Advocate Condell affiliated surgeon returns from medical mission in Haiti
Dan Liesen M.D., 36, a general and trauma surgeon affiliated with Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, joined a team of doctors, nurses and other clinicians motivated to bring healing to a population desperate for medical care.
Liesen said he was moved by watching news reports of doctors who raced to the county after the 7.0 magnitude shook the country last year.
“Watching those doctors working from tents was inspiring,” Liesen said. “I felt like I wanted to go there someday and help.”
Liesen partnered with Christian Health Service. The global healthcare mission agency coordinated the logistics of the trip. The team worked in a hospital in a mountainous area about two hours north of Port-A-Prince.
Originally founded by the Free Methodist church in 1986, the Claire Heureuse Hospital is in a town called Dessalines. Liesen said the equipment in the medical center was sparse.
“It really blew my mind,” he said. “The hospital operates on budget of just $15,000 a month.”
The medical team performed nearly 35 procedures during the week. Hernia repairs were common. The doctors also fixed fractured bones, removed lesions, and performed a number of hysterectomies along with a few cesarean sections. One baby was saved from dying from malnutrition, Liesen said.
Unlike staying in an American hospital, Liesen said the patient is required to bring many of their own supplies to the medical center.
“They have to bring their own sheets, their own food and even their own medications,” he said. “Assuming the patient can afford it, they need to go to a pharmacy first, purchase the needed medications and then come to the hospital.”
Other than a few mice running around the operating room, Liesen said things went extremely well. He said working under those conditions made him more grateful for the quality of the American health care system.
“We sometimes don't realize how good and how extremely efficient our system is,” he said.
As a faith-base, non-profit organization, it's not uncommon for Advocate Condell doctors to donate their expertise and time to help the less fortunate. During the same week Liesen's team was in Haiti, Advocate Condell affiliated doctors Raghavender Thunga, M.D. and Aras Tijunelis, M.D., travelled to India last month on a similar medical mission trip.