I will be teaching local anesthesia providers and providing direct care to pediatric and adult patients undergoing a variety of needed reconstructive surgery. I have, in the past, been to the hospital there, supported by an Italian Catholic charity, and have built strong relationships with Tanzanian colleagues.
Patients referred to our team during this week of free, advanced reconstructive surgery, come from rural communities throughout Tanzania. They receive followup care as necessary from the local physicians with whom we work and teach.
We will perform literally life changing procedures allowing return of function and ability to scores of patients during the week we work. Beyond that our educational and training mission extends these benefits to countless more individuals, through the training of our Tanzanian colleagues who provide care far into the future.
We were a team of two surgeons, two pediatric anesthesiologists, a pediatrician, OR nurse, and physical therapist from various parts of the USA, who traveled to the small village of Itigi, Tanzania. Our mission was to educate both didactically and through clinical care of patients during the week we spent at St Gaspar Regional Hospital. The hospital consists of many separate buildings in a pastoral setting and was founded and is supported by a catholic order based in Italy. The hospital has its own farm, raising crops and grazing cattle and other farm animals. It also has a dormitory for visiting members of the church and medical volunteers from around the world.
Our focus was on reconstructive surgery to treat acquired deformities such as from burns and trauma, as well as congenital deformities like cleft lip and palate. Our local host surgeon with whom the ReSurge organization has had a partnership for over a decade, selected patients for us to evaluate and treat. We did surgery on adults as well as children. In addition, as one of two anesthesiologists, we were called upon every day, by the staff of the ICU to provide consultation and direct care to very sick patients admitted to there unit. Several of these patients died of their pathology during the time we were there.
In addition to teaching the two hospital nurse anesthetists during surgical procedures, every member of our team delivered daily morning lectures. The hospital is severely limited in resources and they make do with what is available. They are hardworking and innovative. None the less, we were able to help them better understand the underlying principles of physiology and pharmacology upon which good medical decisions are made. We also taught and practiced various techniques unfamiliar to them. For instance we brought a portable video laryngoscope, a device increasing used in hospitals throughout the USA, Europe and other developed countries and allowed our anesthesia colleagues to practice in the use of this device.
All of our patients did well post operatively and the trip was a great success by all accounts. I personally was able to be part of the first ReSurge team to visit this site over a decade ago. This was my first return visit and I was amazed at the growth and progress that has been made by the hospital staff. We are very proud of them and committed to continuing our partnership.
In addition to our time at St Gaspar Hospital, we were able to briefly visit the Muhimbili University Medical Center in Dar es Salam, where several of us have spent time in the past. It's always a good thing to reconnect with international colleagues and the global health community. I thank the Doximity Foundation for supporting this work.
