Area families receive important screenings and health education at the 5th Annual Hispanic Latino Health Coalition of Elkhart’s Health Fair Saturday, September 12 at Elkhart Central High School.

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Visitors to the Hispanic Latino Music Day at the Indiana State Fair received health information, live music, and plenty of sunshine on the warmest day of the year, Sunday, August 9. MHS shared information in English and Spanish with fair-goers.

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Shalom Health Center’s Annual Back-to-school Health and Safety Fair served a record-number of community members with health screenings, school supplies, and plenty of entertainment. Managed Health Services was a proud sponsor of this year’s event on Thursday, August 6.

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MHS was a supporter of the 2nd Annual Mid-North Back-to-School event on Saturday, Aug. 1 at the Martin Luther King Center providing school supplies, complimentary screenings, and health-related giveaways.

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MHS members and Indianapolis community enjoy Indiana Black Expo’s Universoul Circus with health-related giveaways and special appearance by MHS mascot RosieRoo who promotes Hop Into Health on Thursday, July 16, 2009.

IBE Universoul Circus, July 16th, 2009
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Two 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.

Read more about their journey in our News post: Two from MHS ranks join medical mission in Nigeria

Day One in Nigeria
Day Two in Nigeria
Day Three in Nigeria
Day Four in Nigeria
Day Five in Nigeria

Watch for more journal entries to be posted this week!

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We finished our health screenings today and did the last of the classes on diabetes and high blood pressure in Uromi. Tomorrow we will be doing similar work in a nearby city with a name I can’t pronounce or spell, and also delivering medical supplies to the 4 clinics in Uromi that will be responsible for following up with the patients we have identified as diabetic or hypertensive over the course of this week.

As we wrapped up, we paid a visit to the local children’s home (orphanage) to deliver toys and play with the children. Many of the toys such as jump ropes and Frisbees were donated by MHS and several soccer balls were donated by MHS staff. The children were thrilled to have something other than the red dirt in the play yard to occupy their time, although there must have been 15 children for every one toy we were able to bring. We clumsily tried to play soccer (or football as they refer to it here) in the hot evening sun. It had been a long and busy day and the humidity outside was oppressive although the children seemed oblivious.

Proving that nobody is immune to illness, one of our doctors suddenly became quite ill in the play yard. It was a reminder to all of us that we need to heed our own advice and take care of ourselves so that we can effectively help others. He was overheated and over-worked and although not the lesson we intended to impart, the children got to see that we are no different from them, as vulnerable to sickness as anyone else. Even doctors need to see a doctor for health care; they too must practice what they preach.

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Our resources were split into separate locations today as our focus shifted slightly from adults to children. While one team continued with the adult screenings, a second team was dispatched to a clinic location to address well-child care. Though limited in resources and money, the women of this country take great pride in their appearance. They wear brightly colored garments with elaborately tied scarves on their heads, and nearly all of them carry their young children against their backs with just a piece of cloth wrapped around the child and tied snugly against the mother’s waist. While the cultural tradition of tying the infant to the back appears surprisingly secure and particularly comforting to the child while mom is walking, children (and most adults) are unrestrained in cars. Though the cars are equipped with seatbelts, they go unused and car seats for infants and toddlers simply aren’t available. There are no posted speed limits or lane markings and mopeds and motorcycles zip alongside cars, weaving through traffic with only a very rare sighting of a helmet. Perhaps someday, there will be a way to improve the safety of these small children by providing their parents with resources for car seats as we do back home for our MHS members. Today though, we do what we can to educate the parents on the importance of immunizations and keeping doctor appointments for well-child care.

We have seen over a thousand patients since Monday; only two days remain to do as much as we can to spread the word. A simple message that is universal: establish a relationship with a physician you trust and take control of your health no matter where you are.

Pat Dorsett
MHS VP of Medical Management

We will continue to post the daily communications from MHS VP of Medical Management, Pat Dorsett through the business week on our blog.

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Our primary plan today, our last day, was to go to each of the local clinics and deliver the necessary medicines and supplies for continued care of those we have assigned to local clinics in Uromi. We had one small group designated to do some screening in the nearby city, Ubiaja. However, word of mouth is still the best and speediest form of advertisement – as we arrived at each of the clinics, we found even more people waiting to be seen because they heard we were coming. These small clinics were not equipped to handle the volume of patients that dropped in unexpectedly so we set up screening areas in tiny rooms with no electricity and only one chair and worked through the line of people at each clinic. It was a long, hot day and we bounced around in 4×4s on roads that were nearly impassable to get from one clinic to the next. By day’s end we were all covered in the red mud that is everywhere as it rains pretty much every day here.

It has been a long week and successful but not perfect. Many times tempers have flared among the crowds when someone tries to push their way to the front or when the patient has come wanting only medicine and finds that we are focusing on lifestyle management first and medication only if needed. If I were to stay another year, I don’t think I would get used to the sight of chickens and goats wandering around the outside of clinics and hospitals and sleeping on the walkways and front steps of medical facilities; there were even chickens at Church.

As we prepare to leave Uromi tomorrow, it is bittersweet. We leave with so many things undone. The need for for medical care and basic day to day essentials is too great and we are too few. However, I have had a thousand “thank-yous” in English and Ishan and various other dialects; I have been bowed and curtsied to as though I was royalty just for taking the time to touch and tend to the old and the young. They are so grateful for anything you do for them. I have made many memories, a few friends, and owe many thanks to all of those back at MHS who donated toys/supplies/money to help fund this trip and who covered for me at work so I could have the privilege to experience a country that is amazingly different on the surface yet shares many of the same barriers and challenges to healthcare as we have in the US.

Pat Dorsett
MHS VP of Medical Management

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Work continued today in Nigeria as people lined up for free diabetes and blood pressure checks. A volunteer Certified Diabetes Educator started the first of many classes on diabetes. With an interpreter at her side, she spoke to a large group of men and women who have been either newly diagnosed or in need of a refresher on how to control diabetes through lifestyle modification or medicine. Most in the crowd nod their heads “yes” when she asks if they have experienced some of the various symptoms of diabetes such as weight gain, excessive thirst and lack of energy. Others do not need to nod for their symptoms are visible to all of us and cannot be hidden after years of ignoring the warnings of their doctors and their bodies. They sit in the hot morning sun suffering the long term effects of chronic uncontrolled diabetes: large open sores that won’t heal, legs that have been partially amputated, and loss of vision.

These are some of the poorest people in the world yet she tells them there are things they CAN do to improve their health and quality of life and her suggestions apply to diabetics around the world. There are no fitness centers in Nigeria, but they can make walking a part of their daily routine; there are no fast food places to avoid, but she warns them of the need for moderation of ALL foods, especially those high in sugar and common in a Nigerian’s diet (and similar to many Americans) such as yams, plaintains, and white bread. She encourages each of them to take any medicines only as their doctor has ordered and to keep their doctor appointments. They ask many questions.

As I look into the faces of these people who live on the other side of the world from me, who are so terribly poor yet warm and welcoming to me whom they call “sister”, I feel good because I know that while poverty will always exist, I believe that diabetes will not. Until the day comes that we have cured the world of diabetes, I take comfort knowing that each person no matter how poor, can be taught how to take control of this disease and improve their quality of life.

Pat Dorsett
MHS VP of Medical Management

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