Medical missions bring hope to hopeless
by Cindy AbolePublic Relations
What do an ear surgeon, a pediatric cardiologist, an internist, a pathologist and a nursing professor have in common?
A
member of the Heart Care International team checks a young patient.
All are MUSC-related specialists and caregivers who have found time in their busy schedules to lend their expertise and compassionate efforts to improve lives of people through organized medical mission trips to the Dominican Republic.
“Being involved in this interdisciplinary mission experience has been wonderful,” said Janet Simsic, M.D., pediatric cardiologist, Department of Pediatrics. “You get to know people in a different perspective by watching them work together in a foreign environment for a common goal.”
Simsic joins otolaryngology chair Paul Lambert, M.D., Kay Chitty, R.N., MUSC alumni William Fairey, M.D., and Charles C. Geer, M.D., plus a parade of other American volunteers as they gathered with various mission trips to provide medical care to some of the Dominican Republic’s poorest populations.
This trip was Simsic’s second to the island nation. She and MUSC pediatric cardiology fellow Amy Jurassic, M.D., enlisted in Heart Care International, a team of health care professionals who volunteer from many of this country’s top medical centers. The Heart Care team included other pediatric cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses.
Within a week, the group evaluated more than 200 pediatric patients diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Of these patients, about 144 children were destined for invasive intervention techniques including surgery or heart catheterization. More than 30 children underwent heart surgery, while eight were treated using catheterization.
Although Simsic doesn’t treat as many patients in a year, the experience still provides team members with excellent clinical experiences. In South Carolina, statistics report that three to four infants are diagnosed with congenial heart disease for every 100 births.
Lambert and Chitty will participate in upcoming medical missions in March.
A member of Medical Ministry International, Lambert will be returning to the Dominican Republic for his fifth visit. He joins a group of volunteer ENT surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and several University of Virginia medical students to provide their services within a small outpatient hospital in Santo Domingo. The hospital, not more than 3,000 square feet in size, houses four basic operating rooms and donated surgical equipment including two state-of-the-art operating microscopes and three otologic drills.
The focus of the team’s mission is three-fold. First, the team helps to train Dominican physicians by helping them upgrade their ENT surgical skills. Although the country has several medical schools, there is only one otolaryngology training program that accommodates only one resident per year.
There are less than 35 ENT surgeons in the entire country and few of them perform ear surgery, according to Lambert. It’s part of the mission’s goal to train local specialists to provide treatment for advanced chronic ear diseases and infections, a problem that is rare in the United States today.
Finally, the team tries to triage the patients, selecting those for surgery with the worst infections. Unfortunately, several patients during the last five years have died of meningitis and brain abscesses awaiting surgery. Last year, the volunteer team performed 25 major ear operations, averaging three to four procedures per day. According to Lambert, patients are back logged until 2002.
“There’s a real appreciation from the Dominican people,” Lambert said. “They are genuinely grateful for our services. There’s also a camaraderie that develops between our patients, the hospital staff and our teams that’s refreshing.”
In a revised effort, the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina is sponsoring a medical mission to benefit medical clinics in the Dominican towns of San Francisco and Santiago. Chitty, a College of Nursing faculty adjunct professor, will head a team of 15 people including Fairey, a pathologist from Myrtle Beach. Geer, who is an internist from Charleston, will also join the group along with other medical professionals from throughout the state.
“It’s been a good one-and-a-half years working on this project,” Chitty said. “Although the diocese has sent previous mission teams to the Dominican Republic, this will be the first time a medical group has been assembled to work within communities. It’s been an incredible effort handling the logistics for people, medical supplies and other needs.”
The program follows previous plans to establish continuous South Carolina-based medical support featuring MUSC professionals and students.
“I’m interested to see what we can do,” said Geer, who is taking part in his first international outreach trip. “The area of internal medicine deals with the treatment of chronic diseases where you see people over a continual period of time. This program will be a challenge since we will treat people on a short-term basis. It will be a real exploratory experience.”
For information on international medical missions, contact Susan Brooks at 792-7083 or visit the Office of International Programs and Services website at <http://www.musc.edu/related/international/index.htm>.
Information about MUSC’s international initiatives and agreements can be found at the International Affairs Committee website at <http://www.musc.edu/iac/>.