Thinking about our trip to the Congo brings up all kinds of memories. Traffic. Massive traffic. People walking in the road and just crossing the street wherever they feel like it. And these are main roads, 4 lanes full of traffic. Cars and trucks finding a break in the traffic floor it and take off. […]
Onesies, Crayons and SHOES! With our surgical days complete the rhythm of the trip changes. We started our day with physical therapy with our patients, walking with them around the floor, doing exercises and chatting and smiling with them. At the same time the warehouse team and other WOGO team members work together packing materials […]
Tumolt and Tears It’s been a long, emotional and tumultuous day for the WOGO and Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital staff. I’ll start with the good news. The team completed a total of 42 knee replacements in 4 days of surgeries. There are 42 brand-spanking new knees in the Congo. The HBMM and WOGO teams worked […]
The Importance of the Autoclave Our third day of surgery completed 10 additional joint replacements. This brings the number of new knees to 38. Our surgical teams were slowed down today because the Autoclave failed during one of the cleaning processes between surgeries. Two of our scheduled surgeries had to be pushed out to day […]
Our second day of surgery dawned and team was ready to dive in. Arriving at the hospital, eager to work we were dismayed to find out that the Autoclave had failed due to the fluctuating electrical current in the Congo. There was the potential that all of the scheduled surgeries wouldn’t happen. Hospital staff and […]
The Normal Ebb & Flow In the course of a knee replacement trip there is always a normal ebb and flow, and there are always a few glitches. And then there is the unknown. The first knee replacement surgeries to be performed in the Democratic Republic of Congo are happening this week at the Biamba […]
A Throwback Thursday Blog…sort of In June we held our 7th annual Golf Tournament at the Pinehurst Resort. During our closing celebration and awards banquet Dr. Robyn Hakanson addressed our guests. Here are her remarks. Welcome. Bon Soir and Bienvenue! As you are all aware, we are headed to the Congo in 3 weeks. […]
Five of the WOGO team headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo last week to conduct a pre-screen of potential patients for our July medical mission. The team screened more than 89 patients, aspirated some knees and treated additonal knees. They were extremely busy in a short 72 hour period and managed to get a […]
Our next medical mission is to The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Africa’s third-largest country. The country has long fascinated me, since reading Joseph Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness’. I was left with a feeling of mystery and a hidden world that I, a high school kid in New Jersey, would never see. Now, […]
Today marks 100 days until the WOGO team begins departures for Democratic Republic of Congo for our medical mission in Kinshasa at the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital. Planning is underway – booking hotels, dinners, transportation, outreach programs and all of the logistics required to keep a team of 50 moving and working. Team members are […]
