PHCV INC 2019 MEDICAL MISSION

Project Health CV Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 by medical staff from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  The mission’s purpose is to provide medical as well as specialized surgical services in Cape Verde.

PHCV Inc. is dedicated to improving lives by introducing world class medical care to the people of Cape Verde and providing those in need access to general and preventative healthcare information.

Roger Lefevre, MD

Director, Division of Female Pelvic medicine & Reconstructive Surgery

Instructor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School

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The main commonality between healthcare providers is most often a genuine desire to help others. Beth Israel Medical Center (BIDMC) is an institution with a longstanding reputation for inclusivity and diversity while providing world-class care to all comers.

Empathy is a common and vital characteristic that allows providers from various departments at BIDMC to connect with patients from different backgrounds. The thoughtful assembly of a competent team of interpreters is another testament to BIDMC’s dedication to improve its access to all patients. It is not hence by pure chance that a group of BIDMC employees with similar views on how to be good citizens of the world, found each other to create Project Health CV (PHCV).

Providers interested in improving global health tend seek a deeper connection with patients and are ready to cross oceans and integrate in different cultures to achieve this personal goal. PHCV is a non-profit organization that provides such opportunities and more. Over the past decade, the yearly medical missions have proven increasingly successful for patients with challenging conditions and over 300 surgeries have been performed to date in Cape Verde. Along the way, we have developed a close bond with the Cape Verdean government, specifically with the Ministry of Health who had a delegation visit BIDMC to meet with our institution’s leadership. PHCV’s efforts and accomplishment to date in Cape Verde would have been more challenging without their unconditional support.

PHCV’s most impactful intervention to date has been our respectful collaboration with the Cape Verdean health care providers.  Over the years, we have listened closely to their requests and shared our experience as they saw fit. We have implemented newer protocols, provided modern medical equipment and shared our surgical techniques to improve outcomes in Cape Verde. This bond eventually developed on multiple fronts and even became quite visible to the Cape Verdean patients. This in itself has led to an appreciable increase in their trust and confidence in their own health care system. They are more comfortable seeking care at Hospital Agostinho Neto and Hospital Santiago Norte than ever before. Many have expressed tremendous relief and excitement in avoiding the challenging financial measures that it used to take for them to fly to Portugal or the United States for their healthcare.

Your support of PHCV’s fundraising efforts allows BIDMC providers to carry our empathy and genuine desire to help others across the Atlantic Ocean while improving the health care system in a nation with conscientious and supportive leaders.

On behalf of all the PHCV volunteers, I wish to express our gratitude and appreciation.

Roger Lefevre, MD

Vice-President PHCV Inc.

 NOVEMBER 2019 BRAVA/FOGO MEDICAL MISSION VOLUNTEER TEAM

1-Doutor Joao Tavares -  Infectious Diseases

2-Doutor Michael Kearney- Urologista

3-Doutora Patricia Andrade- Cirurgia Geral

4-Doutor Michael Sweeney – Urologista

5-Doutora Eva Luo – Ginecologista

6-Doutor Ernesto DaSilva- Clinica Geral

7-Doutora Carlene Broderick- Anestesiologia

8-Doutora Ashley Baptista – Clinica Geral

9-Ernestina da Moura Moreira -Diretora Executiva do PHCV

10-Ines Cabral- Diretora dos Servicos de Radiologia do Hospital Beth Israel

11-Maria de Pina- Supervisora do Bloco Operatório do Hospital Beth Israel

12-Cara Crisafulli- Fisioterapeuta

13-Brenda Devroe- Enfermeira

14-Anita O’Mahony –Enfermeira

15-Luis DaCosta- Assistente Medico/Interprete

16-Josephine Duarte –Assistente Medico/Interprete

17-Virginia Tavares – Assistente Medico/Interprete

18-Isabel Andrade- Assistente Medico/Interprete

19-Vanessa Monteiro- Assistente Medico/Interprete

20-Aricely Alicea- Student

21-Manuela Alicea

22-Luis Lopes – Media

23-Martin Monteiro- Ortho-Tech

24-Antwan Makhoul -Media

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