Three HART Board members, Kimball Crofts, MD, Amy Kelly, RN, and Bryan Nichols, PharmD made a pre-mission trip to Ghana to assess the sites our contact, Honorable George Boakye, has investigated as wanting and deserving of our services.

The nine day trip, starting October 16th and ending October 25th, had the board members visiting the St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital in Hwidiem, the St. John of God Catholic Hospital in Duayaw, and the newly constructed, yet to be furnished operatory attached to the medical inic in Kukuom.

The board members met with administration and medical staff for all three of these facilities. Tours were made of the buildings looking at the operating rooms, anesthesia machines, surgical instrument trays, x-ray and ultra-sound capabilities, and ancillary services and equipment relating to the desired focus of the mission planned for the fall of 2016.

The focus deemed most appropriate and urgent for the four areas of the  Brong Ahafo Region of north central Ghana for the 2016 mission are:

  1. Orthopedic surgery,
  2. General surgery focus on hernia repair,
  3. Obstetric-gynecology surgical services with a focus on hysterectomy, obstetric fistulas, and other female reproductive surgical services
  4. Pastic surgery for specific conditions related to continued Buruli Ulcer treatment, lipomas, severe keloid scarring, post-burn scarring and contracture release.

Included in the trip were additional visits to past clinics serviced by HART. The clinics were found to be still in operation. Also, particular emphasis was placed on the condition of the orphanage school facility at Jarekrom. It is the hope of the tribal leaders that HART can help find a benefactor to help finance the construction of a new school building.

The trip was very successful in assessing what was in place and what HART needs to focus on getting to have a successful surgical mission trip. The board members were in the company of Honorable George Boakye for the entire trip. Honorable lined up meetings with decision makers through the medical communities as well as chiefs and leaders at the local tribal level demonstrating the commitment and desire for these communities to have HART come and help serve the people in the Brong Ahafo Region.