I plan on traveling to Cambodia and Laos with "Global Healing Hands" to provide surgical and medical care to those in need. I will be assisting in general, trauma, and gynecologic surgeries. Also, we will be providing up to date medical lectures to the local providers and students at each location.
As per Global Healing Hands website:
WE DO pro bono humanitarian medical care
WE ARE COMMITTED to serving those in need
WE EDUCATE local students and medical providers
WE ESTABLISH sustainable educational programs in underserved areas
Per Dr. Starnes, the leader of Global Healing Hands, we will be the second group from the United States that will be completing a medical mission trip to the country of Laos. The underserved populations of these two locations will be benefiting from our trip. The physicians that we will be traveling with have expertise in the specialties listed above. I will likely predominantly be assisting in surgeries that include thyroidectomies, hernia repairs, cholecystectomies, and trauma surgeries. The medical lecture presentations that we will be providing will also benefit the local medical staff to expand local surgical knowledge and techniques.
As for why I have selected this population, I have just started working as a PA 2 years go, and I have worked with Dr. Starnes of Global Healing Hands at my workplace during this time. I have discussed doing mission work with him since we have met, and I have finished my training and in a place in my career where I have the time and abilities to join him on these trips and provide proper and advanced medical care those underserved communities around the world. This will be the first of many mission trips that I take with this team.
The expected impact is to help provide medical and surgical treatment to those that do not have access to or cannot afford the proper care. Global Healing Hands leaders have traveled to both Cambodia and Laos in recent months to ensure that the mission trip goes smoothly so that we can efficiently and effectively treat as many patients as possible in the limited time that we have. They have also ensured that the learnings will be given and resources for further learning will be provided for the areas that we will travel too.
The Lao people were very welcoming to us from our initial meeting and up until the moment we left. From the hospital administration to the random patients walking amongst the hospital grounds. As for our patients, we worked closely with the general surgery and ENT teams at Mittaphab hospital in Vientiane, Laos. Mittaphab hospital is the highest volume and most critical patients in all of Laos. But even at this facility, no surgeons are trained in completing complex thyroid cases, such as ones that we did, therefore we brought care to thyroid goiter, cancer, neck mass patients that would not have had access without an external team. Also, when we asked the chief of surgery on how much laparoscopic work they have completed, he said that he had only completed a few in his years of work. As most of their abdominal cases are completed open, this leads to a much higher percentage of risks such as bleeding, infection, and other common surgical complications when compared to the minimally invasive laparoscopic approach. Our utilization of laparoscopic technique allowed for a great deal of learning for the local medical staff, which they seemed to have greatly appreciated.
Each day we ran multiple operating rooms and completed many thyroid and abdominal cases. Before each surgical day we would complete rounding on the pre- and postoperative patients on the floor with the local physicians and nursing staff. Teaching and learning from the local staff along the way.
When we were done with the surgeries and floor work for the day, we would walk around the hospital handing out bags of toys and stickers to make the local children of the hospital feel more comfortable with being in a medical facility; the smiles that they had will leave an imprint on my memory. Also, we had designated time for lectures with the local students and staff in the auditorium of the hospital. Here we discussed common pathologies and ailments that the Lao people see on a consistent basis, such as skin cancer, trauma, and orthopedic injuries.
I hope that the people of Laos are as thankful as my team and I are for having the opportunity to work with them and bring care to those in need. I am grateful for the Dox Foundation and the grants that help make this possible and much more feasible for those that seek this fulfilling work.
