Montemorelos, Mexico…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
For the second consecutive year, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) for Inter-America arranged for a medical specialist to perform ear surgeries on more than a dozen patients in Montemorelos, Mexico. The surgeries took place last month during the course of a week at the La Carlota Hospital on the campus of Montemorelos University, an Adventist institution operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America.
Dr. Richard Wagner, an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist from the United States, operated on people with conditions ranging from cholesteatomas to ruptured ear drums. Dr. Wagner, who heads a foundation called Global ENT Outreach, performs some 150 surgeries around the world every year. He says conditions such as those he encountered in Mexico usually affect lower income individuals who were not able to afford the proper care when they were younger.
Prior to Dr. Wagner’s visit, local area doctors performed medical screenings to patients from area hospitals and assisted Dr. Wagner during the 18 ear surgeries he performed.
“We were very fortunate to have Dr. Wagner come to Montemorelos for the second time,” says Wally Amundson, ADRA director for Inter-America. “We discussed the possibility of working in Inter-America not only to just provide medical service to people that were without the services, but maybe to create a center in the process that could attend to the people after he leaves, so we picked Montemorelos [university] as a starting point because of its medical school.”
According to Amundson, the idea is to eventually start a rotation for specialists within the medical school and create a residency program in Montemorelos.
“We are hoping that he can start a residence program for ENT specialits much of the same way the ophthalmology clinic has begun in Montemorelos,” says Amundson.
It’s a project that takes time to organize, however Dr. Wagner says that he could return to Montemorelos or send a specialist from his foundation to help support the university in their progress toward a full residency program in ENT services.
For more information on Dr. Richard Wagner’s foundation, visit www.geoutreach.org
