We are taking a team of orthopedic surgeons, physicians, anesthesiologists, PAs, nurses, and physical therapists to care for an underserved population in Kisii, Kenya in Africa. We plan to teach their providers and staff how we practice American medicine. This is so they can incorporate the skills and knowledge that we have accumulated so they may treat their people.
The medical personnel and people of Kisii County will benefit from our efforts. This population was chosen because one of our own surgeons was born in Nairobi, and he has elderly family who reside in Kisii county. Their population frequently suffer devastating injuries and they are not able to generate an income to provide for their families. The economy is largely agricultural, so if they cannot use an arm or cannot walk, they cannot work.
This will be the 2nd annual trip for us. We learned a great deal regarding how to provide rural medicine in a developing area. We were able to empathize with them, and better treat our patients here because of it. We will carry forward an attitude of giving and being generous for people of all backgrounds who are less fortunate.
Our hope is that they will carry forward the skills and knowledge we will have taught them for future generations. We expect them to improve their standards of care based on what we’ve taught them.
A group of 22 other people, including orthopedic surgeons, physical medicine and rehab physician, physician assistants, a physical therapist, nurses, scrub techs, student volunteers, and numerous other people from Kisii, Kenya collaborated between our team and two hospitals to serve over 3164 people. Of those people we served, we performed 37 orthopedic procedures, 407 corticosteroid injections, and 500 spine injections. We more than tripled the amount of people we saw this year compared to the previous year. We believe that the impact we had was great, and we were still not able to meet the great need in that area. Thousands of people to descended upon two hospitals in western Kenya, and thousands were still not able to be seen.
My favorite story is about one young man I saw last year in our clinic. He had been dealing with severe shoulder pain as a result of a previous injury and subsequent ORIF of his clavicle. Overtime, the hardware had broken and nearly disabling. I had a random encounter with him during this trip, and reminded me of who he was because I did not recognize him at first. Once I heard his story, I remembered who he was, and I was thrilled to know that he followed through with my advice, had the hardware removed, and completed his physical therapy. He is thriving, working in the OR at one of the hospitals where we served, and he has changed his life’s trajectory, and without pain! Not only are these people’s lives changed, but so are the lives of those who live closely around them. We plan on returning next year!
