Building on a legacy of hope
The two previous Bring Back Hope events “were vital to getting us to where we are now,” Dr. Rick Hodes, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) medical director for Ethiopia, told the Independent. “They raised interest in our work and the financial gifts we received allowed us to expand, to operate on hundreds more patients, and to become the most important spine centre in the entire country of 120 million.”
An Update from Dr. Rick Hodes and the JDC Medical Team
The team performed 50 spine surgeries, and over 40 Ethiopian health professionals took part in this as well.
We are thrilled to share the success of our recent surgical campaign in Ethiopia.
Dr. Ted Belanger (Dallas), Dr. Serena Hu (Stanford), Dr. Bill Stevens (Phoenix), Dr. Rimantas Zagorskis (Vilnius), Dr. Mark Weech (Bahamas), along with numerous spine fellows, assistants and neuromonitors worked tirelessly for 3 weeks at MCM Korean Hospital of Addis Ababa in May and June.
It took weeks of work with the Ministry of Health to get permits for incoming supplies, and the group arrived with over 1,200 pounds of surgical screws, rods, scrub suits, and bandages. They shipped a high-tech Jackson Table for donation, the preferred table for complex sine surgery, which arrived from the US just before the team did. This was a huge help, and a first for the team, which has been coming to work with us since 2010. Every year the team and the scope of surgery expands.
In early March, Dr. Rick secluded himself for a week as he poured through his medical records and sent Dr. Ted over 150 emails (each with at least 20 photos, x-rays, and CT scans attached) of proposed patients. Dr. Ted meticulously analyzed this, and selected 70 potential patients. The JDC team did new photos, x-rays, scans, and blood tests. On Day 1, Dr. Ted saw the patients and finalized the surgical list.
As usual, our friends at the Korean Hospital were as cooperative as possible, and gave us 2 rooms to operate in simultaneously. The team performed 50 spine surgeries, and over 40 Ethiopian health professionals took part in this as well. In fact, Ethiopian surgeons flew in from distant corners of the country to operate with the international team. Some witnessed removal of several vertebrae (VCR) for the first time.