MISSION ACHIEVEMENTS:

Over 5 days, a total of 65 cases were performed for 61 patients including many laparoscopic cases which will help our patients recover more quickly and with less pain. On-site training in all aspects of surgical flow from triage through post-operative care was performed for local staff and for medical students. All patients were discharged from the hospital prior to the team’s departure and 92% were seen by Dr. Peter Johnston MD and Lisa Hoemke, PA for the first post-operative visit the following week.

Outpatient physical therapy consults and inpatient therapy were provided by Vickey Patel, PT and used to provide practical education to visiting therapy students from the Medical Electives Network Program.

ISHI partnered with the Medical Electives Network to perform outreach at a local prison, with ISHI volunteers providing education as well as medical care.

ISHI continued its quality improvement projects with surveys for patients and local staff.

Based on the enthusiasm seen on previous missions regarding the #StopTheBleed Basic Bleeding Control (B-Con) Course, Dr. Ziad Sifri, MD, FCAS continued the teaching and successfully trained 240 hospital staff, firefighters, and local security/prison guards. More importantly 2 instructors were trained who will continue to disseminate these skills in the region and beyond.   

Special Thanks to:

Mr. Kevin Hurley for once again serving as mission facilitator and guide.
Hermana Gladys Rios – Administrative director of Clínica Madre de Cristo and chief facilitator for the ISHI team, ensuring anything needed by the team was there.
Dr Manuel Guillermo Florian - medical director of Clínica Madre de Cristo
All clinic staff for working hard with the ISHI Team and making us feel at home. The local nurses shared the responsibility of taking care of patients with the ISHI team and did a fantastic job. We extend thanks to not just the clinical staff but to the administrators ensuring that patients were recruited and that all necessary paperwork was complete, the cleaners, tirelessly mopping after the abundant foot traffic, and the cooks, keeping us so well-fed daily.
The Afya Foundation, Brother’s Brother Foundation, and MAP-Ethicon for donations of the essential surgical supplies used in all phases of care. These generous donations make our work possible.
A special thanks to KARL STORZ for the donation to ISHI of a full set of laparoscopic instruments which were essential to performing as many laparoscopic surgeries as we did.
Thank you to SonoSite for the loan of an iViz ultrasound which was used by anesthesia to perform ultrasound-guided regional blocks and well as the surgical team for questionable diagnoses.
Thank you to all NJMS RECOVER volunteers for the collection of supplies that would otherwise need to be donated or bought were salvaged from operating rooms overages and re-sterilized for use.

 MISSION VOLUNTEERS:

Surgical Team:  Ziad Sifri MD (co-mission leader), Carrie Valdez MD, Ravi Chokshi MD, Derick Christian MD, Peter Johnston MD (co-mission leader), Jordan Dozier MD, Jesus Rosado MD, Diane Durgan MD, Charlotte Holmes MBBS, Caressa Chen MD, Yessenia Vida Salgado RN, Gail Simmons RN, Bibs Carlsen RN, Lisa Hoemke PA
Anesthesia: Bruno Beja-Umukoro CRNA, Nabeel Khan MD, Joseph Griffith CRNA
Recovery Room: Jaclyn Hughes RN, Ashley Lee RN
Ward: Miranda Thompson APN, Natalia McTighe RN, Vickey Patel, Lisa Hoemke PA
Physical Therapy: Vickey Patel (inpatient and outpatient)
Logistics: Eric Golstein, Jessica Schwartz, Vickey Patel (co-mission leader)