News & Updates

2008 FUNDRAISING GALA: DANCING AROUND THE WORLD
We welcome you to join us for a spectacular evening. The International Healthcare Volunteers will host their 5th annual fundraising gala, “Dancing around the World” on Saturday April 26, 2008, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hamilton, New Jersey.

The International Healthcare Volunteers is a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. James Aikins of Cooper University Hospital’s Gynecologic Oncology Division.  The organization is comprised of physicians, nurses, other healthcare and business professionals.  Our mission is to provide free medical services to women and their families as well as to educate health care professionals in underserved areas of the world. 

Last year our medical team spent two weeks in Ghana, providing medical care to over 900 patients who would have otherwise gone untreated. Locally, we support the efforts of the Mother/Child Shelter (a division of the Center for Family Services of New Jersey), by providing resident mothers and their children with desperately needed daily life essentials.

Please help us to make a difference.  Our continued success is possible only through the generous support and donations that we receive throughout the year.  We urge you to consider supporting this year’s mission by sponsoring our annual gala by purchasing an advertisement/tribute in our Program Book.  Information for sponsor packages and advertisements is enclosed.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sponsorship Information:

• 2008 Sponsorship Levels (PDF - 17kb)
• 2008 Sponsorship Contract (PDF - 31kb

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCES FROM OUR 2007 MISSION
I was privileged to accompany Dr. James Aikins and his team on the 2007 International Healthcare Volunteer’s medical mission trip to Kumasi, Ghana. On this enlightening trip I was able to observe how the team changed the lives of many individuals. One of these was Isufu.

Isufu is a security guard at a small Kumasi bank. He has a wife and two children and lives on the outskirts of Kumasi. Every day he wakes up early to walk to work, which is nearly two miles away from his home. This fact alone may seem like a daunting task to those of us in America who have become reliant on our cars and other means of transportation. However for Isufu, every step he takes causes him pain and agony. Isufu has elephantiasis in his left arm and right leg caused by a parasite known as filariasis. The filariasis also blocked his lymphatic vessels causing his scrotum to fill with waste and bodily fluid. When our American doctors first saw the hydrocele, it was the size of a football.

This disease which is almost never seen in America is common in Ghana. According to one Ghanaian doctor he had once seen a hydrocele even larger than the one Isufu had. However, in Ghana, there was little which could be done to treat such disorders. They lacked the techniques and the supplies to provide treatment.

When Dr. Atabek performed the surgery, I was fortunate enough to be his surgical assistant.  During the surgery on one side of the operating table were Dr. Atabek and I and on the other were a Ghanaian doctor and his nurse. During the operation the cooperation between the two doctors was impressive. Dr. Atabek would show the Ghanaian Doctor different techniques which he could use to treat the patient and the Ghanaian doctor would watch and follow Dr. Atabek’s advice. With both doctors working on the patient, the surgery was quickly completed with more than a liter of waste removed.

A few days after the surgery as we were making rounds, I went to see Isufu to observe how he was doing. When I entered his room, he had a big smile on his face and was extremely excited and talkative. He was truly thankful for the medical intervention which had brought him such relief. Even better was the fact that now the Ghanaian doctor could treat more cases such as this, and help alleviates this ailment for many others. It is clear that the 2007 medical mission trip was extremely successful.  By both, treating patients and teaching doctors, we left a lasting affect on Ghana that will help better the lives of many.

- Timothy Joseph Beggs, Student Volunteer,  2007 IHCV, Medical Mission to Kumasi, Ghana

The wide variety of volunteer medical personnel with expertise in different areas was very valuable and allowed a team approach to the care of patients.  It facilitated comprehensive care and increased the likelihood for successful treatment.  This enhanced teaching and wider dissemination of knowledge at Central Regional Hospital.

I was personally very gratified to be able to participate and provide gynecologic care overall, especially for the female patients who suffered from large tumors and masses that severely disabled these women and in some instances were life threatening if not treated.  Separate from this, the young patients who had obstetric fistulas, whether they involved the bladder or the rectum were particularly in need of help and wee taken care of on this trip.

The work that is left is enormous and it is unfortunately rare that programs once started continue year after year.  Far more important than this trip is the need for continued yearly effort.  The hospital and the community that it serves clearly looks forward with anticipation to the arrival of the IHCV medical volunteers every year and the knowledge, expertise, and supples that they bring.

- Saifuddin T. Mama, M.D., 2007 Medical Mission to Cape Coast, Ghana

2005 MISSION: DESTINATION GHANA
The 2005 International Health Care Volunteers (IHCV) medical mission to Cape Coast, Ghana took place from July 15 to August 1, 2005. For the first time, IHCV included a pediatrician, cardiologist, and urologist as well as a high school teacher and students, which brought a different dynamic to the 2005 medical mission team of 28 volunteers.

Approximately 1500 patients were evaluated and treated by the IHCV medical team during the nine day mission. This included 66 major surgical procedures.

CLICK HERE to view the 2005 Medical Mission Report online

2004 MISSION: GHANA, WEST AFRICA
This year our medical mission took us to Ghana, West Africa. Ghana, formerly called Gold Coast, was the first sub-Saharan African country to achieve independence from colonial rule, in 1957. After a brief period of prosperity in the 1960's.Ghana experienced a series of coups d’etat and instability, which eventually plunged the country into deep economic crisis throughout much of the 1970's and 1980's. Although Ghana has a democratic government and its economy is growing at an average rate of 3.2%, the effects of many years of economic stagnation, including neglect of key institutions, are evident all over the country. Long queues at emergency rooms and dilapidated medical equipment characterize hospitals in the country. The ratio of physicians to the population is extremely low. It is estimated that only six physicians are available to 100,000 people. In the United States, by comparison, there are approximately two-hundred and seventy physicians available to every 100,000 people.

The situation is worse for women and children from poor households. In a country where 38% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, many families are unable to access the already weak healthcare system.

This year a group of eighteen physicians and nurses representing IHCV traveled to Ghana to provide free healthcare in the areas of general medicine (hypertension, diabetes, malaria, and other diseases), gynecological care (gynecologic cancer, urogynecology, and general gynecology), obstetrics and general surgery.

Overall, 600 patients were attended to. About 40 major and 2 minor surgeries were performed in the two-week period during the medical mission. We could not operate on all the patients who needed surgery, but were able to provide surgical care for those who needed it most.

We (IHCV) would like to extend our sincere thanks to all our many sponsors who continue to provide the necessary support for us to bring healthcare to underserved population. The patients who benefit from your support also thank you. Our sincere thanks to the Board of Directors, the Fund-raising Committee, and the Medical Committee. Without their hard work this organization will not be able to function at its present level.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCES FROM THE 2004 MISSION
“Grace and gratitude are abundant in Ghana. A 32-year-old female came to us with a vesico-vaginal fistula (a hole in the bladder through which urine leaks into the vagina), that she had had for 16 years. After two-and-a-half hours of surgery the fistula was repaired. One evening the phone rang and everyone jumped and became anxious. The Ward Nurse informed us that our patient was crying, but they were tears of joy. She was crying because she urinated the ‘normal’ way for the first time in 16 years. There was a feeling of pride that went straight to my heart. I have never witnessed the post-op recovery of our patients, but now to hear someone cry for something as normal as urination, made me grateful for being a part of this team of volunteers.” - K. Lorraine Bailey, R.N.

“My contributions as an internal medicine specialist were used as a consultant in the perioperative management of the surgical patients and providing medical care to outpatients who had many illnesses due to lack of access to medical care.. We were exposed to illnesses that were specific to the sub-Saharan tropics, such as malaria and typhoid, and to common conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma. During our medical mission trip, we not only became familiar with many tropical diseases but also to the Ghanian people and the cultures in which they live. On the weekend, we explored the area around Cape Coast, a city known ‘the Castle’, the dungeon for the transatlantic slave trade. The festival of Afahye was an exhibit of the tribal roots of Africa. A hike through a rainforest at Kakum National Forest complemented the beauty of the coastal area.

"The last few days of our mission trip were spent in the capital of Accra where we lectured at the Ghana medical school and toured the Korle –Bu teaching hospital. It was a privilege to use the talents that God has provided me to serve the underprivileged people of Africa.’And the King will answer them, truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25-40.” - Nancy Hsueh Beggs, M.D.