Healing From The Heart

In the charming old city of Grenada, Nicaragua, a little girl smiled and ran across the square, raising her arms to greet the people who saved her life. "This is why we come," said Birmingham endocrinologist Rudolfo Vargas, M.D., better known to his friends and colleagues at Brookwood and the Eye Foundation Hospital as Rudy. "Seeing her alive and able to run, and helping others like her--that's what brings us here." In the oldest colonial city in Latin America, the disparity between wealth and poverty is extreme. For many families struggling to survive on $100 to $150 a month, simply providing food for their children is a challenge. Healthcare is an unaffordable dream. When the parents of the little girl in the square learned she had a brain tumor, an operation to save her life seemed as out of reach as the moon. They had no money. What they did have was Rudy and FOR Nicaraguan Health, an organization he founded with a little help from his friends. In fact, the FOR stands for Friends Of Rudy—the friends and colleagues he talked into helping him. "I wouldn't be human if I saw so much suffering and did nothing to help," said Vargas. "In the beginning I would beg for volunteers or I would grab any doctor on vacation in Nicaragua and 'surprise' him with a few patients to treat. As our organization grew, our doctors started recruiting their friends and relatives. I think what moves them is the awareness of suffering and that their efforts will help to alleviate it and change someone's life forever." Every February, the expedition goes to Granada, bringing medicines, supplies, and equipment for a marathon of free medical care. They see as many patients and complete as much treatment, surgery and teaching as they can pack into a busy 10-day round trip. Sometimes, they bring patients who need more care back with them to the U. S. The little girl with the tumor came to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, where Dr Sergio Stagno and Dr Alyssa Reddy gave her the treatment she needed. Then she and her mother stayed with the Vargas family while she recovered. Dr. Weily Soong of Alabama Allergy and Asthma is one of several Birmingham physicians who volunteers for the trip. He has gone on most of the missions since he helped to organize the first one while he was still in medical school. "It's a chance to practice pure medicine," said Soong. "That's one of the things I find so rewarding and what keeps me going back. It's just you and the patient, without the extra layers you have to deal with in everyday practice. The patients appreciate it so much. It's challenging to work with limited resources to get the greatest impact. You get to use all of your medical skills working with such a wide variety of conditions. We see a lot of diabetes, high blood pressure and malnutrition, and patients with eye and heart conditions." During the most recent trip, the team saw 439 patients, did eye surgeries including corneal transplants and vitrectomies, implanted 20 pacemakers, performed eight orthopedic surgeries, and saw 253 pediatric patients, 55 ob/gyn patients, and 106 dental patients. Realizing that many of their patients had chronic conditions that need ongoing care, the group established and supports the Clinica Alabama-Granada which sees 80 patients a day year round. "Everything is funded with donations," said Vargas. "Companies such as Alcon Laboratories contribute intraocular lenses and other surgical materials. We get pacemakers from Medtronic, Guidant and St. Jude. Brookwood Medical Center and the Eye Foundation donate other materials and supplies. All the volunteers, including myself, pay for their hotels, food, air fare and any other expenses on the trip, so that 100% of contributions can go to helping patients." The organization's work is spreading across the U.S. Dr. Ilana Kutinsky, a cardiologist who has volunteered on several missions, arranged for ten young patients to travel to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, in August for surgical interventions to correct heart problems. "There is a great spiritual satisfaction in knowing that no matter how flawed we are, how great our mistakes in life, we still have the ability to lessen misery in the life of another human being," said Vargas. "Our patients do for us as much as we do for them." The next medical mission to Nicaragua is scheduled for February 4-14, 2009. If you'd like to volunteer or support the expedition, contact executive director Frances Owens through the website, www.ForNicaraguanHealth.org. You can also read more about past missions and the work of Birmingham volunteers.