Preaload Image

Letter Spring 2007

[dt_sc_blockquote align=”center” cite=”CMMCJH Board of Directors”]
Dear Friends,

It has been an eventful last few months since you have heard from Christian Medical Ministry to Cambodia/ Jeremiah’s Hope (CMMCJH) in regard to our progress in Cambodia. There has been advancement on many fronts.

 

Last winter Drs. Mark Sheehan and Dan Smith led a team of 42 physicians, nurses, and support staff to Cambodia. This was our largest team so far and we were joined for a week by a South Korean team of 15 led by Dr. Nam Cho. The results of this trip were truly amazing.

 

Fifty consultations, seven procedures in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, and ten open heart valvular surgeries were conducted at the Phnom Penh Cardiology Center.

 

One hundred seventy five consultations, leading to twenty nine surgeries were conducted at the CSI Clinic, including all preoperative, operative, and postoperative care and costs.

 

Team members worked in the regional medical center in Kampong Chhnang over a four day period, seeing patients with the local staff accomplishing independent consultations and assisting in surgical care.

 

Three all-day mobile outreach clinics were accomplished by the South Korean team. They examined one thousand, fifty patients and distributed fifteen tons of rice.

 

Approximately thirty medical and nursing students served as interpreters for the team, enabling the team to accomplish a considerable amount of medical mentorship.

 

Team members provided lectures for nursing students and taught direct peri-operative patient care.

Team physicians interacted with the Phnom Penh Medical School developing further relationships. Several lectures were provided to forty young Cambodian physicians.

 

Young women from the New Development Center in Kampong Chhnang were trained in operating room techniques and postoperative patient care and then utilized by the team for patient care.

 

Meetings were held with the Assistant Director of the School of Nursing to discuss curriculum development and a future transition from a diploma-based program to a Bachelor of Nursing program.

 

While in Cambodia, Dr. Smith became aware of a girl named Choun Sovannara. She is a 21 year old girl from Kratie Provence, Cambodia who developed a parasitic infection called schistosomiasis at a young age. The disease was never treated. Because of this lack of treatment in her early life she now has nearly total obstruction of her blood flow throughout her liver. This causes severe back pressure and varicies in the stomach and esophagus which intermittently bleed. She has had several major bleeding episodes over the past three years and has nearly died. She needed a decompression procedure, known as a TIPS procedure, to prevent more bleeding and to save her life. This procedure was not available in Cambodia or the surrounding countries in S.E. Asia. The team worked through the logistics of transporting her to Denver for this procedure.

 

Porter Hospital and Dr. Joey Steele donated their services. CMMCJH raised funds for her and her Cambodian physician to travel to the United States. The operation was successful and her life was saved.

 

In regard to essential funding needs, the team is in need of funding for nurses to go to Cambodia. Most team nurses miss two weeks of income in order to be part of the team in Cambodia.

 

The team also needs funding for surgeries in Cambodia. Utilization fee costs are one thousand dollars per heart surgery and other surgeries typically cost a fee of one hundred dollars per surgery at the facilities used by the team.[/dt_sc_blockquote]

admin