| Volume 4, Issue 1 | August 2007 |
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In This Issue:
- Letter from Our Directors
- Minister of Health of Honduras Visits RVPC
- Roatán Public Hospital Projects
- Global Healing in the Community
- Health Education and Advocacy Liaisons (HEAL)
- Global Healing Co-Sponsors Roatán Trauma Conference
- Meet Our Volunteers
- Special Thanks to Our Supporters
- Volunteering at the RVPC
- Would you like to Contribute?
Dear Reader,
This has been an exciting time for the Global Healing Roatán Program. A significant milestone has been reached as Global Healing physicians have now attended to over 12,500 children in the Volunteer Pediatric Clinic. Other areas of the Hospital have also benefited as the volunteers have extended their involvement with local physicians through patient care and medical education. Outside the Hospital, community projects involve health education in the schools and volunteer visits to the local Day Care Center. Recently, a very successful Trauma Conference was co-sponsored by Global Healing, Roatán Hospital, and the Bay Islands Medical Society.
None of these projects would have endured without the dedication and hard work of our exceptional volunteers who come from all over the United States, as well as from Europe and Canada. It is noteworthy that among them there are many who are returnees. The generosity of our donors has been key to our success, as has been the support of the Global Healing Board.
As you read this newsletter, we believe that you will find that the Global Healing Roatán Program has a proud record of achievement that provides the impetus for its future work.
Howard Gruber, M.D. Arup Roy-Burman, M.D.
Medical Director Co-Founder, Director
In August 2007, Dr. Jenny Meza, the Minister of Health of Honduras visited the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic. Pictured are: (front row, left to right) Dra. Blanca Cibeles Mejia Galindo, Roatán Hospital; Dra. Lastenia Cruz, Medical Director Roatán Hospital; Dra. Jenny Meza, Minister of Health of Honduras; Jose Mario Galindo Salgado, Chief Manager of the Hospital; (back row, left to right) Dr. John Dunlop, Attending; Dr. Charles, and Dr. David Rhee, Attending.
Over 12,500 children have been seen at the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic (RVPC) since October 2003, not including the newborns examined daily by Global Healing physicians!
In addition to providing outpatient care to the island’s children at the RVPC, Global Healing volunteer physicians also continue to perform newborn exams and participate in rounds on the pediatric ward in the Roatán Public Hospital. Global Healing has also been working with the Hospital to make improvements in other departments.
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Dr. Charles Welcome with a patient
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Every Wednesday, Dr. Charles Welcome, RVPC Fellow, and a Global Healing Attending or Resident lead Grand Rounds at the hospital. Grand Rounds attendees include attending physicians and social service doctors (residents) from various hospital departments, nurses and support staff, and the hospital’s Directors. Presentations are given in Spanish and include discussion time, where physicians from various departments collaborate and share their expertise. Global Healing also provides presentation files and educational handouts to everyone in attendance in order to promote sustainable education. Previous cases highlighted have included topics such as common childhood disabilities, idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura, and hyperbilirubinemia.
Another major area of focus for Global Healing has been the hospital pharmacy. Global Healing physicians have been working with the pharmacy staff to improve the system of inventory control. Updated inventory lists of pediatric medications are being produced for the RVPC and steps are being taken towards keeping crucial pediatric medications on-hand. These efforts are being coordinated with the Medicines for Roatán Project. In addition to improving the hospital pharmacy, Global Healing is working on the hospital laboratory. Future projects include expanding the range of tests and hours of operation of the hospital laboratory.
Global Healing has also brought experts in Emergency Medicine, Neonatology, Pediatric and Trauma Surgery, and Laboratory Medicine to the Roatán Public Hospital to improve the quality of care in other departments. Central to the mission of sustainable medical outreach, visiting physicians work side-by-side with their Honduran colleagues in the clinical environment.
In addition to its work at the RVPC and the Roatán Public Hospital, Global Healing also continues to make contributions to the local community through various outreach projects.
Dr. Charles Welcome, RVPC Fellow, and Global Healing volunteers lecture on sexually transmitted infections and birth control at local public schools, providing students with crucial health information often absent in the school curriculum. Dr. Welcome also leads presentations on nutrition and hygiene in the local community.
Dr. Welcome and Global Healing volunteers have also been providing health supervision care at a local daycare in Coxen Hole, the island’s urban center. Volunteer physicians and student interns created a health screening project in order to monitor child health and development on a monthly basis. Physicians perform physical exams and provide medical care to sick children at the daycare center. Meanwhile, student interns help with development screenings and lead arts and crafts projects, providing entertainment and social support to the children while their mothers earn a living.
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Daycare in Coxen Hole where Global Healing physicians provide health supervision |
The SCOPE student intern program has been formally integrated into Global Healing and is now known as HEAL - Health Education and Advocacy Liaisons. HEAL interns are medical students and advanced undergraduates from around the country with a demonstrated fluency in Spanish and interest in global medicine and community and public health.
In addition to contributing valuable language skills and helping the RVPC with its daily operations, HEAL interns make notable contributions to the Roatán community. Within the RVPC, HEAL interns focus on patient education, teaching mothers about nutrition, parasites, and prescribed medications during their visits to the outpatient clinic. HEAL interns also continue to work with volunteer physicians at the Coxen Hole daycare, enriching social support services provided to the children. They also tutor children in math and English at the local bilingual school and teach English in one of the indigent neighborhoods on the western end of the island. Some HEAL interns also work in HIV/AIDS outreach on the island. Other HEAL community outreach projects have included nutrition classes for Spanish-speaking local mothers and a survey of local women to determine access to pap smears on the island.
On July 7, 2007, over 50 health care providers met all day at Anthony’s Key Resort in Roatán for the “Jornada Médica en Medicina Quirúrgica y Traumatología,” or Surgical and Trauma Conference. 27 doctors, 15 nurses, 3 dentists, and 5 paramedics came from as far away as Utila, another of the Bay Islands. Among those in attendance were Dra. Martha Medina, Regional Medical Director for the Bay Islands, and Dr. Lastenia Cruz, Medical Director of Hospital Roatán.
The conference, co-sponsored by Global Healing, Hospital Roatán, and the Sociedad Médica Isleña (S.O.M.I.), featured Dr. Patte Bishop, Pediatric and Trauma Surgeon from Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland, Dr. Roger Dominguez, Orthopedic Surgeon at Hospital Roatán, and Dr. Indira Sánchez, General Surgeon at Hospital Roatán. Dr. Bishop, who was hosted by Global Healing, presented on the initial evaluation and management of the injured patient, abdominal trauma, and thoracic trauma. Dr. Sánchez lectured on acute abdominal pain, while Dr. Dominguez focused on complex, compound, and epiphyseal fractures and misalignment, drawing from cases seen at the Roatán Public Hospital.
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goals of the conference were three-fold: to learn about trauma, to increase awareness of the surgical talent on the island, and to act as stimulus for improving the existing trauma delivery system. In addition to providing the financial and logistical support for the conference, Global Healing is committed to furthering these goals.
The conference was successful in drawing key health care personnel and in promoting discussion regarding the next steps required for improvement of trauma care around the island.
We continue to staff the RVPC with volunteers from coast-to-coast! Special thanks to our returning physicians, Drs. Stephanie Doniger, Gary Gross, Leonel Toledo, Jamie Lien, and Art Lande! Nora El Goulli from the UK has spent a significant amount of time in Roatán working on the Medicines for Roatán project, an island-wide effort to keep a donated backup inventory of medications on the Honduran national formulary.
Volunteer Spotlight: Medical Director Howard Gruber Many are already familiar with Dr. Gruber, as he has been a frequent volunteer to the RVPC since 2004 and has held the position of Medical Director for nearly one year. His visits have been paired with those of his wife, Alice Gruber, RN, Global Healing CFO, and Volunteer Coordinator. Dr. Howard is very well respected in the San Francisco Bay Area, having been in private practice in Berkeley for 34 years. He is an Associate Clinical Professor in the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program at the University of California Berkeley. Since retirement from private practice in 2003, Dr. Howard has continued to be active in administration, and patient care at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, where his positions have included President of the Medical Staff, and, most recently, Medical Director. Dr. Howard has accomplished much in his career, from private practice to academics and, ultimately, medical administration. Now, in the next phase of “retirement,” we all look forward to his leadership with Global Healing in Roatán. |
May 2006
Dr. Gary Gross - Attending, San Diego, CA
Dr. Jamie Lien - Resident, UC San Diego
Jessie Duvall - Student, Wesleyan & University of Idaho
Jennifer Miller - HEAL Director, Medical Student, Stanford University
June 2006
Dr. Deborah Sah - Resident, Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland
Dr. Anu Agrawal - Resident, Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland
Jennifer Miller - HEAL Director, Medical Student, Stanford Univ.
July 2006
Dr. Karina Crain - Attending, New York University
Jennifer Miller - HEAL Director, Medical Student, Stanford University
August 2006
Dr. Karina Crain - Attending, New York University
Dr. Romulo Colindres - Attending, CDC, Atlanta, GA
September 2006
Dr. Karina Crain - Attending, New York University
Dr. Romulo Colindres - Attending, CDC, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Seth Hollander - Resident, UC San Francisco
October 2006
Dr. Howard Gruber - Medical Director, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Romulo Colindres - Attending, CDC, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Hilary Warren - Attending, Salt Lake City, UT
Dr. Seth Hollander - Resident, UC San Francisco
Dr. Michele Kautzman - Resident, University of North Carolina
Ron Newton - Laboratory Consultant, Carson City, NV
November 2006
Dr. Hilary Warren - Attending, Salt Lake City, UT
Dr. Joseph Zickafoose - Resident, Rainbow Babies & Children's, Cleveland, OH
Dr. Michele Kautzman - Resident, University of North Carolina
Jane An - Student, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
December 2006
Dr. Joseph Zickafoose - Resident, Rainbow Babies & Children's, Cleveland, OH
Jane An - Student, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
January 2007
Dr. Stephanie Doniger - Attending, UC San Diego
Dr. Rachael Zweig - Resident, UC San Diego
February 2007
Dr. Gary Gross - Attending, San Diego, CA
Dr. Nicole Nader - Resident, Stanford University
Dr. Matt Sharron - Resident, Temple, Philadelphia, PA
March 2007
Dr. Howard Gruber - Medical Director, Berkeley, CA
Alice Gruber - RN, CFO, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Nicole Nader - Resident, Stanford University
Dr. Matt Sharron - Resident, Temple, Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Avi Patil - ED Consultant, Loma Linda University
Dr. Ameer Mody - ED Consultant, Children's Hospital, Orange County
Dr. Gil Duritz - Consulting Neonatologist, Berkeley, CA
April 2007
Dr. Jamie Lien - Attending, San Diego, CA
Dr. Amy Pattishall - Resident, Temple, Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Joshua Sticka - Attending, UC San Diego
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Dr. Darren Fiore exams a patient at the RVPC |
May 2007
Dr. Joshua Sticka - Attending, UC San Diego
Dr. Art Lande - Attending, Piedmont, CA
Dr. Jane M. Lande - Attending, Piedmont, CA
Dr. Darren Fiore - Resident, UC San Francisco
Dr. Leila Sabet - Resident, National Children's Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
Ryanne Brown - Student, Stanford University
June 2007
Dr. Howard Gruber - Medical Director, Berkeley, CA
Alice Gruber - RN, CFO, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Patte Bishop - Consulting Surgeon, Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland
Dr. Leonel Toledo - Attending, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. Ann Tran - Resident, UC San Francisco
Dr. Lea Cunningham - Resident, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Ron Newton - Laboratory Consultant, Carson City, NV
Linda Vincent - Laboratory Consultant, Berkeley, CA
Natasha Naik - Student, University of Southern California
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July 2007 Team: (left to right) Dr. Charles Welcome, Student Intern Sarah Mummah, Dr. Ann Tran, Dr. Leonel Toledo |
July 2007
Dr. Howard Gruber - Medical Director, Berkeley, CA
Alice Gruber - RN, CFO, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Leonel Toledo - Attending, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. Patte Bishop - Consulting Surgeon, Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland
Dr. David Rhee - Resident, New York University
Sarah Mummah - Student, Stanford University
Natalie Ramos - HEAL Director, Medical Student, University of Southern California
Global Healing would like to thank Children’s International, J.M. Keckler, and Olympic Medical for donations of medical equipment and support.
We would also like to thank our most recent, and ongoing, private donors for their contributions directed specifically to the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic: Nelson & Nel Branco, Diane Bridgeman, Michelle & Matt Enmark, Elizabeth & Richard Fulllerton, Barbara Gardener, Michael Lin, Kumkum Mittra, Charlot Singleton, Henry & Sonia Sohn, Bente Tellefsen, and Judith & Walter Robinson. In addtion, we would like to extend a very special thank you to our major donors David & Dana Dornsife.
You are all as important as each and every one of our volunteers, and it is your generosity that has made this vision a reality.
Are you a board certified/board eligible pediatrician or a third year pediatric resident interested in volunteering with Global Healing? The usual rotation at the RVPC is at least four weeks. For more information, contact:
Arup Roy-Burman, MD, Global Healing Director
Email: arup@globalhealing.org
Website: www.Roatánclinic.org
Are you an advanced undergraduate, medical student, or public health student interested in volunteering with Global Healing? HEAL Internships at the RVPC last at least four weeks. For more information, contact:
Jennifer Miller & Natalie Ramos, HEAL Internship Directors
Email: jennm@stanford.edu & nramos@stanfordalumni.org
Website: http://www.globalhealing.org/projects/rvpcinterns
The Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic is a partnership between Global Healing and the Public Hospital Roatán, with approval and support of the Honduran Ministry of Health. The RVPC is located within the Public Hospital Roatán. It has been staffed nearly continuously by U.S. volunteer physicians since its establishment in July 2003. The clinic is open to any and all children and has no religious or other special interest affiliation. Care is provided free of charge (patients only pay the Public Hospital the standard fee of about US $0.05). Global Healing has no paid staff—100% of donations to the RVPC go directly to the program.
If you are interested in contributing, please contact Global Healing through its website (www.globalhealing.org) or by phone at (925) 327-7889. You can also use our online donation form if you prefer. 100% of your contributions of cash, stock, or property is deductible from your federal and state taxes.
Global Healing is a registered nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing modern medicine to the developing world.
