Two from MHS ranks join medical mission in Nigeria
Jul. 10, 2009 | Author: MHSTwo employees of Managed Health Services left last Thursday, July 2nd for a two-and-a-half week volunteer medical mission in Nigeria headed by Indianapolis-based The Mercy Foundation.
Dymisha Adamson of Indianapolis, a referral specialists manager at MHS, will be making her fourth consecutive mission trip while colleague Pat Dorsett of Indianapolis, who is vice president of medical management at MHS, will be making her first.
The two will travel to Uromi, Nigeria, to provide free medical care to more than 5,000 Nigerian residents who have not been seen by a medical professional since last year’s mission. They’ll return July 21.
In addition to in-kind donations, fund-raising events and online contributions to The Mercy Foundation, team members raised their own funds to pay for room and board in Uromi, travel expenses and needed medical supplies. Both MHS and its parent company, Centene Corp., have provided financial support for both Adamson’s and Dorsett’s mission to Nigeria.
Recently we received a message from Patricia Dorsett explaining their first experience on the trip:
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We started at 8 a.m. this morning with screening services for diabetes and hypertension. Over 500 patients were seen at the clinic today! It is 11 p.m. and we are all still working to enter the health data gathered into laptop computers. Each patient has been assigned to a local clinic near their home to establish a primary care doctor. The data we gather will become part of the patient’s “electronic health record” with the clinic we assign and will allow follow-up and outcomes analysis as a result of our intervention.
Although we are in Africa, the medical concerns, challenges, and barriers are similar to those with our Hoosier Healthwise membership; obtaining telephone numbers is difficult; literacy issues are prevalent; compliance is relatively low and drug seeking is not uncommon. As is the case in most things in life there is balance: positives such as local residents eager and willing to learn and help; even children of 14 years of age worked tirelessly all day to help sort and label medicines (under supervision); health care being provided by compassionate, trained professionals who expect nothing less than the level of quality of care we seek for our Hoosier Healthwise members. A world apart and yet linked by our humanity and technology as we strive to improve health outcomes around the world. Pat Dorsett |
More information about The Mercy Foundation, founded by Mercy Obeime M.D. in 2003, can be found at www.mercyfoundationinc.org
We will continue to post the daily communications from MHS VP of Medical Management, Pat Dorsett through the business week on our blog.
