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New York, NY - The international surgical outreach organization Doctors On Call, also known as D.O.C., Organization Inc., is dispatching a specialized seven - person outreach team and bringing with them over ten thousand dollars in medical equipment, supplies, and medicines for their first mission to St. Kitts and Nevis at Joseph N. France Hospital located in the capital, Basseterre.
D.O.C. supports four areas of development in specialty and sub-specialty surgery: Ear Nose Throat (ENT), which includes Head & Neck & Craniofacial Surgery, Plastic & Reconstructive, General, Vascular Surgery and Urology.
"We are working with the local surgical team and medical school, American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society,” says Dr. Brian A. Donaldson, General and Vascular Surgeon. “We are offering very important interventional services to the people of this community, particularly because the reports we are receiving suggest that there is a very high incidence of cancer as well as benign diseases of the prostate in Caribbean males.”
The project changes the way fundamental surgical skills are exchanged and administered. It also creates the foundation for research into surgical skills and acquisition and innovation in technology. Local surgeons will get hands-on practice with specialist in their field in local hospitals throughout the islands. With the gradual exchange, it will result in more highly trained and skilled surgeons not only for the Caribbean but the rest of the world as well.
"This project is a wonderful adjunct to operating room learning. It will help local surgeons achieve a higher level of expertise and more rapidly," said Dr. Patrick Martin, Ministry of Health, Medical Chief of Staff. "We are very hopeful that setting up this link will allow us to promote long term use of advanced therapies, which can then be used for future involvement in clinical studies of non-communicable diseases, treatment for the earliest onset of these diseases, and we may actually be able to shed valuable light on the causes of these diseases in people of this region." "
The project draws its surgeons from New York City's best teaching hospital staff from Harlem Hospital Center, North General Hospital, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and faculty at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
"We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with D.O.C. This partnership will lead to greater understandings, and the program will ultimately translate into better medicine, innovation of technology and a new generation of top surgeons back home," said Robert Kelly, Director of St. Kitts and Nevis Tourism Authority.
D.O.C. will also deliver two medical lectures. “Under the advice of the local medical team, our discussions will focus on new concepts in the management of Urological and Cardiovascular diseases,” says Dr. Donaldson. Dr. Joe O. Littlejohn, Urologist will discuss, Urinary Incontinence: Pathophysiology, Evaluation, Treatment Overview, and Non-Surgical Management. Dr. Marilyn Lawrence Wright, Cardiologist will discuss, Coronary Artery Disease: Strategies for Prevention, Early Detection, and Management. “These two specialties have undergone tremendous changes, with the introduction of new technology, new concepts and alternative approaches that have revolutionized treatment in their fields, and we would like to share this with our colleagues in St. Kitts.”
Founded in 2000, Doctors On Call is the first international outreach organization to focus exclusively on increasing access to general and reconstructive surgery in the Caribbean. Nearly 500 Jamaican residents have benefited from D.O.C.’s surgical outreach services. More than 75 people have undergone general or reconstructive surgery on the island.
For additional information log on to www.doc-online.org or, mail correspondence to Doctors On Call, P.O. Box 250858, New York, NY 10025.
Contact:
Sophia
Johnson
Email: info@doc-online.org
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