On Ghana mission, nurse team fulfills many dreams
Local nurses, known as the Dream Team, visited a village with other guests while on a medical mission to Ghana led by Dr. Michael Obeng, head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Boardman. From left, Angela Lee of Mineral Ridge, Roberta Hamilton of Hubbard, Glenda Bell-Golec of Poland, Tatiana Blanchard, a medical student from Florida, Kathleen Fimognari of Poland, Juanita Combs of Boardman and Joyce Obeng, Dr. Obeng’s sister, of Ghana.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
YOUNGSTOWN
Five area nurses went on a medical mission to help provide life-altering surgery for poor Ghana citizens and found their own lives profoundly changed by the experience.
“I don’t take anything I have for granted anymore. You begin to appreciate something as simple as a blanket or sheet,” said Juanita “Nita” Combs, a nurse anesthetist.
The nurses were called the Dream Team because it was the dream of Dr. Michael Obeng, head of plastic surgery and reconstructive services at St. Elizabeth’s Boardman Medical Pavilion, to lead a medical mission to his native Ghana.
Before they left, Dr. Obeng, a naturalized U.S. citizen, told the volunteer nurses, who paid their own way to Ghana and used vacation time from their jobs, that they would “never be the same” after seeing the patients and children scrambling for something to eat.
And he was right, the nurses said.
Two of the women said they became a little frightened when they were mobbed by children and their parents while handing out candy.
“I warned them it was not a good idea,” Dr. Obeng said.
But despite the heat and fatigue from dawn-to-dark sessions in the operating room, the difficult language barrier and different food and operating conditions than they were used to, the nurses said their five days at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, May 17-21, literally changed their lives.
“It was the most rewarding experience of my nursing career. It made me realize how significant and insignificant I am at the same time,” said Kathleen A. Fimognari of Poland.
Dream Team members were Glenda R. Bell-Golec of Poland, Roberta J. Hamilton of Hubbard, Angela Lee of Mineral Ridge, Fimognari, Combs of Boardman and Tatiana Blanchard, a medical student from Florida.
Patients were screened Monday and Tuesday. Routinely, two surgeries were performed simultaneously in the same operating room causing the nurses to worry about cross-contamination.
Bell-Golec said this was her prayer: “Lord, I want to work here. I have to let go and get used to the way they do things.”
The nurses assisted Dr. Obeng perform 17 surgeries, ranging from reconstructive surgery on children and adults for burns and breast reduction and reconstruction, in 31/2 days of operating.
Breast reduction may sound frivolous in a country where people are hungry, but they were extreme cases. For example, life-altering breast-reduction surgery was performed on a patient that involved the removal of 28 pounds of breast tissue, Dr. Obeng said.
A hairdresser, the woman literally was unable to get close enough to her customers to do her job properly, and the weight was causing her physical health problems, he said.
Fimognari said the case that most touched her was a 9-year-old girl whose genitalia had been burned with scalding water, who could not urinate properly and would have been unable to have sexual relations as an adult because of the scarring.
Dr. Obeng repaired the damage, and now her life will be more healthy and normal, Fimognari said.
Fimognari said the girl’s father gave them each a piece of expensive African cloth she said he probably could not afford.
“He was so grateful, he had tears in his eyes. I thought, ‘This is why I’m here,’” she said.
But it wasn’t the horrific burn injuries and other medical problems and the poverty that proved to be the toughest issue to face for the American nurses.
That was reserved for the day before surgery began, when they had to help screen the lines of potential patients and tell most of them they couldn’t help them in the few days they had.
Evaluation, which was a new experience for the nurses, was the most trying and emotional day of the week. “We were all in tears,” Hamilton said.
Part of the mission also was to “pay it forward” by teaching.
“I love to teach, and this was the most fulfilling experience I’ve ever had,” Combs said.
“What struck me was the commitment of the team,” Dr. Obeng said.
On Friday, the last day in-country, after getting up at 4:30 a.m., doing two surgeries and then visiting the king’s palace, he said the nurses insisted on going back to the hospital and do two more surgeries.
“We were there to help the people of Ghana and didn’t want to lose any time we had to help them,” Lee said.
On a personal level, the nurses, some of whom did not know each other before the mission, became more than friends.
“We picked each other up, whatever the problem,” Combs said.
“All of us are very spiritual. Every obstacle in our way, God was there in one way or another. We all looked at each other and we knew,” Fimognari said.
“We became sisters,” Bell-Golec said.
Would they do it again? “In a heartbeat,” they said.
Five area nurses, led by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Michael Obeng, traveled to Ghana for a week in May to perform surgeries on Ghana citizens who might not otherwise have received treatment.
The mission: Under the auspices of a private, nonprofit medical-services organization — R.E.S.T.O.R.E. Worldwide Inc. — created by Dr. Obeng, the mission was to provide free reconstructive surgery and related medical services to abused children and battered individuals with accidental deformities. R.E.S.T.O.R.E. is an acronym for Restoring Emotional Stability Through Outstanding Reconstructive Efforts.
Here are quotes or excepts from journals kept by the nurses during their life-changing week in Ghana in Africa.
Glenda R. Bell-Golec of Poland, team leader for ear, nose and throat and plastic surgery at St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center. “It was so hard choosing which patients to help. All their stories were heart-breaking. At the same time we were blessed to have a part in picking them ... we knew something about each of them.”
Roberta J. Hamilton of Hubbard, operating-room nurse at St. Elizabeth Boardman. From her journal: “The first day of surgery. What a different day ... no charting, no counting boards ... two patients in the same OR at once. It started out rough with us and them not knowing what to do. What got us through was prayer before we went into the hospital and also before breakfast. Dr. Obeng is right: ‘God works overtime in Ghana.’”
Angela Lee of Mineral Ridge, orthopedics-trauma unit at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. Journal entry: “Esi and Abigail stole my heart. Esi is a 2-year-old little girl for whom Dr. Obeng released scar tissue from burns on her left arm and wrist to give her movement back in that arm. I carried her into surgery where she started to get scared seeing everyone with their masks on. She wrapped her legs around me and held on tight. After surgery we gave her a goody bag with a stuffed animal, candy, coloring book and crayons, and other items in it. The next day ... she was back to her normal self, happy and playful, and full of life. She was dancing with her stuffed animal sticking her little tongue out at everyone!”
Kathleen Fimognari of Poland, operating-room experience and works in the office of dermatologist Dr. Jenifer Lloyd. Journal entry: “OK its day 2 of actual surgeries. Oh boy, we start our day by waking up at 4:30 — to be at breakfast at 5 a.m. — to catch the transport van by 6:30 — to start by 7. Have I lost my mind? I don’t get up this early at home and why is there NO real coffee in this country? OK, really not getting it, I need a real cup of coffee and a hot shower, this cold shower business is so not comfortable. It’s not about you Kath ... remember. It feels so good to help these poor people ... who would otherwise be left to live their lives in their present condition. ... We’ve had a hand in changing their lives forever. Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of something so wonderful.”
Juanita Combs of Boardman, nurse anesthetist with Bel-Park Anesthesia Associates. “The fatigue didn’t hit me until the end of the week when we became tourists. I went on blind faith and Mike. We were definitely brought together by a higher power.”