Last November, Dr. Joni Doherty spent a week in Guatemala City as part of a special mission with Mending Kids, which gives sick kids life-saving surgical care while advancing education and training towards medical self-sufficiency in their communities.
Dr. Doherty is pictured here to the left with Heidy, who is 10 years old and underwent a left tympanomastoidectomy for removal of cholesteatoma. She is one of the many children treated by the medical team that were part of the mission.
Why Guatemala?
Guatemala it’s one of the poorest countries in Latin America with 56.2% of the population living below the national poverty line and 36% of its entire population are children below the age of 14. In a country where there are only 4 ENT surgeons, it is very difficult for these children to receive the specialized care they need.
Guatemala also has some of the highest infant mortality rate and lowest life expectancies in the Central American region. Unmet surgical care can contribute to the various diseases children die young from, and better care for those who are able to receive essential surgical procedures can help improve the overall survival rate of these children.
Pictured to the right, the Mending Kids Otolaryngology (ENT) surgical mission to Guatemala included Drs Ayal Wilner, Nina Yoshpe, Avrum Kaufman and Joni Doherty. Anesthesiologists from Orange County and Long Beach also donated their time and services: Jennifer Engstrom, Siya Foolidian, and Mike Alexander. The other volunteers included skilled operating room nurses and scrub technicians from Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and senior High School students from Muse in Calabassas.
Dr. Doherty participation’s in Mission Kids mission was sponsored by HearAid Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to giving the gift of hearing to financially disadvantaged infants, children and adults by compassionately providing quality hearing devices, services and care.
Picture to the right is of Dr. Doherty and Siya Foolidan, MD, and anesthesiologist from Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, who also donated his time and services in Guatemala. The patient shown here is Daisa (10 years old) and is about to have a left eardrum repair surgery.
Below is a brief interview with Dr. Doherty where she shares a little more about the work she did and the people she met in Guatemala.
What was the most memorable part of your trip?
I was impressed at how grateful the patients and their families were and also how hard all of our staff worked all week long. We worked from 7 am until around 9 pm almost every day.
Pictured here to the left is Nancy (11-year-old) who underwent a right eardrum repair. Also in this photo (left to right) is: Jennifer Engstrom, MD (anesthesiologist), Carol Marks Chavez (scrub tech), and Hong Tuyen Nguyen, RN (circulating operating room nurse)
Any interesting things happen while you were there?
I had a few very interesting cases – rare findings, including a complete absence of an ear canal with a functioning middle and inner ear in 2 patients. One of them was Aida (12 years old), pictured in the photo below to my left. She was born without an ear canal or eardrum; basically, solid skull bone instead of opening to the middle ear space. I built her an eardrum and ear canal. The other case was similar – his name was Daniel (14 years old) but he only had a partial ear canal absence and had an eardrum, so in this case I was able to make his ear canal open up to the external ear.
Dr. Doherty with two patients – Aida (12 years old) and Brandon (16 years old) who underwent a left eardrum repair.
They were super sweet and appreciative and wanted to take numerous pictures with me! This one was taken at the party that Mending Kids threw for all the patients and staff at the end of the week. They hired a clown and had pizza, drinks, sweets, balloons, and prizes. It was really fun and special to hang out with them for an afternoon.
Did you learn anything new about yourself, other people or cultures?
People who don’t have access to medical care can suffer chronically from problems that are treatable, and when they get treatment, they are completely gracious and thankful. This is the reward that I receive from doing this type of pro-bono work; it is more valuable than money.