With the end of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid, our team arrived in Niger on October 12. The group included returning doctors Bruce Crawford, Rene Genadry, Soo Kwon, Gopal Badlani, Janet Li, Mike Conley, Jeffrey Freed, Scott Eder and Rehana Kauser. Dr. David Glazier, Dr. Aditya Dash, Dr. Suzanne Walczak and Dr. Julianna Schantz-Dunn joined the group as “first-timers”.
Our Nursing Director, Njoki Ng’ang’a, lead a team consisting of Jacqueline Green, Melanie Haller and Mid-wife, Katherine Erbe. Audrey Orell, Rita Steele, and Loni Steele were our non-medical volunteers.
IOWD team members presented both the National Hospital and Gazobe Maternity Hospital with approximately $400,000 worth of supplies, medicines and equipment. Among the machines donated were two cystoscopes, anesthesia monitors, heart and blood pressure monitors and two complete sets of laparoscopic equipment! Although we are grateful to so many American companies who have been exceptionally generous to IOWD’s program in Niger, we offer a special thanks to Stryker, Storz, Wolf, Olympus, Space Lab, Cardinal Health, Johnson&Johnson, Americares, and Hackensack University Medical Centre for all their fabulous donations on this particular trip.