Dr. Daisy Alapat became the director of HVO’s hematology project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in early 2025. She had already volunteered for several years with the project in Peru, which she found profoundly rewarding. “I am currently a professor…
By Leslee Jaeger, MD In 2018, I decided to take a three-month sabbatical to do volunteer work in rural parts of Minnesota and to volunteer with HVO. I had already been working in Haiti since 2006, so I wanted to…
During Dr. Richard Henker’s trip to Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) in 2024, he collaborated with local partners to conduct a successful workshop focused on regional anesthesia for eleven anesthesiology residents. He was accompanied by several of his own…
དཔལ་ལྡན་འབྲུག་གཞུང་། གསོ་བ་ལྷན་ཁག། Royal Government of BhutanPhuentsholing Hospital Chhukha: Bhutan Authored By: Phub Wangdi, Team leader, Palliative Care Services, Phuentsholing Hospital THE JOURNEY BEGINS The journey of introducing palliative care services in Phuentsholing, Chhukha, began unexpectedly for me. One day, I received…
Ultrasounds are extremely useful in diagnosing many life-threatening conditions all over the body, including in the heart, lungs, kidneys, and bladder. They can determine if a patient’s lungs are filling with fluid and detect rheumatic heart disease in children. However,…
In 2016, nutrition specialist Dr. Susan Kleiner’s husband received a call from a friend looking for a dentist to join a volunteer trip to Can Tho, Vietnam. He asked Dr. Kleiner what she thought he should do. “I said, ‘Well…
By Katharine Lowndes, MBBS, FRCPath In 2018, when I was looking into volunteering opportunities, HVO stood out as – and remains – one of the very few organisations where haematologists can volunteer their expertise. I had previously undertaken some volunteer…
In December 2024, HVO and DI Skin Hospital and Referral Center (DISHARC) hosted a hybrid in-person and online symposium dedicated to pediatric dermatology for 110 attendees, 45 of whom joined virtually from as far away as Vietnam, Cambodia, Uganda, Saudi…
Watch the video to hear Dr. Yvonne Vaucher and Dr. Margaret Nakakeeto share their work in neonatal care in Uganda. In the twenty-three years since Dr. Yvonne Vaucher first traveled to Uganda on an HVO assignment, she and Dr. Margaret…
By Yangden Yangden is the charge nurse for the palliative care service at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu, Bhutan. She and her colleagues, with support from HVO volunteers, established the first palliative care service in Bhutan. They…
Authors: Vanessa Teed, MSN, RN, CEN, CGNC & Kristin Ferguson, DNP, MBA, RN, OCN In early October 2024, Vanessa Teed and Kristin Ferguson met for the first time for dinner in Hanoi, Vietnam. They had briefly connected over email and WhatsApp…
By Madeleine Hines, DPT I found HVO while I was searching for an organization that did sustainable service travel for physical therapists. I read the websites of many organizations that assisted medical professionals in voluntourism, but HVO’s mission and model stuck out…