We plan to preform advanced head and neck surgery for free to locals in Zambia and surrounding countries. Last year in Uganda, we completed 86 cases in 5 days. We did many extremely large goiters causing compressive symptoms and severe cosmetic deformities, lymph malformations in the neck, and large vascular malformations. Our hope is to do the same in a Zambia.
We will see patients of all ages with head and neck complaints and triage for surgery. We are hoping to complete extra cases this year due to having 2 additional surgeons on our team.
We also plan to provide extensive training to the local doctors and nursing staff. I will focus on safe pre operative care, intraoperative care, and post operative management of airway patients.
The population of Zambia and bordering countries of Zimbabwe and Botswana. As a head and neck team, we are always humbled by the amount of patients living with disabling head and neck diseases that are very treatable in the USA. We feel everyone deserves access to high quality care in this world despite their circumstances.
Our goal is to safely preform 80 + surgeries in 5 days. We will also provide education to the local staff. We hope to develop a solid relationship with the local community there and come back every 1-2 years to continue our mission of patient care and education.
Oh my, Zambia was amazing! The people, the culture, and mostly our patients make these mission trips a wonderful experience to help others globally.
I truly feel a sense of gratitude and purpose when doing humanitarian work. I will always be grateful for Doximity grants to help our team get to the location and change lives of others. We were able to complete 71 cases. These included ENT Head and Neck cases, as well as, General Surgery cases.
Our team , Team Heart of Texas , was developed to honor my son. This team and the work we do inspires me daily as a grieving mother. I lost my son, Declan, at age 19 in 2022 to a devastating form of cancer. I promised him I would honor his legacy, and here we are.
The locals from Zambia and Zimbabwe were truly grateful for our presence and work we did while on the ground at The Livingstone University Teaching Hospital. The most memorable moments are when we can transform someone’s physical appearance with safe and modern surgical methods. Removing large goiters and other head and neck masses are truly the most rewarding cases.
Again, myself and our team will continue to be grateful for the help and support Doximity provides! We couldn’t do life changing surgery in underserved areas with the support!
