Ethiopia March 20

March 20
Our team was spread out today and we were busy with many different types of work.
The audiologists went to the Makanissa School for the Deaf where we have been working on all of our other trips. This is a large school for deaf children that has excellent services and also includes siblings of the deaf children to enhance their education. The audiology team fit 20 ear molds, made 10 new molds, did 15 audiograms and did trouble shooting on 20 existing hearing aids. They will be there several other times during the week to continue their work. All of the children wanted the toys and prizes! A nurse from Mekele, 500 miles to the north took a 2.5 day bus ride to come to be trained with our team. Another came from Awassa.
The Cure team did six OR cases today, three ear surgeries and three tumor resections. These children would not have had their operations if our team had not been here. There are several other children the team has seen and we are trying to determine if we can offer them surgical intervention at this time.
The anesthesiologists were at Black Lion with one of the ENT surgeons and had three OR cases. Two were children who have papillomas (wart like growths) in their throat and airway. Taking them out can be a dangerous and complicated procedure. We also had a child who had a large, obvious cancerous tumor who had a biopsy to determine if it is treatable by surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. I have been taking pictures out of a window of the OR at Black Lion since October 2010 of a construction site. The progress is very slow.
We were all finished in enough time to relax a little. Some went swimming or read or sat by the pool, some went for coffee. There are some beautiful flowers on the grounds of the hotel. We are having a relaxing dinner at the hotel before another busy day tomorrow.

Ethiopia March 19

March 19

Our team was busy at Cure hospital today.  Our audiologists fitted four children for hearing aids, three of whom were sisters who had been evaluated by our team previously.  They also did 20 hearing evaluations/tests.  We saw about 30 pediatric and 20 adult patients in the clinic.  One of our surgeons did two ear surgeries, and we helped with the anesthesia for six orthopaedic cases.  It was a smooth day with no big hiccoughs.  We had dinner at a place that had pizzas and some local dishes.

Tomorrow we have three surgeries scheduled at Black Lion and six at Cure and the audiologists are going to the School for the Deaf.  It was another warm and sunny day, but the traffic and the smog are noticeably worse than yesterday.

Ethiopia March 2012

March 17 and 18, 2012

My sixth trip to Ethiopia!  Our travel was uneventful.  There are 11 in our group from Philadelphia, Syracuse, Austin, Phoenix, Connecticut, Delaware and Pittsburgh.  We have four ENT surgeons, three audiologists, two anesthesiologists, and two others,  one is Healing the Children’s Vice President.  Most of us met up in Frankfurt where we had a long layover.  One person’s luggage didn’t make it out of Newark, but otherwise everything arrived and we had an easy trip through customs.

Today we had a leisurely breakfast and then did several hours of lectures and hands on training in audiology for the Black Lion ENT residents.  Some of us went to Cure hospital (where we will be working tomorrow) to drop off equipment and see charts.  A few of us did some shopping and then we went to a coffee shop and a Korean restaurant for dinner.

We are trying to get a good night’s sleep and rest up for our day tomorrow.  We have several OR cases and a large clinic schedule.

In Addis Ababa, on the way to our hotel. Everyone made it, one person's bag is delayed. Smooth travels! Tomorrow some lectures, unpack supplies, see patients.

I am in Frankfurt with a long layover waiting for my flight to Ethiopia. It is St. Patrick's day so two of us had German beer to celebrate!

On the way to the airport headed to Ethiopia!

Getting ready for Ethiopia

Here is how I spent the day getting ready for my trip to Ethiopia: