Date: December 4th - 17th, 2024
Location: Kabala General Hospital, Kabala, Sierra Leone
Mission Leader: Dr. Ziad Sifri
Volunteers: 21
Length of Mission: 13 days
This was ISHI’s ninth mission to Kabala Government Hospital in Kabala, Sierra Leone. The ISHI team was invited back to KGH with approval from the Republic Ministry of Health, local municipalities and chiefdoms, as well as the hospital leadership.
We anticipated providing both clinical care and the exchange of both technical as well as clinical information. We planned for adult surgical cases, including repair of umbilical, inguinal, and femoral hernias, mass excisions, and hydrocelectomies. Furthermore, we planned to train local healthcare staff and members of the community with bleeding control exercises with the Stop the Bleed course. Additionally, we planned to donate the remainder of our surgical supplies to help support care provided by local staff.
Patients were alerted, screened, and evaluated weeks before the mission via recruitment from the local healthcare team. We planned to 1) collaborate with the local clinical team to provide surgical and medical care 2) teach capacity building of local providers daily, including providing continuing surgical education to the non-physician surgeons and nursing teaching, and Stop the Bleed Training and 3) continue to support local humanitarian and charitable initiatives such as the local amputee clinic and the Kabala School of the Blind.
Patient Care:
Performed 75 procedures on 68 patients
Performed short-term follow-up and treatment/consultation for post-operative issues – 88% follow-up rate
Teaching:
20 hours of hands-on teaching, demonstrations, and case discussions between ISHI and local RNs
Participation of local anesthesia and surgical staff in numerous operative cases for continuing surgical education and bidirectional knowledge exchange
254 people were taught hemorrhage control techniques and given Stop The Bleed Training certificates
Daily teaching of junior local nurses in the OR
Continued knowledge exchange and collaboration with the local CRNAs
Continual knowledge exchange between ISHI and local ward nurses
Community:
Delivered and donated medication & supplies to Kabala General Hospital
Collaborated with The Foundation for the Localization and Innovation of Global Health Technologies (F.L.I.G.H.T.) to provide donations of 31,200 Finasteride tablets, 55 tubes of Diclofenac gel, and 300 bouffant caps
Donation of funds to the Kabala School of the Blind from artwork made by Debbie Livingston
Donations from multiple team members
Peter Conteh – Hosted the team at the guesthouse in Kabala and provided everything necessary for the ISHI team to thrive.
Dr. Stephen Fornie – Regional Director. Approved and supported the ISHI mission.
Dr. Tarawalie – Medical Superintendant, KGH, responsible for supporting the clinical care provided at the hospital
Dr. Samba Jalloh – Freetown medical house officer, GSHead CEO. Instrumental in communication and logistics ahead of, during, and after the mission.
Kalie Fanneh Koroma, CHO – Surgical Health Officer, worked with ISHI team in the operative theater
Lamin Marah CHO – Local anesthetist, working intimately with the ISHI team in the preoperative phase and in the OR with the anesthesia team, as well as in follow-up of patients post-operatively.
Bona Turay, CHO – CHO at KGH
Surgical Team: David H. Livingston, MD, Ziad C. Sifri MD, Francisco Alvarado, MD, Peter F. Johnston, MD, Jeremy Badach, MD, Max Muñoz, MD, Natasha Sioda, MD
Anesthesia: Joy Quitiquit, CRNA, Phillip Knowles, CRNA, Mark Pajdak, SRNA, Kulsum Larry, MS4
Post-Anesthesia Recovery/Ward: Hanne Callisen, PA, Stephanie Burroughs, RN, Kimberly Gray, RN, Tracey Bradley, RN, Kristin Knowles, RN, Carla Mae Ruth Lopez, RN
OR Nurses/Tech: Michael Yusi, RN
Follow-up Team: Max Muñoz, MD, Jeremy Badach, MD, Kimberly Gray, RN, Tracey Bradley, RN
Community Outreach: Debbie Livingston
Mission Coordinator & Logistics Support: Ziad Sifri MD, Jessica Schwartz, Bibo Sabbagh, Latifa Khoumri, Max Muñoz MD