September 29, 2014

Four Good Samaritan physicians were part of an 11-person team that participated in a medical outreach mission trip from Aug. 9 to 22 in Toamasina, Madagascar. The team provided care to patients in clinics and educational programs for local health care professionals.

Good Samaritan physicians who participated included Dr. Carol Egner, an OB/GYN specialist; Dr. Abby Richards, an OB/GYN resident; Dr. Amita Buddhdev, an internal medicine resident; and Dr. David Wiltse, director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Services.

In addition, there were three nurses on the team, including Dr. Egner's daughter, Allison Schwandner, who is a pediatric emergency room nurse at Cincinnati Children's.

During their 12 days in Madagascar, the team led teaching programs for local health professionals and oversaw general medical clinics for impoverished people in urban Toamasina and nearby jungle villages who have minimal or no access to health care.

The medical outreach mission was sponsored by Cincinnati-based public charity Caring Response Madagascar Foundation, founded by Dr. Wiltse's wife, Virginia, and son, David, following David's volunteer service in Madagascar in 2000.

CMRF has a three-pronged medical program that includes Saving the Lives of Mothers and Babies, an educational initiative that prepares midwives and doctors to handle obstetric and newborn emergencies. Led by Dr. Egner, this component focuses on best practices in treating such life-threatening events as post-partum hemorrhage and teaches newborn resuscitation, using the acclaimed Helping Babies Breathe curriculum.

The CMRF medical program also provides outreach to community physicians. This year's lectures were "Diagnosis and Management of Pneumonia" and "Analysis and Reading of Chest X-Rays." The previous year's topics focused on global principles for managing asthma and COPD and peri-partum critical care management.

The third component of the CRMF medical program includes full- and half-day medical clinics for the poor. These clinics are arranged in collaboration with the Catholic Doctors Association and the Ministry of Health of Toamasina, and ONG St. Gabriel - CRMF's local project partner.

U.S. Peace Corps volunteers serve as translators in the clinics, making sure health care providers have a clear understanding of the problems of clinic patients. This year's team of physicians and advance-practice nurses saw some 750 patients.

In addition to medical outreach, CRMF sponsors 16 literacy centers, a family gardens program and several sanitation and hygiene education projects. To learn more, visit caringresponse.org.