Medical Mission Provides Care to African Children
A team of 23 medical care providers from the University of Utah embarked on a humanitarian medical care mission to Ghana, West Africa, on January 14, 2000. The team, including nine medical doctors, joined Harvest Africa Children’s Foundation on its third and largest mission to provide medical care, medical equipment and training at a large teaching hospital in Kumasi in northern Ghana. Dr. Timothy Beals, from the Department of Orthopaedics headed the orthopaedic team for their first medical mission.
One of the features of this year’s mission was the generous donation of a $250,000 state-of-the-art fluoroscopic imaging machine from OEC Medical Systems, known as a “c-arm.” The machine will allow a number of orthopaedic surgeries to be performed that are currently impossible.
Internationally Recognized
OEC is an internationally recognized company, which is headquartered in Salt Lake City. The Department of Orthopaedics, chaired by Dr. Harold K. Dunn, has donated several thousand dollars to transport the c-arm from Salt Lake City to Ghana.
In addition, the orthopaedic team taught many methods of orthopaedic internal and external fixation procedures, currently unavailable in the country. This mission helped to significantly improve the quality of life for African children