Amazing Journeys Spring 2008

VOLUME 1, SPRING 2008
Avista Adventist Hospital
Centura Health At Home
Littleton Adventist Hospital
Parker Adventist Hospital
Porter Adventist Hospital
IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH MEDICAL MISSIONS
Making a difference in Belize,
one hernia and cleft palate at a time
IMM Embarks on a
Strategic Planning
“Adventure”
People were lined up
at the entrance to La
Loma Luz, a small hospital in Belize, waiting
for surgery or at least
the opportunity to see
a doctor. They came
because they’d heard
on the radio that
surgeons and nurses
from America would
be at the hospital that
day to provide free
medical care.
Photo by Pat McNamara
BY JENNIFER PARNHAM
REBECCA KNIGHT HOLDING ABE, TONI BARGE, CRNA, AND MARILYN CHOSKE, CST
A couple from rural
Guatemala brought their son, Luis. He
had limited mobility because of the severe
burns on his neck and arms from a
kerosene fire. They couldn’t afford to pay
cash to a doctor, as was the culture, and
local doctors wouldn’t have been able
to help him anyway. Near Luis was a
noticeably poor family with four children.
It turned out that two of the boys had
hernias and the girl had a cleft palate.
A gift of surgery
The medical team was organized by
Centura Health’s International Medical
Missions, and included General Surgeon
Rebecca Knight, M.D., Plastic Surgeon
William L. Saber, M.D., ER Physician
Barbara Antuna, as well as nurses and
other medical staff..
Not all the fun of the International
Medical Mission (IMM) program
is experienced overseas. In
September, a team representing
physicians and past mission participants in Peru along with representatives from the University of
Denver’s Graduate School of
International Studies, the Global
Health Institute at the University
of Colorado Health Sciences Center
and other NGOs assembled to
begin formulating a strategic vision
and plan for the IMM-Peru program. The group was led by Greg
Hodgson, IMM Director and facilitated by AnneMarie Kemp, the
executive director of the Avista
Hospital Foundation and past
mission trip participant.
The purpose of the planning team
is to create a vision of where the
International
Continued on page 5
“We helped everyone we could help,”
said Dr. Knight.
Continued on page 3
TT A
A BB LL EE O
O FF CC O
ON
N TT EE N
N TT SS
1
> Making a difference
A gift of surgery
> IMM Strategic
Planning
2
> Greg’s Jungle
Notes
> First Global
Health Award
3
> Team Inspires
“Living
Simply”
4
> Photo
Gallery
5
> 2008
Mission
Trips
IMM Volunteer Wins First Global Health
Summer Achievement Award
Jungle notes
2008 is an exciting year for the
International Medical Mission
program. Now that we have
established a strong relationship
with our partner hospitals in
Peru, Rwanda, Nepal, and
Belize, we are working hard
to strengthen the health of
communities surrounding those
facilities. A good example of
that effort is the plan we have
developed to assist the Ministry
of Health in Peru as they seek to
provide health care and education in the river villages along
the Amazon and Napo Rivers.
In order to ensure the success
of these projects, we have
established key partnerships
with the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center,
Engineers Without Borders,
and the University of Denver
Graduate School of International Studies. I want to give
special thanks to these partners
for their cooperation. And
thanks to all our team participants and financial supports for
making this such an exciting
outreach program.
Greg Hodgson
Director Medical Missions
Katrina Berg, an MA graduate who studied international development
and global health at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of
International Studies, received the first annual Global Health Summer
Achievement Award for her research examining healthcare assessment
and delivery in the Amazon region of Peru. Berg was awarded
$1,000 for her work during the summer of 2007, during which
she conducted interviews with women in both rural and urban areas
of the Amazon region to gain insight into community health needs
in the Amazon region of Peru.
DU AWARDED KATRINA BERG (SECOND FROM LEFT) FOR HER WORK WITH
CENTURA HEALTH IN PERU.
Container Arrives in Iquitos
Thanks to the financial support from volunteers and funds raised at
the "Caring Across Continents - A Taste of Peru" event in May 2007,
a container full of medical equipment and supplies arrived in Iquitos,
Peru, on January 4, 2008. Our partnership with Project CURE, the
world’s largest supplier of donated medical supplies which is based
here in Denver, made this shipment possible. Another container of
equipment and supplies is currently being organized for La Loma
Luz Hospital in Belize, and will be sent in the next few months.
Funding for this shipment will be a goal of the “Caring Across
Continents” event on May 4.
Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are needed for the following positions:
1. IMM Webmaster > Experience needed: Web designer who can
donate 10-15 hours per month in organizing a web site for IMM
and perform periodic updates
2. IMM Medical Director > Experience needed: Physician who
can donate 10-15 hours per month in coordinating medical projects,
including patient follow-up, coordination with the medical directors
at partner hospitals, and interaction with the Ministry of Health
3. Physician at Mugonero Hospital in Rwanda (2-6 months) >
Experience needed: Physician with international experience who
can serve on the medical staff at Mugonero Hospital in Rwanda
for 2 to 6 months. Housing and meals provided. French language
skills would be very helpful. General surgeons, OB/GYNs, or
family practice physicians would be most needed.
Making a difference
Continued from page 1
During the September 2007 trip, the team
performed 31 operations, including plastic
surgery on Luis to release his scar tissue and
allow him to move freely again. The group
also operated on the two boys’ hernias, and
because the hospital
lacked equipment or
instruments, or the
procedure required
follow-up that just
wasn’t possible,” said
Dr. Knight. “We had
to jerry-rig a lot of
things to get them to LUIS NOW MOVES FREELY
work, and we figured
out how to sterilize equipment under the
circumstances.”
Dr. Knight, Dr. Saber, and an even larger
medical team will return to Belize in
November 2008, and she says the group
will be prepared to repair the girl’s cleft
palate at that time.
A life-changing letter
DR. BARABAR ANTUNA (RIGHT) AND DARCY CONNELLY,
PA, DELIVER CARE TO RURAL BELIZIANS
performed many other hernia and gall
bladder surgeries. The girl with the cleft
palate could not be helped – not on this trip.
“It’s difficult to tell patients ‘We can’t help
you,’ but some people couldn’t be helped
Dr. Knight first received a letter from
Centura Health last year, inviting physicians
to join a medical mission trip to Peru. The
thought intrigued her. “Since the age of
14, I’ve wanted to do medical missions
work. This was my first opportunity and I
was so excited.” She called Greg Hodgson,
Centura’s director of international missions,
who told her that the Peru trip was already
full. She was disappointed for just a
moment, until he asked, “Would you like
to go to Belize?” She did. And she went.
And her life has been changed ever since.
What started as a single medical
mission trip has become a passion.
Dr. Knight has become hugely
involved in the Belize project.
She has organized fundraisers,
motivated people to join the next
trip (31 so far, with a waiting list),
helped to train the team, and
collected medical supplies. She has
also found a way for her medical
practice to help support staff members who
want to be involved in medical missions
(see sidebar).
A school with no books
Besides the medical mission work, Dr.
Knight and others realized they could also
have a deep impact on education in Belize.
Education is important to the families, but
the schools are sorely lacking. At the Eden
Primary School near the hospital, there
were no books, no electricity and no
running water for the 350 students.
“We have embraced the school as a project
to help make sure kids have a good education,” said Dr. Knight. Her Education Project
helps provide funds and materials to the
school through various fundraising efforts.
For more information about this project,
visit www.belizeeducationproject.org.
Larger team = helping more people
The Clear Creek Surgery Center and its sister surgery centers have committed to sharing a portion
of their profits to support medical missions locally
and internationally. The non-profit foundation
“MedExec Connect” will manage the funds for the
surgery centers.
Employees of the surgery centers will be able to
petition the foundation for funds for medical missions and other volunteer projects. “Having these
funds available allows some people to participate in
medical mission work or other volunteer opportunities, who otherwise would not have been able to
afford to go. This enables the group to have a
larger team with a wider variety of skills, to
help more people,” said Dr. Knight, who is part
owner of Clear Creek Surgery Center.
In addition, the surgery center donates supplies
and equipment for the trips, and serves as a
meeting site to train, prepare and stockpile for
the trips. “The board, physicians and investors
are all committed to sharing our profit in this
way,” said Dr. Knight. “Perhaps other medical
practices or organizations could do something
similar to help meet health care needs beyond
their own walls.”
GROUP PHOTO FROM THE BELIZE TRIP IN S
One of her favorite songs begins, “Let there
be peace on earth, and let it begin with
me.” She says, “We can’t have peace on
earth if people don’t have the health care
they need and if they can’t get the education they need.” That’s why her priorities
in life are to raise her two young sons and
teach them to live simply and give back;
to improve the health of people who need
health care; and to encourage everyone
to share their talents and resources with
others. “Creating peace is easy if we all just
give a little of what we have, whether it’s
money, time or talent.”
Contact Dr. Knight at
rknight@foothillssurg.com
SEPTEMBER 2007
A LOCAL HOUSE
Photo by Pat McNamara
She added, “Belizeans have next to nothing
as far as material things, but they are very
connected to family and community. They
are happy, peaceful and generous, despite
having very few resources.”
Photo by Pat McNamara
“The trip to Belize in September reinforced
to me that living simply is the best way to
live,” said Dr. Knight. “In the U.S., we have
too many material things and we forget
that we live in the same world with billions
of people who have essentially nothing.
Not only should we share what we have,
we should maybe not take so much in the
first place.”
Photo by Pat McNamara
A lesson in living simply
A VILLAGER FROM ARENAL
DOING HER CHORES
DR. REBECCA KNIGHT TRAINING LOCAL DOCTOR, BYRON SIMMONS,
IN REMOVING A GALL BLADDER WITH A MINIMALLY INVASIVE SCOPE
BELIZEAN GIRL WITH TEDDY BEAR
DR. WILLIAM SABER BEING INTERVIEWED BY THE LOCAL
MEDIA IN BELIZE
IMM “Adventure”
continued from page 1
Mission Peru program is going to be in 3-5
years and a strategy of how to get there so
that IMM can increase its outcomes and
the impact of its programs – for the mission trip participants and for the Amazon
communities in which IMM works. To
date, the full planning group has met four
times and the strategic planning team
three times. Once approved, the final plan
will serve the strategic plan will serve as a
“roadmap” for the program, ensuring that
IMM is maximizing the role of the volunteers who participate, the resources
(human, financial and material) donated
to serve the program, and the value of the
services being provided.
Preliminary goals as identified through
the strategic planning process include:
employing a community health coordinator; supporting MINSA (the Ministry of
Health) in developing and deploying its
existing community health program;
conducting a needs assessment survey of
the river villages (again, with the support
and input of MINSA) and creating a “map”
of the region, which will include not only
geographic information but will also
include information regarding local
resources and needs. The planning team
hopes to implement these three goals
beginning in 2008. Additional goals
include providing continuing training
and education to government technicas at
the local health clinics (posta medicas) and
helping the local medical school in developing new curriculum that meets the goals
of MINSA. At every phase of the process,
the IMM program intends to work closely
with local government, Clinica Ana Stahl
and other NGOs offering assistance in
the region.
The goal of the IMM program is to have
a strategic plan in place for each partner
hospital and country by the end of 2009,
as each project becomes more fully
developed. Contact information is found
on the back page of this newsletter.
UPCOMING EVENTS
2008 IMM Projects: When and where can I help?
AUG. 1-11
Peru
Littleton Group
Surgical Team
Community Health Team
Family Trip
Caring Across Continents
Event
OCT. 8 -18
Nepal
Surgical Team
Community Health Team
Surgical Team
Community Health Team
Family Trip
OCT. 17-27
Peru
Porter Group
Surgical Team
Community Health Team
NOV. 2-9
Belize
Surgical Team
Community Health Team
DATE
LOCATION
PROJECT
APRIL 18-28
Peru
Community Health Team
Health at Home Group
MAY 4
University of Denver
Hotel School
JUNE 13-23
Peru
Avista Group
JULY 9-20
Rwanda
Surgical Team
Family Trip
Interesting in helping? Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution to IMM today.
Your generous gift to International Medical Missions helps us
provide the resources necessary to improve individual and
community health situations in developing countries.
Donations can be made to the International Medical Missions restricted mission account or you may specify the International Medical Mission destination.
Enclosed is my tax-deductible gift of:
❑ $1,000
❑ $500
❑ $100
❑ $50
❑ $25
❑ Other ________
❑ I want to make a monthly pledge.
❑ International Medical Missions ❑ Belize ❑ Peru ❑ Nepal ❑ Rwanda
Or if you would like to make contribution online:
www.avistahospitalfoundation.org and click on
"Make a Gift".
NAME
Tribute Gifts:
ADDRESS
Your donation is an opportunity to honor a special
person or occasion.
This gift is in ❑ Honor or ❑ Memory of:
CITY
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ZIP
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Please make your donation to: International Medical Missions
OCCASION
How you can join a
medical mission trip
If you would like to join a medical
mission trip, please call, write, or
e-mail the Director of Mission &
Community Health.
Contact Information
Greg Hodgson, Director
International Medical Missions Centura Health
100 Health Park Drive
Louisville, CO 80027
303-661-4138
greghodgson@centura.org
AnneMarie Kemp, Executive Director
Avista Hospital Foundation
annemariekemp@centura.org
303-661-4172
Avista Adventist Hospital
Centura Health At Home
Littleton Adventist Hospital
Parker Adventist Hospital
Porter Adventist Hospital
A part of Rocky Mountain Adventist Healthcare Foundation
7995 E. Prentice Avenue, Suite 204, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Who can apply
Doctors and nurses are always needed, but
a wide variety of other skilled workers, both
clinical and non-clinical are also welcome.
Family trips which include children 12+ are
scheduled during the summer months.
To make a donation, please mail to:
International Medical Missions
7995 E. Prentice Avenue, Suite 204
Greenwood Village, CO 80111