Our team that will be here in Tanzania for the whole month have all arrived! Introductions are in order! We have SOAP Board Chair, Bobby Erdin; SOAP Executive Director, Jennifer Erdin (typing); and two awesome chief residents— Dr. Ani Gowd, a 5th year resident at Wake Forest who will be doing a Spine Fellowship next year at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, and Dr. Josef Jolissant, a 5th year resident from Atrium in Charlotte who will be doing a Joint Fellowship next year at the Hospital of Special Surgery (HSS) in NYC.
We have had a amazing start—SOAP has funded its very first patient!
I’m excited to tell you about him! Augustino is a 32 year old who had a trauma that resulted in broken bones in his lower leg. He arrived at KCMC (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center) the week prior to our arrival, but did not have money to pay for his surgery. Fortunately, SOAP friend, Dr. Charity Burke from Louisville, was a volunteer teaching surgeon at KCMC that week with a 5th year resident who had traveled with her, Dr. Shikha Sachdeva. They recognized Augustino as a perfect patient for SOAP to help! SOAP was able to fully pay for Augustino’s surgery, thanks to your generous donations! Dr. Charity and Dr. Shikha (our first names are easier here, so that is what we go by) did the initial surgery for Augustino, aligning his bones and putting an external fixature on his lower leg on for stabilization. He will require a second surgery to remove the external hardware and finish his correction. Dr. Charity and Dr. Shikha have returned to the States, but our team is here and SOAP will be able to fund Augustino’s second surgery (again, thanks to your kind SOAP donations)! The plan is for the second surgery to be in 2 weeks. He is very appreciative of the care he is receiving! Thanks to all of you for making that possible!
Of course, as you know, SOAP’s mission is to augment the education of orthopedic residents here in Tanzania, while caring for patients. The KCMC residents are very excited to be a part of this case and have been are looking forward to learning during Augistino’s second surgery. More updates to come on that!
Please meet Augustino, with Dr. Josef on the left and Dr. Bobby on the right:
Again, we cannot overstate how honored and humbled we are by the interest and support that you all have given to this mission— thank you!!