December 2, 2015

December 2, 2015

We had lots of activity today.  Our audiologists continued their evaluation of patients at Mother Teresa, and one journeyed to an out-patient clinic 2+ hours away to see patients who needed help with hearing aids and other audiology needs.

The ENT surgeons saw several patients in clinic at Cure and St. Paul's.  We did 6 ENT cases and 2 plastic surgery cases in the OR.  Dr. Kelly and I went to a meeting at Black Lion hospital, and she toured two other local hospitals evaluating their facilities.  Dr. Miriam has been teaching in a lab all week with the Ethiopian ENT surgeons and residents and she and Dr. Glenn will be giving them board exams.

We saw a few patients that have very sad medical issues – primarily severe neurologic diseases for which there is no cure.  It is always hard to accept that there is nothing we can do to really help them.

I had time for a swim again this evening.  Several of us went to the Italian restaurant in the hotel, and most of the team went to the local cultural center for traditional Ethiopian dinner and dancing.

Photos Nov 29 - Dec 1, 2015

Tuesday Dec 1, 2015

Dec 1, 2015

Our team was spread out today.  We had 3 ENT surgeries at Cure, and I helped out with the other OR cases:  2 plastic surgery (cleft lip and palate) and 6 orthopedic cases.  One of our audiologists did 11 audiograms for patients at Cure.  Our surgeons evaluated 22 patients in clinic.

The rest of our audiology team went to Mother Teresa home which is a boarding school for orphans, many of whom have HIV.  They were testing the hearing of all of the students, of which there are about 120.  They evaluated 47 today.

I am proud to be a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologist Global Humanitarian Outreach committee.  Our committee has sponsored a scholarship program to send US Anesthesiology residents to Cure hospital for a month as part of their educational training.  It has been great to spend some time with the resident who is here this month.

I had time for a swim after working, and tonight’s dinner will be Indian!

Tomorrow includes more OR cases, more student evaluations at Mother Teresa, several meetings and visits with other clinicians and hospitals.

The weather is gorgeous here, flowers are blooming around some of the tourist spots, and our (Western) hotel even has some Christmas decorations (which seems quite odd).  Every afternoon we can hear the roars at the local soccer stadium.

Monday November 30

Monday was a full day.
The ENT team saw about 60 patients in clinic: 40 pediatric and 20 adult.
The audiology team did 15 audiology exams and fit and repaired 10 hearing aids.
I helped with about 13 OR cases - orthopedic and plastic.
I had time for a swim at the end of the day and many of us had dinner at a local Ethiopian restaurant.

Tuesday will have more OR and clinic time and audiology evaluations at the Mother Teresa School.

Ethiopia November 2015

Nov 27-29, 2015    My 13^th trip to Ethiopia

The day after Thanksgiving I left Philly for my 13^th trip to Ethiopia.  We have traveled on this day before and it is actually a good day to travel.  We have lots to be thankful for:  Lufthansa didn't go on strike even though earlier in the week there was a threat of a strike; all of our plans for travel, equipment gathering, accommodation planning, team planning came together and were well organized; all of our team members got here without any difficulty and we didn't have any significant issues with our bags.

Our team has 15 members from Philly, NJ, Delaware, Reading, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Michigan, California, Texas, Alaska and the Netherlands! We have ENT surgeons, audiologists, anesthesiologists, a medical student and our administrative director.

Sunday some members of the ENT gave lectures and did a hands on lab, and two of us went to church. Some went to the National museum, we dropped equipment off at Cure and had a team dinner at the Italian restaurant in the hotel.

Tomorrow- ENT clinic, audiology evaluations and helping with the Cure OR.

Ethiopia!

I am settled in my hotel in Ethiopia! Our travels were uneventful. Half the group is here, the rest will be arriving tomorrow.
Time for sleep!!

Ethiopia here come!!