Colorectal Center leads Ghana mission
Week-long project includes 34 operations, training conferences, hostel renovation
This is how 34 doctors, nurses and volunteers spent their time “off” in March 2012: traveling thousands of miles to Africa and rising before 6:30 a.m. every day to work long hours running three operating rooms for a week.
Along the way, the team provided advanced colorectal and gynecological surgery to 34 children, many of whom had been waiting years to restore a sense of normalcy to their lives. Volunteers also provided training to dozens of African physicians and nurses, donated entire shipping containers of medical supplies and equipment, and renovated a 21-room hostel where parents can stay while their children receive care.
“We provided in a week what normally would take four months to accomplish,” says Marc Levitt, MD, director of the Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children’s, which organized the mission. “I am very proud of all the hard work provided by all the team members who devoted their time and skills to this effort.”
International team
The team included medical professionals and volunteers from the U.S., the Netherlands, South Africa and Israel. In addition to Levitt and fellow pediatric colorectal surgeons, Anna Varughese, MD, led an anesthesia group and Leslie Ayensu-Coker, MD led a team that performed pediatric gynecological surgery.
Ongoing relationship
The project continues a relationship between Cincinnati Children’s and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, the nation’s largest hospital. This was the second of three planned visits outlined in a 2010 memorandum of understanding.
“This is part of our commitment to education and our mission to improve outcomes for all children,” Levitt says. “Our goal is to help them become a regional referral center for a large part of western Africa.”
To read more details about the 2012 trip to Ghana, visit our Change the Outcome blog and click category “Ghana 2012.”
