical day. All of the team was based at Cure Hospital.
The ENT team had a big clinic of about 76 patients, and the
audiologists did about 30 evaluations and fitted 17 hearing aids.
The OR had 12 orthopaedic cases which I took care of along with Dr. Hoda
(anesthesia resident), Dr. Mary Bernard (Cure’s anesthesiologist) and the rest
of the anesthesia department at Cure.
Dr. Hoda did a hands- on practice with the Ethiopian ENT residents on
managing breathing with mannequins that we brought for teaching purposes. We unpacked lots of supplies and equipment
that we brought with us to use and leave at Cure.
Tonight we will have a team dinner at a very good local
Italian restaurant.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)