Dear Dox Foundation,
I am resubmitting this application, with more complete information and appreciate your kind consideration.
This will be my second year serving with the GMAD Medical team. I was fortunate to be able to join the mission last year, where we served in the community hospital in Winneba, Ghana. We were able to use 2, sometimes 3 operating rooms in which we performed surgeries to correct orthopedic deformities, facial deformities, general surgical and gynecological procedures. We will be serving in the same medical facility this year. The need for the service we provide is great.
Some of the surgeons that will be serving on this trip include Doximity members Dr. Dayne Jensen (Maxillofacial), Dr. Steven Tersigni (General Surgery) and Dr. Russell Griffiths (Plastic Surgery).
This link describes with pictures the medical mission, I would kindly ask you to take a moment to look at the pictures of some of the patients we have treated in the past, and similar to those we will be serving in October of this year.
http://www.doctordayne.com/blog/2018/1/8/lets-go-to-africa
This medical mission makes a tremendous difference to the dozens of lovely people who otherwise would not be able to have these life-changing procedures performed. Look at the pictures and you will see.
Native citizens of Ghana, in and around the city of Winneba. (The medical facility that we are able to use.)
The Ghana Make a Difference foundation began in 2012 with the following mission:
"We shelter children who have been rescued from forced labor trafficking, abandonment, or who have special needs until we are able to reintegrate them with their biological family or to place them in a new family.
We preserve families and provide a path to self reliance through shelter, life skills, education and medical care."
Additional information is available at https://www.ghanamakeadifference.org/about.html
Though we can measure the number of procedures we perform, the impact on the lives of those we serve is immeasurable. Correcting these deformities, rarely seen in our country, is life changing.
The learnings will carry forward as we further learn more ways that we can help, and are able to recruit more volunteers. In fact, the GMAD program is planning to double the current 1 medical mission per year, to 2 missions in 2020.
This is all part of the larger GMAD mission, "We believe that families are central to God's plan for the eternal destiny of His children, our operations in Ghana reflect this belief. We preserve families by providing a path to self reliance through education, adult literacy, vocational training, social assistance, healthy living, and access to medical care."
Thank you for you kind consideration.
In October 2019 I had the privilege of joining a medical mission to Winneba, Ghana, West Africa with the charitable organization Ghana Make a Difference. On this trip we had a team that included ENT, General, Orthopedic, Dermatologic, and Oromaxillofacial surgeons. During the 5 days that we performed surgery, we were able to complete 111 procedures including many large goiters, hernias, and orthopedic cases. The people that we were able to help have suffered with their condition for most of their life, and would likely never have had the opportunity to receive the surgery without the help of Ghana Make a Difference.
One of our focuses on this mission was thyroid surgery. Enlarged thyroids, or goiters, are quite common in Ghana. In the United States, they would usually be taken care of early when still small and rarely get to be the size of those we treated. In Ghana, it is very common for people to not have access to medical care due to living in a remote location and not having the means to pay for transportation and/or treatment. Not only are these people left with this uncomfortable and life threatening condition, but they are often ostracized and outcast because of a common belief that they have been cursed. They are sometimes seen as the source of the village’s problems. We are grateful that we as a medical team could free many of these wonderful people from this burden.
Thanks to Doximity for sponsoring my travel expenses to allow me to join this marvelous group and help so many people in need.
For further info please see www.ghanamakeadifference.org
Or feel free to contact me directly.
