On the road again...

I haven't quite sorted through all of my papers and everything from Ethiopia, but tomorrow I am headed to Haiti again.  This will be my 6th trip to Haiti since the earthquake.  This trip is with the LEAP Foundation; this will be my 4th trip to Haiti with them.  We will be working at Hopital Espoir doing plastic surgery (primarily cleft lip and palate) and pediatric ENT and urology.  Hopefully I will have internet access and can keep this updated.

Home Sweet Home

There's no place like home!

Friday April 11

April 11, 2014

It is Friday afternoon and our week is almost finished.  As usual, it is hard to believe that the week is over so fast.  It was a busy week, tougher than many previous trips for many reasons.  There are many things that were harder – customs in particular.  The roads are quite congested because of massive amounts of construction around the city; the phone network often didn’t work.

We took care of many patients, however, and did lots of education and made lots of connections.  We saw old friends and made new ones.  In all, our ENT team performed 16 major operations, and the anesthesia team provided anesthesia for these as well as 26 ortho cases and 8 at another government hospital.  We saw over 115 patients in the clinics and some patients in the hallways of the hospital and the hotel.  Our audiology team did about 100 evaluations including for all of the children at the school for the deaf.

We met with anesthesia residents, ENT residents, and anesthesia students.  We gave lectures, visited other hospitals and met with many people in the country who are trying to improve the care.  Most of the team went to the famous Fistula hospital in Addis this afternoon to see the amazing work they are doing there with women who suffer from complications of prolonged labor.  Although this problem is largely unheard of in the US, it is prevalent and devastating throughout the developing world.

Many of us leave tonight, some tomorrow morning, others tomorrow evening.

We will all sleep well on the plane!  We are already planning out next two trips.

Ethiopia April 10

Photos Tuesday and Wendnesday

Wednesday

It has been a crazy few days here.  You would think that by our 10^th trip to Ethiopia everything would be old hat.  Not so. 

We have had a busy few days.  Tuesday we did OR and clinic at Cure.  Wednesday we had OR at Cure and our audiology team went to the Makanessa School for the Deaf where we see all of the students and evaluate their hearing.  We had 4 ENT surgical cases today and 4 orthopaedic cases, and that took all day. 

On Tuesday afternoon our two anesthesia residents and CRNA had a tour of Black Lion Hospital with one of the Ethiopian anesthesia residents.  Today the two anesthesia residents went to see a local government hospital.  It was an eye opening experience to say the last.  We readily take so much for granted in the US.

Most of our team had dinner at our favorite local Korean restaurant tonight.

But most importantly, after the President of Healing the Children spent the last three days at the Addis Ababa airport, we finally got our four bags out of customs today!!!!!!!

Dr. Glenn and I have been meeting with lots of people who want us to provide services to them.  We are constantly trying to figure out the best way to do so.  It is a difficult thing to figure out.  It seems to work best when we can find a way to help Ethiopians get what they need, but it isn’t always an easy thing to accomplish.

Time for bed.  

Yay!!!

We finally got our bags tonight!!!!!!!!

Tuesday

It is midnight here in Ethiopia, just now finding time to write this. A busy day in the OR and clinic. Our bags are still hostage in customs. Most of the team went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with dinner and dancing. Some visited the university hospital. Tomorrow - OR and school for the deaf and maybe the Korean restaurant.

Photos April 7

Monday April 7

Monday April 7, 2014

We had a full first day today.  After breakfast, we all headed to Cure Hospital.  Three members of the ENT team saw about 40 patients in the clinic.  The audiologist saw about 15 patients, did audiograms and fit hearing aids.  Dr. Winnie did two ear surgeries today for children who to the School for the Deaf that we support.  We were going to do a third, but it took a while to get the equipment and supplies organized.

Our anesthesia team took care of all of the OR cases:  the two ears and 8 orthopaedic cases.  We had an Ethiopian Black Lion anesthesia resident and three Master’s anesthetist students in addition to Cure’s anesthetist and Dr. Mary.  We had a lot of good educational opportunities and had some complex cases. 

Tonight our Healing the Children anesthesia team is having dinner with Dr. Mary and the Black Lion anesthesia residents.  Tomorrow – cases and clinic.

It is beautiful here this afternoon – blue sky, cool breeze.  There were thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and evening, but I think they are done for the week.  This is the small rainy period before the full rainy season this summer.

Ethiopia April 6, 2014

This is my 10^th trip to Ethiopia!

Healing the Children came for the first time in October of 2009, and we have been coming twice a year since then.  This time our team has 3 ENT surgeons, 1 ENT resident, 2 Anesthesia residents, 1 nurse anesthetist, an OR nurse, a monitoring specialist, 2 audiologists, the Healing the Children president and myself.  We are from Philadelphia, Reading PA, New Jersey, North Carolina, California and Texas.

The Philadelphia area group was the last to arrive, Saturday night.  We all came on Lufthansa which had a strike of the pilots union which started at midnight on Tuesday night.  We had some moments of panic on Monday afternoon when our flight was on the cancellation list.  Our amazing travel agent was able to find another option for us (which wouldn’t have been as convenient but would have worked), but in the end our flight was one of the first that resumed after the strike.  The airport was surprising quiet on Friday night, as was the Frankfurt airport. 

Our flights were all fine, as were those of the other team members.  One of our bags didn’t make it, so we hope it arrives soon.  We checked about 20 bags between the 8 of us, and three of them were held up in customs.  We hope to get them tomorrow as well.

Our ENT team gave lectures this morning to the Ethiopian ENT residents, others relaxed, I went to church with Dr. Mary, Cure hospital anesthesiologist and her family.  A few of us went to Cure hospital to see patients for the OR tomorrow, other went shopping.  We went to a coffee shop and had dinner in an Italian restaurant in the hotel.  We had a few guests join us for dinner also.

Tomorrow we have 3 ear surgeries scheduled, and clinic also.

Time for bed!

Sunday am

Had breakfast, now going to church with Dr. Mary and her family. Others giving lectures, going to try to retrieve our bags. Eventually will go to the hospital this afternoon to prepare for tomorrow.

Addis

We are safely in Addis. One bag didn't make it, three bags are spending the night with customs, hopefully we will get them tomorrow.

Flights were uneventful.

Going to sleep!

Sent from my iPhone

Our Philly based team members after we checked in our 19 bags!

Me and my stuff. Ethiopia here we come!

Some of my luggage