By Judith Steele Lanfranco | Assistant to Project Leader
Worldwide Healing Hands sent a team of ten volunteer medical professionals to Ilam, Nepal last October, 2013, to help improve the skills of the Nepali operating room staff and mentor 2 Nepali ob/gyn physicians (to perform gynecological surgery),1 Nepali anesthetist, 1 Nepali intern and 1intern from the UK. We also made 960 patient visits - outpatient as well as emergency visits, performed 625 ultrasound examinations, successfully performed 25 gynecological surgeries, delivered 4 babies, including 1 emergency operative vaginal delivery, introduced an innovative new surgical instrument, the LigaSure; and introduced a cervical cancer clinical practice prevention program. These were the medical aspects of our mission to Nepal.
In addition to the above, we conducted an extensive midwife training program; preparing in advance to train 10 midwives, we carried equipment for that number. However,18 midwives from the eastern region of Nepal traveled to Ilam for training. Many of these midwives traveled for 4-5 days, some of them either carrying their own young infants with them - or leaving them behind - just for the opportunity to attend our training, so we welcomed all eighteen. Please see the attached Nepal Mission 2013 report for a more complete description and extensive beautiful photos of the mission.
One of the nearly 1000 patients we tended, Namita, a 49 year old mother of 6 children, suffered from severe prolapse of her uterus and bladder causing her to be in constant pain. She heard on the radio that our team was coming to care for women and traveled about 100 miles by bus. Upon examination, it was evident she had had this condition for many years; she never dreamed anything could be done to help her. Our gynecologic team performed a hysterectomy to repair of the pelvic floor with an excellent outcome. Later, on evening rounds, we noted she had not been taking any pain medication after having undergone a major surgery just 10 hours earlier. We questioned this and the nurse translated for Namita saying," I have been suffering for over 20 years and you have saved me from this [future] pain. I am so grateful to all of you for what you have done - and I do not wish to complain."
Namita’s response bespeaks the common condition for the women of Nepal. For like Namita, their suffering is a way of life. No gynecologist had been in this remote area of Nepal for a year, not since our last mission in 2012. On behalf of Namita and many other grateful patients, we express our gratitude to all - who by your generosity - made it possible for us to travel to Nepal and make a sustainable contribution.
WORLDWIDE HEALING HANDS (WHH) keeps traveling to serve the women in under-served areas worldwide. We prepare now to travel to Sierra Leone in early Spring 2014. Sierra Leone is one of the most dangerous places on earth to give birth with a shocking 1 out of 7 women dying during childbirth; or if she lives, not having the transportation she needs to seek medical care from a midwife or hospital, she suffers prolonged labor ( 2 to 15 days) resulting in horrific obstetric fistulas. Please see our new project FISTULA SURGERY SAVES LIVES OF WOMEN IN SIERRA LEONE.
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