Education

Global Health

In keeping with our commitment to help those in areas of greatest need, our residents, fellows, and attending physicians make trips every year to developing countries.

Collaborating with partners in underserved communities, we perform such procedures as mastoidectomy and airway evaluation.

Quito, Equador

Thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, Stanford Hospital, Natus Corportation, and Medtronic, we were able to bring with us, on a service trip to Ecuador, close to $30,000 worth of equipment, medical supplies, and surgical instruments, including much needed otoacoustic emissions equipment, pediatric bronchoscopes, tracheostomy tubes, and an otologic drill. Many of these supplies were put to use during our week of service.

During the fall of 2007, Dr. Anna Messner (attending) and Vanessa Erickson (resident) had the opportunity to return to Quito, Ecuador, to collaborate with the pediatric otolaryngology staff at the Hospital de Niños Baca Ortiz.

Dr. Anna Messner established a relationship with this group three years ago and has returned annually, most recently in October 2007. This year Dr. Erickson, a resident in her fourth year of training, accompanied her.

Hospital de Niños Baca Ortiz is the only public pediatric hospital in the capital city of Quito. Resources are limited and there are often long waiting lists for much-needed procedures. Goals of the Stanford Department of Otolaryngology collaboration are to assist the hospital surgeons with complicated surgical procedures which are beyond their scope of practice while also training staff in these procedures, with the ultimate goal of future autonomy. Additionally, surgical supplies and instruments for use in clinic and the operating room are donated.

A broad scope of surgeries were scheduled and performed, including intricate airway reconstructions, endoscopic sinus surgeries and complicated middle ear surgeries. Especially poignant were follow-up visits with patients that had been operated on during prior visits. When viewed from the perspective of time elapsed, the positive impact is remarkably clear.