> Global Healing & Chain of Hope Save A Life
> An Immunization Against Tooth Decay
> Our New Look!
> RVPC Announces New Local Fellow
> T-Shirts Donated to Haiti
> Thank You from Uganda
> Colonia Germania, Honduras
> Engineering World Health Goes to Roatán
> Continuing Medical Education on Roatán
> Touch a Life Around the Globe!

On June 12, Global Healing received an email pleading to help save the life of seventeen-year-old Addis Teka in Ethiopia. Addis had been diagnosed with a NYHA Class II Heart Failure that required a surgery not available in Ethiopia. After we gathered the necessary information, we turned to Chain of Hope (www.chainofhope.org), a UK Charity providing these types of surgeries to children in Ethiopia.

Over the next two months, Global Healing worked with Addis’ aunt, Mulumbet Teka and Chain of Hope to gather the information necessary to get Addis scheduled for surgery. Chain of Hope’s local team in Ethiopia performed more diagnostic tests, and after it was decided that emergency surgery was required, Global Healing purchased the tickets for Addis to travel from Ethiopia to London. On October 2, 2008, Dr. Jonathon Clague at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London performed the procedure on Addis that saved her life.

While flying Addis to London gave her a renewed chance at life, this is not the solution to the larger problem of developing local capacity to perform these life-saving procedures. Both Global Healing and Chain of Hope are focused on sending volunteer teams to countries to develop advanced cardiac surgical and catheterization procedures. By bringing together modern equipment, and providing surgical, nursing and biomedical training, local teams receive the tools needed to treat patients for years to come.

In witnessing and participating with the team at Chain of Hope in Ethiopia and London, I gained a renewed hope in humanity. Along with the local and US team at Think Humanity, it is my belief during this holiday season that together we can truly make a difference in the lives of people, both children and adults that we don’t even know. Our work touches the people of those communities, giving everyone hope in humanity!

Please continue your support of Global Healing’s international medical programs and consider making a contribution to our programs in 2008. Thank you for your continuous support and happy holidays!

Cindy Basso Eaton
President, Global Healing

By the time they reach two years of age, many children seen in the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic have “rotted teeth”. Poor dental health affects appetite, sleep, growth and school performance. There is also a tendency to develop infection that may spread to other parts of the body.

Learning from the successful experience in El Salvador of Dr. Karen Sokal-Gutierrez of the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Howard Gruber, Medical Director of the Global Healing Roatan Program and the Roatán Public Hospital  adapted a preventive program for  nurses to apply fluoride dental varnish to the teeth of twelve and eighteen month old children when they come for immunizations.  Parents are also given toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as instruction regarding diet and dental hygiene.  Thanks to training by volunteer nurse Robyn Huey of the University of California, San Francisco and the generous donation of materials by Varnish America, the nurses in the immunization clinic are now treating about fifty children a month.  This is a remarkably low cost immunization against tooth decay.

You may notice the new logo and design that Global Healing has adopted. Landor, one of the world’s most prominent branding agencies, volunteered its time, expertise and energy to generate a logo that suits Global Healing’s mission to provide modern medical solutions to the developing world.

We like the new design and are excited about Global Healing’s new step. Thank you to Nicolas Aparicio and his team at Landor for your very creative contribution!

Dr. Mario Rivera has been chosen to succeed Dra. Lidia Prado as the fourth Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic Fellow.  A graduate of the Medical Faculty of the Autonomous University of Honduras, Dr. Mario completed his Social Service requirement at the Roatán Public Hospital in December 2008.  During his time on Roatán he has been a volunteer in a vaccination campaign in the public schools and as an educator in teaching about the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.
               
Dr. Mario, who is conversant in Spanish, English and Portuguese has spent time at Methodist Hospital at the University of Indiana Medical Center in Indianapolis.  When away from his medical duties, he enjoys scuba diving and running.

Welcome Dr. Mario!  We look forward to a successful year as you work with the volunteers in the Clinic.

Global Healing recently donated 300 t-shirts to another non-profit, Airline Ambassadors (airlineamb.org). The California-based organization is affiliated with the United Nations and is recognized by the US Congress. Airlines Ambassadors provides humanitarian aid to children and families in need and conducts international relief and development to underprivileged communities. They do this by leveraging the resources of the airline industry and finding volunteers to work on missions to the developing world.

Global Healing has made two grants to Think Humanity (thinkhumanity.org), an organization working with refugees in Uganda. After Global Healing’s first grant to Think Humanity for mosquito nets, we decided to also fund the completion of the COBURWAS Club Orphanage. One of the local Program Managers, Wereje Benson (pictured far left), in Uganda wrote a heartfelt letter to Global Healing expressing his gratitude. Himself an orphan, Benson has reached out to other refugees through his work with Think Humanity We would like to share it with you:

It was in 1998 when many orphans and unaccompanied minors fled from the Congo to the camps in Uganda. In Uganda we hoped to have a good life, as we had suffered from hunger, diseases and malaria.
 
Very many young people had no homes and stayed in bushes in the camp since it was a forest. Orphans and refugee leaders pleaded with UNHCR to build an orphanage that would accommodate these innocent young people, but instead they were called "Wakosa kabila", meaning they lacked belonging or a tribe. A promise was made to give them education, care, treatment and rooms to sleep in. I was one of the young people who was separated from my parents, wandering in the Congo jungle for 2 years and by God's grace found myself again in Uganda. I won't mention the situation of my rags and not bathing but I hoped to live a new life in the hands of UNHCR in the camp.
 
One disappointment is that the UNHCR orphanage was not built. This left trauma in the mind of young orphans who had no option for life. Seated near the bush, tears flowing down my cheeks, wondering if I had done something bad to deserve this. I shed tears when I remember those orphans starving and hunting baboons for food. Others were attacked by terrible diseases and would be found dead in huts and bushes. Burying was not a word in our daily life.
 
I will say briefly that up to now we have many people that are about to die of HIV/AIDS and nobody cares. They are beneficiaries of nets through the help of Think Humanity -the last hope for refugees. I think you can see and feel how Global Healing is crucial in helping Think Humanity. Allow me to mention a woman from Rwanda known as “maman”. Borne in the camp, she was raped but did not go for tests. She is married to a Congolese refuge and they have children. They keep crying in their hearts that nobody cares about them and who will look after their kids after they die? The question remained unanswerable until Think Humanity got a grant from Global Healing and now these kids are on the list of those to be helped under the orphanage program. Many people died of malaria and are still dying, but I thank you that there is now hope and a change since Think Humanity started the projects. Thank you very much to have made it possible to reach all these people. 

Malaria is a big problem. I myself have suffered many times and my wife has miscarried due to this. Many students at Coburwas hostel suffer and can't go to school because of malaria which can be treated. Not until Think Humanity sends medication does new life start. We refugees have hope in your support through Think Humanity and we believe that you will continue to support our lives as the future generation together with our families.

Only God knows what I mean in my heart!!!!!
 
God bless you.
Benson

Michelle Crotts introduced us to a problem in Colonia Germania, a rural town on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the town’s well was damaged and stopped drawing water in 2006. For the past two years the community has collected rainwater for their primary source of water. Although neighboring communities have benefited from SANAA (National Independent Service of Aqueducts and Sewage Systems) well projects, the Colonia Germania community is too small to demand enough attention. In response, Colonia Germania formed a community organization to oversee the planning, construction and maintenance of the well. They had already fundraised roughly 40% of the total costs. Global Healing will supplement the locally raised funds to make a new well possible for the community.

Global Healing is insistent on providing a sustainable solution beyond the life of the well. Although it is a great accomplishment to have running water again in Colonia Germania, it is important to consider the long-term issue of water and sanitation. The community is also determined to find a solution through the national government to ensure they will always have a supply of safe, reliable water.

Medical equipment is often discarded after a short time because of the lack of ability to maintain or repair it. To address the problem, Global Healing and the Roatan Public Hospital invited the Duke-Engineering World Health Program to send two biomedical engineers to repair equipment and instruct hospital personnel in its proper use and maintenance. Tjen Sin Lie and James Eames (pictured right) helped put a large quantity of unused equipment back in operation. We are requesting that the Duke program return next summer. 

As for the permanent solution, with the financial support of Global Healing, two hospital employees are well on their way to completion of a two-year biomedical technician program at an institute in Tegucigalpa.  Then the Hospital will be able to handle repairs and maintenance year round.

In addition to a weekly conference, Global Healing brings medical specialists to help with improving care on Roatán.  Thanks to Dr. Jim Faliszek and ultrasound technician Alberto Maldonado from Chicago, there was a successful ultrasound conference in February.  The conference resulted in expanded use of the ultrasound machine that Global Healing acquired for the Hospital. 
The care of newborn infants was the subject of a one week visit by New Orleans based Dr. Juan Gershanik and nurse practitioner and educator Yakelis Anzola.  Teaching took place in classes and with “hands-on care” on the pediatric ward.
The Second Annual Global Healing Trauma Conference, dedicated to the improvement of the care of injured patients, took place on Saturday, August 2.  Forty seven participants heard presentations by Dr. Ray Johnson of California (pictured above), Dr. Hugo Orellana of Tegucigalpa, Dr Rafael Diaz of Roatán and National Police Inspector Hector Caballero.  The program covered management of trauma emergencies in the field, air evacuation of patients, chest injuries, diving emergencies and traffic safety.  Dr. Johnson, an emergency medicine specialist, spent a week working with Emergency Department personnel and paramedics.  The conference is part of an ongoing effort to improve emergency care on Roatán.

Global Healing relies on the generosity of its supporters to make our programs successful. In this season of giving, we encourage you to support all the causes important to you.

Global Healing has worked diligently to foster programs that are sustainable and responsible. We need your support! Click here to make a contribution now. Global Healing is a 501(c)3 organization; all contributions are 100% tax deductible.