The Neighborhood 8,000 Miles Away continues

Personal Mission

It was to be the family vacation of a lifetime, the kind held precious in photos and memory. In 2000, James Aikins, Jr., MD, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, Camden campus, and his wife, Charletta Ayers, MD, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences and chief, division of general obstetrics and gynecology, took their two children to Cape Coast, Ghana, to meet his 100-year-old grandmother for the first time.

Upon their arrival, there was a joyous welcoming from aunts, uncles, and cousins. They joked about a cousin of Dr. Aikins who was about to have her first child, laughing that the two physicians had gotten there just in time. The next day, however, there was little joy in the family: the young woman had been rushed to the local hospital, and she died giving birth, as a result of a postpartum hemorrhage. The midwives in attendance couldn’t control the bleeding, and they couldn’t find a doctor.

“I had talked for years about doing something in Africa, but that day it was in my face,” Dr. Aikins says.

The family returned to the United States, and Dr. Aikins talked to his students and residents about putting together a group of volunteers for a two-week mission to rural Africa the following year. Ricardo Caraballo, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences and chief, division of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, was on that first tour and now serves as deputy medical director of the volunteer organization. He says that out of respect for Dr. Aikins, all the residents and students signed on, enlisting an anesthesiologist and support staff.

“A year later, with a group from both the New Brunswick and Camden campuses, we made our first trip to Cape Coast,” Dr. Caraballo says. He adds that they did so at their own expense — although, since then, Dr. Aikins has founded International Healthcare Volunteers, an organization that helps underwrite expenses for the annual trip.

Dr. Ayers reports that 28 volunteers went on the 2005 medical mission, including a pediatrician, cardiologist, general surgeon, gynecologic sub-specialists, and a urologist. They evaluated 1,500 patients and performed 66 surgeries during their two-week stay.

“There is such a need for experienced medical personnel,” Dr. Ayers says. “It’s unlikely my husband’s cousin would have died in a hospital in this country. There, blood supplies are extremely low, and technically trained people are not available around the clock as they are in the U.S. Most good physicians and well-trained nurses go to Europe and the United States, where there is access to the technology they need.”

The shortage of physicians and nurses makes the mission a dual one. Dr. Aikins, who hopes the group soon will be able to make two trips annually, says education is a major component in what they do.

“We are training nurses to evaluate conditions in the absence of trained doctors,” he says. “We’re showing them how to recognize abnormalities. There are no Pap smears available, and we’re trying to change that.”

Another educational goal is to encourage young physicians to specialize in critically needed medical disciplines. A program established by International Healthcare Volunteers assists OB/GYN residents at Ghana Medical School by bringing them to the Camden campus for three-month observational rotations each year. Dr. Aikins hopes it soon will be possible to expand the program to both campuses and to include residents from other much-needed specialties, such as pathology, surgery, and medicine.

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