My first day with the Cinterandes Foundation we left for a trip to Palmer. The large truck with an operating room in the back had left the day before and we traveled in a small vehicle. This trip was my first time out of the Andes since my arrival a month earlier. We drove the Cajas National park where llamas run down the middle of the highway and alpine lakes dot the landscape before we began the decent; the humidity and heat increasing and the vegetation changing from alpine to tropical with every turn of the road. The houses also changed from concrete Spanish houses to wood houses on stilts with hammocks on the porches.
Whenever I’ve heard people reflect about their international medical experiences (especially among my colleagues who have worked here in Guyana), there tends to be a few common themes that emerge. There are statements about the gratitude of the local population, and their resilience in the face of adversity in nearly every aspect of their lives. They discuss the lack of resources available; how the hospitals/clinics can lack the most basic of amenities (gloves, bandages, water), or how few and far between medical practitioners are located. Universally, people say the experiences have changed them at their core; they now have a greater appreciation for the resources/opportunities available back in the US, and will continue to work to improve the plight of those less fortunate.
FGHL Blog: Catherine Burger - Difficult Cases
May 09 2012
Sometimes the most difficult parts of a job produce the situations you learn the most from. Often doctors will remember their most challenging patients for the rest of their lives and rarely forget what they’ve learned through those interactions. Working at Georgetown public hospital has afforded me a wealth of opportunities such as these in my short time here.
Whenever I’ve heard people reflect about their international medical experiences (especially amongst my colleagues who have worked here in Guyana), there tends to be a few common themes that emerge. There are statements about the gratitude of the local population, and their resilience in the face of adversity in nearly every aspect of their lives. They discuss the lack of resources available; how the hospitals/clinics can lack the most basic of amenities (gloves, bandages, water…), or how few and far between medical practitioners are located. Universally, people say the experiences have changed them at their core; they now have a greater appreciation for the resources/opportunities available back in the US, and will continue to work to improve the plight of those less fortunate.
One of the best things about healthcare delivery in Guyana is that it is nationalized. Care is free and available to every citizen. It is financed and managed through the Ministry of Health working together with regional and local government. There is an independent private sector. However, despite a national health system, there are several gaps in the delivery of health care in Guyana.
by Bill Frist
America's national debt is ballooning at a worryingly rapid pace. But some programs ought to be spared the chopping block
POSTED ON APRIL 24, 2012, AT 7:10 AM
Government spending is about to get chopped — no matter who wins the next presidential election. President Obama and his GOP challenger Mitt Romney have both prioritized deficit reduction, which, of course, is a worthy goal. However, not all cuts are created equal. And many surveys put global health at the top of the list of things to slash. That's a mistake, and here's why.
1. Global health initiatives save lives abroad?Investments in global health pay off a lot more quickly and dramatically that you might think. PEPFAR, initiated by President George W. Bush and strongly embraced and expanded by Obama, was the largest direct investment any country has made in defeating a single virus (HIV) or disease. Our taxpayers' leadership has provided 7.2 million people with access to lifesaving, anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS, 8.6 million with treatment for tuberculosis, and more than 260 million — mostly kids — with anti-malarial resources. This U.S.-led historic initiative to prevent and fight disease has directly saved millions of lives, put kids back in school, and helped rescue entire societies from collapse over the past eight years.
Saving lives and societies leads to better and stronger relationships for trade, enterprise, and foreign investments. It enables economic growth, democracy, accountability, and transparency in these countries.
2. Global health initiatives protect U.S. families?Deadly microbes know no borders. They are just one plane ride away. HIV did not exist in the U.S. when I was a surgical trainee in 1981. But since then, it has killed more than 600,000 individuals here (and 25 million globally) and infects another 54,000 U.S. citizens each year. It arrived here from Haiti, migrating there from Africa.
Imagine the devastation avoided if we had identified HIV and our National Institutes of Health had figured out how to treat the virus a decade before it arrived on our shores. Our current global surveillance and engagement system might have done just that.
3. Global health initiatives enhance national security?A hopeful people are a people who shun terrorism. And nothing destroys hope more than a society without a future, hollowed out by diseases that decimate middle-aged civil servants, police, doctors, and teachers. A bleak and nonproductive future for an individual sets the stage for societal discontent and chaos.
Our investments in public health reverse these tragedies, and fuel the smart power of health diplomacy. Kaiser Family Foundation surveys have repeatedly revealed that more than half the public thinks U.S. spending on health in developing countries is helpful for U.S. diplomacy (59 percent) and for improving America's image in the countries receiving aid (56 percent).
4. Global health initiatives are a bargain?Treating HIV costs a tenth of what it did a decade ago, and the costs continue to plummet. Globally, of the 8 million children under 5 years old who will die this year, half could be treated and cured with a low-cost intervention. Pneumonia, the number one killer of young children in the world, is easily treated for less than a dollar! And the No. 2 killer, diarrhea, can be prevented by increasing access to clean water. The price? For $20, we can provide clean water to a family for 20 years. For $14, we can fully vaccinate a child.
5. Global health initiatives are simply the right thing to do?I was born in Nashville by the luck of the draw. It could just as well have been South Africa, where life expectancy is only 49 years. We are all the same. Lifting others up no matter where they live is part of what makes us American. It's what we do. Americans overwhelmingly say the U.S. should spend money on improving health for people in developing countries "because it's the right thing to do." Nearly half (46 percent) say this is the most important reason for the U.S. to invest in global health.
Yes, out of control entitlement spending and a deep recession have put everything on the chopping block. But let's be smart about where we cut and where we don't.
Dr. William H. Frist is a nationally acclaimed heart transplant surgeon, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, the chairman of Hope Through Healing Hands and Tennessee SCORE, professor of surgery, and author of six books. Learn more about his work at BillFrist.com.
We are taught during medical training to be very cautious and to only proceed with decisions and procedures when we are well prepared. Putting in a breathing tube, for example, when a patient is having difficulty breathing or has lost consciousness, is a procedure that can be done with just a few simple pieces of equipment. But in an attempt to ensure success, we bring in advanced tools for back up, cameras to get a better look down the throat, smaller tubes in case the size we have chosen doesn’t fit. Once we are prepared for anything we are ready. But in many places around the world, including Georgetown Public Hospital in Guyana, those backups are simply not available.
Prior to my arrival, I had the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time with one of the Guyanese EM residents as they visited Vanderbilt. In one of our various discussions, he brought up a fact that surprised me; the majority of Guyanese in the world do not reside in Guyana. Instead, they are scattered throughout North America, namely New York and Toronto. In his family for instance, only 10-20% remained in the nation, with the rest living in one of New York’s five boroughs. When I asked him if he would eventual join them in the US, he said no. His colleagues, however, had a much different approach.
I paid a visit to the local hospital called Makelekele, the second largest hospital in Brazzaville where I visited the different sections in the hospital and spoke with the staff. The hospital was a little crowded due to the explosion that occurred a few weeks ago. A number of people are still receiving treatment from the hospital.
All I can say is, I don’t know how they do it. I have finished my time in A&E and have been on female medical ward for the last week and a half. The female medical ward is housed in a new facility that opened several months ago. There are approximately 8 patients per room. Patients have to bring their own sheets, clothes, toilet paper, water, and any other supplies that they might need. There are many nurses and even more nursing students around, but I have yet to figure out exactly what they do. Care by the nursing staff is haphazard at best.