ISHI would like to wish all of our volunteers, supporters, and friends a happy and healthy holiday season!
We're having our annual dinner/dance after the New Year and hope you can join in the celebration. This year's event will be February 4, 2017 at The Kenilworth in Kenilworth NJ. Please RSVP by JANUARY 30 by emailing info@ishiglobal.org
Hope to see you in 2017!
As a team during our missions, we learned about the barriers that Peruvians must circumvent before they can receive surgical care.
These barriers include long wait times for surgery, prohibitive costs, and insurance restrictions and are what ultimately lead the patients to ISHI.
Although each patient had their own narrative, there were a select few who felt comfortable enough to share their story and express their deep appreciation for ISHI. It is these few we share with you to give you a sense of humanity as it relates to global surgical health care and more specifically, the wonderful team that is ISHI.
-by Vickey Patel PT, MS
A total of 58 operations were performed with a concurrent increase in major cases performed. Over 12 hours of lectures and hands-on training was performed by various member of the ISHI team, including a 5 day structure ultrasound course.
Click HERE to read more about the successful mission ISHI volunteers just completed.
Sara joined ISHI as a logistic volunteer and has been in charge of a good chunk of the Ghana 2016 mission backstage setup. With a laptop, an internet connection and a lot of dedication she has been able to do it remotely from Sweden.
Sara lives in Stockholm (photo above), where she currently works as a project coordinator at Stockholm University.
She has a BA in International relations, Master of Human rights and among her aspiration is to become actively involved in advancing human rights, education, integration of immigrants, anti-racism and equal rights for all.
As most ISHI volunteers she loves traveling. And even though her schedule won’t allow her joining The Ghana 2016 mission, she is looking forward at doing so on a future mission, preferably she hopes, in South East Asia or South America.
Sara’s work is invaluable as pre-mission preparation accounts for a lot of effort, time, details, planning, follow-ups and commitment.
Roughly 500 lbs of supplies gathered from ISHI and Rutger's RECOVER program are on their way to Jamaica via the JAHJAH foundation.
Opened, but unused and clean supplies were gathered by the OR staff at Rutgers University Hospital in Newark, NJ. ISHI volunteers then sorted and packaged this material which would have otherwise ended up being disposed of.
The supplies will be sent to the JAHJAH foundation's clinic in Jamaica for distribution to area hospitals in need, where the supplies can then be re-sterilized and used to support surgical care.
ISHI will continue to stay in touch with the healthcare workers in Jamaica to track the supplies and help guide further donations.
ISHI's volunteer Peter Johnston, the Rutgers Benjamin Rush Jr. Global Surgery Fellow, was the first speaker in the "Topics in Global Health and Global Surgery" non-credit elective at Rutgers NJMS.
Peter led a group of 75 1st and 2nd year medical students through the key events in the field of Global Health, highlighting the historical context, ideologies, and politics that have shaped the field into what it is today. He also spoke about new focus on global Surgery and some of the most recent developments .
ISHI is excited to collaborate with NJMS through lectures and electives helping medical students getting interested in the rapidly evolving field of Global Surgery.
Congratulations to ISHI volunteer and surgical resident Joanelle Bailey (Peru 2015), winner of the annual Association of Women Surgeons "Greening the OR" Competition.
Her proposal for greening the OR discussed the collection of unused, clean surgical supplies from the OR (usually disposed of), and how these items are used on ISHI missions and for disaster relief efforts, such as the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone in 2014 and the recent earthquake in Ecuador
Proud that the ISHI Bike team completed this years 5th Boro Bike Tour under the rain !
After 40 miles we were all soaked but very happy!!! says team member Amy Gore
Thank you all for your support, we hope you enjoyed watching our progress throughout the day.
While the ride may be over, it's not too late to contribute to our crowdrise campaign at https://www.crowdrise.com/team-ishi-bikers
In 2 weeks, Team ISHI will again be biking in the TD 5 Boro Bike Tour! Please support the team by clicking the Crowdrise link below and help cheer on our volunteers as we bike through NYC on May 1st.
https://www.crowdrise.com/team-ishi-bikers
Last year, Ziad agreed to take a pie to the face for ISHI if we met our fundraising goal; while we have plenty of ideas for this year's dare, we'd love to hear from you. Post or message suggestions for this year's fundraising dare and the winning idea will be shared in the coming week.
Enjoy!
April 5, 2015, ISHI's own Marina Goldman discussed her experiences in Sierra Leone at The Rutgers' School of Nursing's Global Heath Annual Conference in Newark NJ. Marina did an amazing job sharing her journey and personal experiences in Sierra Leone .This year's conference entitled "Nurses Matter: Our Role in Global Health" drew over 100 nurses and nursing students.
We had a great night honoring our volunteers from the 2015 mission. Great food, Great Music, Great company made for a fun tonight. Special thanks to Deyse for organizing the event and making the evening so beautiful. We are look forward to another successful year.
