Mission Listings

There have been two visits of the UCLA medical team to Armenia, March 14-18, 2004 and Nov. 11-18, 2004. During these visits, the team consisting of Dr. Akira Ishiyama ENT, Diane Sennott, RN (Head nurse UCLA ENT), Salpy Akaragian, RN, MN, FIAN, Stanton Jones, MS (audiologist UCLA ) and an anesthesiologist (March - Dr. Denise Parker, November - Dr. Jordan Miller) worked with their counterparts in Armenia to develop a self sustaining program to perform cochlear implants and other complex hearing related surgeries. The anesthesia team was faced with the special requirements for facial nerve monitoring which was a new concept for the Armenian team. Obstacles to practice are similar in many non-English speaking countries, translation is slow and not always immediately available. This becomes particularly evident when there is an emergency. Drugs are in unfamiliar concentrations, some are not available and the packaging is frequently in unreadable characters. Compromises based on financial and cultural differences may lead to changes in our practice and one must reassess ones practice to see what is unsafe and what is just "our way of doing things".

Swati Patel, M.D. Associate Clinical Professor Chief, Pediatric Anesthesia Barbara Van de Wiele, M.D. Clinical Professor Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs Director, Neuroanesthesia In April 2007, UCLA Anesthesiologists Barbara Van de Wiele and Swati Patel participated in a collaborative project involving medical professionals from UCLA and Shanghai Childrens Medical Center. 18 orphan children underwent surgery for treatment of neurologic disorders including hydrocephalus, tethered spinal cord, spina bifida and craniofacial abnormality. Three international charity organizations - Global Neuro Rescue, Love Without Boundaries and The Sheperd's Crook Ministries sponsored the children's surgery.
Global Neuro Rescue	Love Without Boundaries	The Sheperd's Crook Ministries


Victor Duval, M.D. Assistant Clinical Professor Edna Ma, M.D. CA-3 Anesthesiology Resident Victor Duval, M.D. and Edna Ma, M.D. (third year resident) joined a team of 500 medical experts in 25 specialties from India and abroad, including the United States, to volunteer their expertise in the 33^rd annual Eye, Dental, Medical and Surgical Camp which takes place for over 20 days each January in Bidada, Kutch, India. Doctors typically see over 30,000 patients during this amazing medical camp which is sponsored by Shree Bidada Sarvodaya Trust (http://www.bidada.com/). This year over 2,000 patients underwent operations. Drs. Duval and Ma participated in this event during the first two weeks of January 2007, working primarily on approximately 23 strabismus cases performed by Dr. Ashish M. Mehta, M.D., pediatric ophthalmologist at Kaiser in Orange County. They report that in India, people with Strabismus are often discriminated against. There is a suspicion that these individuals are of lower intelligence and their future prospects are, therefore, poor. Being part of a team that allowed patients to have the strabismus repaired, thus not only improving the patient’s vision, but also being instrumental in altering their life course, proved to be very rewarding for Victor and Edna. They state that, “every physician should consider mission work sometime during their career. The experience was enlightening and introspection is inevitable.” Both doctors are planning on participating in further volunteer medical missions. Please see the article on the medical camp in The Indian Express newspaper for further information.