Dr. Paula Dhanda consults with a young patient.

CLEARLAKE >> In conjunction with a Thanksgiving Day outreach event that included a meal for members of the City of Clearlake community, free health screenings were provided at the Clearlake Youth Center by Worldwide Healing Hands.

Dr. Arthur Bikangaga, health screening organizer and team leader, was joined by Dr. Paula Dhanda and several volunteers to check blood pressure and other vital signs and to discuss health concerns with individuals. Additionally, participants received knit caps and socks donated by Worldwide Healing Hands and handmade soap donated by community members.

Assisted by Registered Nurses Kathy Madsen and Zamitley Saroza, the doctors screened 28 people — 18 females and 10 males — ranging in age from 8 to 84 years old. Patients were screened for health problems and were referred for appropriate services depending on their needs, said Dr. Dhanda. The individuals were given written recommendations and contact information for follow-up.

Health issues identified during the consultations included high blood pressure, the need for contraception and family planning counseling, the need for breast and cervical cancer preventative exams, the need for vaccinations including the Gardasil vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, and smoking cessation counseling. The physicians identified patients at risk for domestic violence, counseled an individual with fetal alcohol syndrome, and advised one woman to seek treatment due to high risk for cancer of the uterus.

“Also noted was the lack of knowledge about availability of health care coverage or how to get it,” said Dr. Bikangaga. “This may be a major factor in avoidance of care.”

The physicians plan to conduct similar screening clinics in the future. Informing individuals about health care availability will be emphasized at the next session, Bikangaga said.

Volunteers assisting with sign-in and distribution of written materials and hats, socks and soap included Karna Horn, Wendy McCrae, Michael DelValle, Susan Stout, Irene Lopez, Angelique Fricke, Darian DelValle, Jasmin Clarke and John Paul Clarke.

“Worldwide Healing Hands thanks all the volunteers who gave up time with their families on Thanksgiving Day to participate in caring for members of our community,” said Dr. Dhanda.

For information about upcoming screenings or availability of health care, call Patti Lee in Dr. Bikangaga’s office at (707) 263-1677.

by Susan Stout
Dr. Paula Dhanda is a practicing physician in Kelseyville. She is the founder of Worldwide Healing Hands. She may be reached at 279-8733 or visit http://drspecialtycare.com/ or http://www.worldwidehealinghands.org/.

Published in the Lake County Record Bee: Event provides health screening

Paula R. Dhanda, MD
Obstetrician & Gynecologist
Team Leader
“I am excited to be returning to Nepal to work with Himalayan Healthcare and continue the work that we started in 2012.”    Dr. Dhanda has led several medical missions in the past 10 years and has received numerous awards for alleviating the suffering and promoting wellness.

Nancy Jane Reynolds, MD
Obstetrician & Gynecologist
“I love to travel and work with different cultures; providing surgical and medical care.”  Dr. Reynolds traveled to Nepal in the early 1980s and this inspired her to volunteer to return with this mission.

Rafal Jan Wyskowski, MD
Anesthesiologist
“I love being a doctor.”  This is Dr. Wyskowski’s first medical mission; he loves his profession and offered his skills in that spirit.

Margaret Jennifer Burns, RN
“I have wanted to work on a medical mission and now that I have retired, this is the perfect time.”  Jennifer’s experience for the past 25 years has been as an OB/GYN nurse.

Lonnie Marie Hlusko, Registeded Ultrasoun Technician
“I am dedicated to women’s healthcare in the developing world.”  Lonnie founded the organization Hands for Humanity in 2000 to educate nurses and hospital staff in remote rural settings such as Nepal on healthcare and the use of ultrasound as a tool to diagnose problems in pregnancy.  Since its founding, Lonnie has traveled on numerous medical missions.

Lynn Arnold, Licensed Practicing Midwife
Lynn feels she has “a unique ability to teach at a simplistic level” – grasp the complex and translate so everyone can understand. Lynn has been working in women’s health since 1975.  She founded and operated a free standing birth center from 1985 to 2011 serving more that 13,000 Hispanic women.  She also wrote and taught a state approved midwifery educational program to over 800 students around the world.  This will be her second mission to Nepal with Worldwide Healing Hands.

Flora Shepherd Krasnovsky, Epidemiologist
Flora volunteered to “gather information on this mission for training.”  Her skills are in research, counseling, training, data collection and analysis.

Nathan DeHart, Professional Photographer
“I want to provide inspiring professional photography for WHH to use for promotion and education.”  Nathan has traveled as a photographer to South East Asia and India in the recent past.

Nathan Powers, Student
Nathan volunteered for this mission “to have an opportunity to learn about the medical field while giving to the less fortunate and learn about the world I live in>”  Nathan has traveled to Ghana in the summer of 2011 to work with children.

Carol LVN teaching Meghan

being princesses and I dreamed of being a doctor. So, I was very excited to be granted this amazing opportunity to work as an intern under Dr. Dhanda and her staff.

I expected to gain insight into the medical field and healthcare system, and as an intern I have gained all that and so much more. As an intern, I have not only been an observer, but have had hands-on experience taking blood pressure, blood sugar, and testing specimen samples. My most memorable experience so far has been observing the surgeries. The staff was concerned that I would be queasy during the surgeries and possibly even faint, instead, I stood mesmerized by all that I witnessed during the operations. I have found the operating room to be an exciting and fascinating place.

To be able to watch Dr. Dhanda interact with patients and perform surgeries has been an inspiring experience. I am so impressed with Dr. Dhanda’s ability to be so caring and informative with the patients she treats. In fact, when I came home after my first day of interning with Dr. Dhanda, I told my parents that I want to be a doctor like Dr. Dhanda. During my time so far as an intern, I have already gained so much knowledge about the medical field especially regarding women’s health.

I have also gained insight about women’s health in developing nations by learning more about the work she does through her non-profit organization Worldwide Healing Hands. Working under Dr. Dhanda has provided me with insight into our own healthcare system, as well as the need of healthcare in other countries. My experience as her intern has cemented my decision to pursue a career as a medical doctor and possible surgeon, and I am excited about how much more I know I will learn from Dr. Dhanda and her staff.

This program is a huge endeavor that requires the coalition of multiple organizations. It is for

this reason that Worldwide Healing Hands is excited to announce its partnership with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the State University of New York (SUNY)Upstate Medical University. Together, they have developed a curriculum to improve health for women and infants in Sierra Leone. SUNY Upstate Medical University will assist with equipment procurement, sending volunteer professors from SUNY Upstate Medical University to assist with teaching medical students and resident physicians, as well as developing remote access so that students and clinicians in Sierra Leone will be able to attend teaching conferences sponsored by the University in New York.

This is a one-year training program that will enroll new medical school graduates from the University of Sierra Leone who have a special interest in women’s health care. The program will be time-based and advance the physicians through basic patho-physiology, basic surgical skills, and recognition and treatment of common obstetrics issues. Upon the completion of the one-year internship, the physicians will be able to perform a cesarean section, a dilation and curettage of the uterus, basic obstetrical ultrasound evaluation of the fetus and mother and other life-saving skills.

The graduates of this program will also be qualified to become educators and mentors for other physicians and midwives in Sierra Leone. The program ultimately hopes to increase access to high quality services for women and reduce the heath, social, and economic burden of serious perinatal morbidity and mortality on the families of Sierra Leone.

by Meghan McCurry
WHH Intern

According to the World Health Organization, certain kinds of fruit bats are thought to be the natural host of the virus, with the initial transmission resulting from a wild animal infecting a human. Once the disease infects a person, it is easily transmissible between people in close contact. The virus spreads by direct contact with bodily fluids, and often moves more rapidly in remote areas.

There is no vaccine or cure for the Ebola virus, and it kills up to 90% of its victims. According to the Centers for Disease Control, doctors can only offer “supportive therapy” to patients with Ebola, and isolate the patient so that he or she cannot infect others. Initial symptoms of the Ebola virus include fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, lack of appetite, and sore throat. Advanced symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and both internal and external bleeding – often from the eyes, nose, or mouth.

In the 1976 outbreak, the Ebola virus killed more than 400 people. The latest outbreak has infected 1,600 people and killed over 800 people and it has spread across four West African nations including Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, which has the highest number of Ebola cases.

The intensity of this outbreak is placing a great strain on the already unstable health systems of Africa’s poorest countries and the health professionals who try to combat the outbreak are being confronted with increasing suspicion and doubt from the Ebola patients and their families. In fact, many of the people in Sierra Leone have more faith in traditional medicine and as a result are hindering efforts to contain the outbreak by gathering outside clinics and hospitals and protesting what they believe to be a conspiracy. Some have even gone as far as threatening to burn down buildings and remove the sick patients from hospitals to carry out traditional funerals which often involve manual washing of the body instead of allowing the officials to bury them safely. These types of burial ceremonies in which the mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola virus, which is highly contagious and still spreading.

Not only are health professionals being confronted with suspicion and mistrust, they are also putting themselves at great risk trying to contain the outbreak. The disease has killed one of Liberia’s top Ebola doctors and two of his nurses and it has infected two Americans combating the outbreak. Due to the deadly risks facing health professionals, it has been determined that a trip to Sierra Leone is too dangerous at this time. It is with great regret that Worldwide Healing Hands postpones its trip to Sierra Leone.

by Meghan McCurry
WHH Intern

Patient at West Africa Fistula Foundation

Terefa is fourteen years old. She lives in a small village in Africa, more than 200 km from the country’s capital. She is the sixth child in a family of eight children and has never been to school. Her father, a farmer, did not have enough money to send all of his children to the village school. The older children—two boys—thus benefited from schooling, while Terefa stayed at home to help her parents to survive. Her chores were to gather firewood, draw water and help work the fields.

When she was thirteen, her father married her to one of his friends who was a little better off. Terefa could only accept this marriage and, a few months later, she became pregnant. Throughout her pregnancy she continued working, as if nothing had changed. The closest antenatal clinic was a few dozen kilometres from her house, but she didn’t go to it because she didn’t have money to pay for transport. Also, everyone in the village said that pregnancy was not an illness and that the other women had always given birth without any problems, so why shouldn’t she?

Terefa’s husband and mother-in-law let the village traditional birth attendant know when labour started. The contractions became more and more violent, and more and more painful, but the baby did not seem to want to come out. Terefa saw the sun rise and set three times. She was exhausted by the long ordeal. The village birth attendant tried to speed up events, first with herbal potions, then by inserting various substances into the vagina and, finally, by making incisions with a rusty knife in her vagina, but nothing worked.

The village elders then met to take a decision: Terefa had to be sent to the health centre. It took several hours to collect the necessary money, transport Terefa in a cart to reach the road and find a driver to take her to the town. Terefa was afraid, for she knew no one there and wondered how she, a simple peasant, would be received.

At the health centre she was examined by a midwife. The midwife was not happy that Terefa had come so late and told her that the baby was dead, but that an operation was required. As the doctor who performed caesarean sections was away for several days for a training course, she had to go to another hospital.

After the operation, Terefa realized that she couldn’t retain her urine. Back at the village she was ashamed because she had lost her child, was constantly wet and continually gave off the smell of urine. Seeing that the situation did not improve, her husband rejected her and chose another wife and, little by little, the entire village turned its back on her.

Since then Terefa and her mother have lived in a tent at the edge of the village. The two women subsist on charity, but Terefa’s health is becoming a little more precarious every day. No one knows how much longer she will survive.

Originally published in Obstetric Fistula by World Health Organization, Department of Making Pregnancy Safer

West Africa Fistula Foundation

WHH is traveling this year to Sierra Leone, partnering with Dr. Darius Maggi – founder of the West Africa Fistula Foundation. Sierra Leone is one of the most dangerous places on earth to give birth, infant mortality and maternal deaths among the highest in the world. Sierra Leone, a country of about 6 million has only 1 OB/GYN. Women spend from 2 -15 days in labor – no midwife – no Cesarean childbirth; causing obstetric fistula to become inevitable. You can find out more about our mission here.

Here’s a little more information about Dr. Darius Maggi and the West Africa Fistula Foundation.

Works in Bo, Sierra Leone (see map)
Over 15,000 babies delivered.

In 2002, I traveled to Sierra Leone to treat women with obstetric fistula, a debilitating birth complication that is almost never seen in countries like the US. Upon meeting and treating patients in Bo, Sierra Leone, I decided to dedicate my retirement from a 22-year career to performing as many fistula repair surgeries as possible. Since my initial visit to Sierra Leone in 2002, I have made over 27 trips to perform over 2,000 fistula repair surgeries for women in rural areas. I can reach 100 more patients with your support.

Dr. Darius Maggi is a member of West Africa Fistula Foundation.

Obstetric Fistula Repair Focus

Obstetric fistula is a medical condition in which a hole develops in the bladder after severe or failed childbirth. It occurs more frequently in parts of the world without access to adequate healthcare resources.

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Some lives changed by Dr. Darius Maggi

Please note: some stories are graphic and could be upsetting.

Tiangay

At 12 years old, Tiangay developed a rectovaginal fistula after she was raped by her secondary school teacher. Tiangay initially sought help from a traditional healer who gave her herbs to drink and made her sit in boiling water. When she arrived at the West Africa Fistula Foundation (WAFF) ward in Bo, Tiangay was 16 and her condition was worsening. She was dehydrated, and she had lost a lot of blood. Tiangay received her fistula repair surgery and has returned home. She’s back in school, and hopes to one day study nursing. Tiangay says, “Thank you Dr. Maggi for everything you have done, you saved my life.”

Fatmata

Fatmata, a 19 year-old woman, suffered from a fistula after a four-day labor. After the prolonged delivery, she began to bleed and became incontinent. A midwife told Fatmata about WAFF, and she found comfort in meeting other women at the ward with her same condition. Fatmata’s surgery went smoothly, and since her return home she has been spreading awareness about fistula. She says, “I tell every girl and woman to spread the message that girls in Sierra Leone should not be shy. This condition is not their fault and they should come to the hospital so that they may be cured!”

If you’d like to donate to this cause click the button below:

It has been a great honor working with Dr. Dhanda. Her passion and commitment are boundless, as is her creativity in finding ways to reach out and bring care to communities in need. Her dedication started early in life, accompanying her father, a surgeon, as he served the indigent in Bombay, India, and surrounding rural communities. His example inspired her to become a doctor, in turn, specializing in obstetrics and gynecological care, and eventually to leave her successful Beverly Hills medical practice in search of greater opportunities to serve. Seeing a shortage of physicians providing women’s care and limited health services for the indigent population, she moved to Lake County in 1990 to join St. Helena Hospital, Clear Lake. Since 2005, she has held medical directorship positions including Medical Director of Surgery/OB and Chief of Staff at St. Helena Hospital, Clear Lake.

Wherever she has served, whether here at home in Lake County or in Chad, Haiti or Nepal, Dr. Dhanda has brought hope and quality medical care to women and their newborns. Dr. Dhanda and her team provide education and support to mothers and local medical staff, perform corrective surgeries for childbirth injuries, teach life saving preventive care techniques, manage high-risk births and provide a full range of women’s health care for every kind of situation, from high-tech delivery suites to earthquake-ravaged hospitals to isolated field clinics. The positive impact on individual women and children, families, and communities is incalculable.

I, for one, am grateful that this everyday hero has chosen to call our community home.

David Santos

Vice President of St. Helena Hospital, Clear Lake

Published in the Lake County Record Bee

TnT offered us a perfect space in a secure storage location. It’s ample, spotlessly clean and will keep our supplies clean, dry, safe and very importantly, all in one place. We depend on the kindness of individuals and organizations to be able to be of services in places where much of the medical interventions that are common to us, are a veritable miracles to others.

Once more a generous business in Lake County offered us the perfect solution to our quandary and contributed to our goals and purpose for service. In these somewhat uncertain times, it’s remarkable to see how kindness multiplies.

Thank you TnT Mini Storage

Today, Paula is following in his footsteps, dedicating her life to improving the quality of healthcare for women and children at home and in some of the most underserved areas of the world.

Paula was born in 1958 in England. At the age of two, she moved with her family to Bombay, India, where they remained for 13 years. Paula completed the high school education she had begun in India at a Catholic high school in Batavia, New York, navigating both culture shock and her parents’ divorce.

In college, she earned her master’s and medi- cal degrees, specializing in obstetrics and gynecological care. Though she found professional success in a Beverly Hills medical practice, Paula moved in 1990 to Lake County, California. Explaining the move, she says, “There was a shortage of physicians, no one providing obstetrical and gynecological care, and very limited care for the indigent population.”

Wanting to help people both locally and globally, Paula traveled to Chad with a colleague who told her there was a great need there for women’s care—especially for women at risk of dying in childbirth. “I had witnessed the medical complications of poverty-stricken people in India as a child, but as an adult I saw everything through different eyes,” Paula says. “When I returned home I was shell-shocked, saddened, and wanting to do more. I wanted to sell everything I owned and move to Africa.”

Understandably, her husband and children did not embrace her plan, so Paula channeled her desire to help into founding the nonprofit Worldwide Healing Hands.

In its first four years, Worldwide Healing Hands has led teams of medical volunteers to partner with and train local medical staff in Chad, Haiti, and Nepal. Paula is now planning a mission to Sierra Leone where Healing Hands will work with West Africa Fistula Foundation to perform corrective surgery for fistulas and train midwives to help prevent this profoundly devastating condition. “Mothers suffer and die all over the world in childbirth of the same preventable causes,” Paula says. She shares two stories about women thousands of miles apart facing many of the same risks.

In the rural California hospital where Paula operates, a woman was hemorrhaging after an emergency C-section. The woman was at risk of bleeding to death, and her life depended on blood being flown to the hospital from a major medical center. “We took her back to the operating room for another surgery while life-saving blood products were delivered and she was stabilized,” Paula recalls. More than 3,000 miles away, a different woman was brought to a hospital in Haiti where Paula was volunteering just after the 2010 earthquake. The woman, who had delivered twins, was experiencing seizures and at risk of dying. Paula was able to stabilize the woman and, once the crisis was over, she reflected on how close this young woman came to leaving her sons motherless.

“Challenges such as these are everyday occurrences in many areas,” she says. “But my mother raised us to believe that we could accomplish anything in life if we worked hard and persevered. As a physician, I am committed to a life of service and to raising awareness of the great need for medical care around the world… if we all just help a little bit, we can change the world.”

By Elizabeth Share on the website Unsung Heroes of Compassion 2014