Emory Medishare

Medical Trips
Emory Medishare’s summer medical trip seeks to provide primary health care to the rural communities of Haiti’s Central Plateau. During this week long trip, a team of doctors and medical students run a series of mobile clinics tailored to the primary care needs of the communities. For the people living in the Central Plateau, primary health care is typically a 6-hour walk away. Project Medishare, understanding this need, sends multiple trips each year to increase accessibility to care.

During the typical medical mission trip, the team sees over 1300 patients in one week with follow-up care provided by the permanent clinic in Thomonde. Some of the more prevalent diseases of poverty that are diagnosed and managed each trip include: malaria, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, skin infections, parasites and diarrheal diseases. After these trips, health surveillance is conducted by Project Medishare’s community health workers, who are local residents who provide important basic health services for their communities.

Primary Contact: Bryan Goolsby, bgoolsb@emory.edu & Lindel Dewberry, lindel.krige@emory.edu

Surgical Trips
Since 2007, Emory Medishare has sent a varied mix of surgical specialists to surrounding areas of the Central Plateau with the intent of supplementing the existing surgical programs in the area. Previous efforts have focused on technical urological procedures with an opportunity to train visiting medical students  and local surgeons. One of the most rewarding aspects of these trips is the immediate results seen. Patients with disabling urological disease who were bed-ridden at the surgical team’s arrival were leaving the hospital unassisted by the end of the week.

For 2011, there is a summer surgical trip planned. A repeat of the annual urology trip will be joined this year by an inaugural gynecologic oncology trip. The latter is the fruit of a new partnership  between Emory Medishare and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Primary Contact—Urology: Chelsea McCullough, cmccul4@emory.edu

Project Casse is a capital campaign designed to provide sustainable, full-time access to care in rural Haiti. Our vision is to transform the current dispensary in Casse, Haiti into a fully functioning year-round primary care center that includes complete maternity care as well. Our efforts subdivide into three chronological phases:

• Phase 1: Renovating the existing dispensary to accomodate full-time primary care services
• Phase 2: Building on a maternal health center to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality
• Phase 3: Building on a physician’s residence to allow for 24-hour access to medical personnel

To learn more about Project Casse, click here to view our introductory pamphlet (PDF).