earthMed
Providing medical and community support in developing countries Learn More
Fundraising: earthMed
Recent Cause Activity
earthMed’s First Medical Mission to Mongolia a Success
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
EARTHMED’S FIRST VOLUNTEER MEDICAL MISSION TO MONGOLIA A SUCCESS
Volunteer medical team performed cardio/thoracic surgical procedures, trained medical staff, and set foundations for continued support and development.
July 2, 2009 - Upper Darby, Pennsylvania - A team of ten earthMed medical volunteers traveled to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in May to train Mongolian medical staff and conduct evaluations for improving health care. The earthMed medical team performed several open heart and lung surgical procedures with Mongolian staff members in two hospitals.
The medical team provided cardiovascular and valve replacement surgery and anesthesia training, lung biopsy and resection surgery training, orthopedic/regional anesthesia training, operating room nursing training, pharmacy management and biomedical engineering support at the Shastin University Hospital and the Tuberculosis Hospital of the National Center of Communicable Diseases.
The earthMed medical team paid their own expenses, volunteered their vacation time and donated their services to provide their medical expertise over the two week mission. The two physicians who led the team, cardiac anesthesiologist Patricia Gramling-Babb, M.D. and cardiothoracic surgeon John R. Handy, Jr. M.D. have performed surgeries and provided their expertise on several previous missions to Mongolia. In recognition of their accomplishments while volunteering in Mongolia for almost ten years, they were awarded honorary doctorates by the National Medical Research Institute of Mongolia which has previously awarded only seven other honorary doctorates in its 50 year history. The doctorates were awarded by Professor Nachin Bassanjav, Ph.D., D.Sc. (Med), director of the National Institute of Health Mongolia. Dr. Handy is the Director of Providence Thoracic Surgery, Co-Director of the Providence Thoracic Oncology Surgery Programs and practices within The Oregon Clinic. Dr. Gramling-Babb is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesia at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine in Chicago.
“We are very pleased with the success of our programs in Mongolia,” said Lou Schonder, earthMed’s Director and founder of the suburban Philadelphia non-profit. ”The Mongolians have a strong foundation that we are able to build upon. The dedication of our colleagues in Mongolia to learn new surgical, patient care, educational and administrative techniques, while gracefully accepting constructive criticism, is instrumental in effectively collaborating with earthMed to improve healthcare in Mongolia. We’re thrilled that our work is doing so much to change and save lives for years to come, and we are enthusiastically evaluating other locations in the developing world where we can expand our work.”
Mr. Schonder founded earthMed in early 2007. Although the mission to Mongolia was its first, some of the team members have traveled to work together on several volunteer missions with other non-profit organizations, including support in Mongolia.
"earthMed’s mission is based upon our belief that many of the disparities in the availability and quality of healthcare in the world can be resolved by those willing to take action,” said Mr. Schonder. “Our earthMed volunteers realize their skills and involvement make a difference for so many that need help, and our supporters are enthusiastic about being directly involved with our efforts.”
earthMed is a non-profit organization whose goal is to improve medical care in developing countries through medical program development, education, direct patient care, diagnostic support, medical device donations and community outreach support through volunteer efforts. Learn about earthMed and its commitment to serving the medical needs of developing countries by visiting http://www.earthMed.org
Contact:
Cynthia S. Porter
Director of Communications
earthMed
Email: cporter@earthmed.org
106 Ardsley Road
Upper Darby, PA 19082-1504 USA
+1 (203) 856 8233
http://www.earthMed.org
Healing Our World
Updated: The cause has raised $100.
earthMed Medical Mission to Mongolia – May 2009
earthMed Medical Director Dr. Patricia Babb will lead all-volunteer earthMed charitable medical mission teams to provide various programs to improve health care for the people of Mongolia.
In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, earthMed teams will conduct:
Thoracic Surgery: Dr. John Handy, Thoracic Surgeon, will teach and perform thoracic surgery, mostly lobectomies and biopsy procedures. Dr. Patricia Gramling-Babb will teach anesthesiologists to place specialized monitors and teach methods for post-operative pain relief.
Cardiac Surgery: The earthMed team will provide cardiac surgery consultation and scout for future support at the Shastin Medical Center. This effort bulids upon several years of support by some of our earthMed medical volunteers.
Orthopedic Surgery: Dr. Chris Chiang, Orthopedic Anesthesiologist, will teach anesthesiologists regional anesthesia for orthopedic surgery to avoid the need for general anesthesia for orthopedic surgery.
Clinical Engineering: earthMed Biomedical Engineers Lucas Vitzthum and Amit Nimunkar will be on-call for our medical teams, and perform preventative maintenance, calibration, repair, and training for medical devices. To ensure their work has a sustainable, extended impact, they will work to develop maintenance and calibration schedules with local technicians, and identify sources and vendors for obtaining medical equipment parts, manuals and other documentation. They will also work to establish relationships between Ulaanbaatar’s engineering universities and the Engineering World Health Madison Chapter for academic and research exchange.
Perfusion: earthMed will be donating oxygenators and other perfusion supplies to the Shastin Medical Center.
Pharmacy Training: Dr. Rachael Pearce will provide pharmacy management training, assist in the TB Hospital pharmacy, provide patient education on current medical therapy, and seek opportunities to educate future Mongolian pharmacists in hospital, retail, nuclear and compounding pharmacy during this mission and future earthMed missions.
Nurse Training: Geraldine Pearce, RN, MSN, earthMed Nursing Director, will support surgery/treatment for adults and children and will lead earthMed's nursing team to provide education and training for nurses.
Updated: The cause has raised $50.
Thanks to everyone that has donated to earthMed so far! Our website ( http://www.earthMed.org ) log files show that many of the PayPal donations made on our website are from Facebook users that visited our site from Facebook. THANK YOU!!! Your help is greatly needed ...
earthMed Shirts and Other Gear Now Available at CafePress!
Support earthMed and look snazzy at the same time!
Various shirts, sweatshirts and other items are now available emblazoned with the earthMed logo!
Proceeds of sales support earthMed.
Or ... if you prefer a simple cash donation, visit our website, read about our upcoming mission to Mongolia, and click on the "Donate Now with PayPal" link.
http://www.earthMed.org
Thank you for your support!
