These are stories directly from our volunteers and members.
Dr. Rómulo Silva, an orthopedic surgeon in Portugal, was one of the first volunteers to serve at HVO’s new partner site at Hospital de Clinicas in Asunción, Paraguay. Dr. Silva has always had an interest in volunteerism, travel, and learning.…
Vanessa Teed, MSN, RN, CEN, CGNC Global Nurse Educator | PhD in Nursing Student | ICN-Certified Global Nurse Consultant Since 2023, my work and doctoral studies have been guided by a consistent view of global nursing education. For me, it…
HVO does not see many volunteers travel as a couple, so we are excited to highlight Justin Johal and Ashlyn Fitzgerald, an anesthesiologist and pediatric nurse practitioner on a four-month volunteer assignment. After a one-month stay in Hue, Vietnam, they…
Dr. Louis Rafetto has been volunteering with the HVO oral health program since 1992. In that time, he has completed assignments in India, Peru, Colombia, Cambodia, Tanzania, and Nicaragua. “I’ve always been interested in volunteering,” said Dr. Rafetto. “I was…
Chantha Hou, head of the hematology and flow cytometry laboratory at Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia has been working with HVO volunteer Dr. Luke Carter-Brzezinski since early 2024. Dr. Carter-Brzezinski is a UK-based hematologist who spent three months with…
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,…
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…
Watch the video to hear Dr. Yvonne Vaucher and Dr. Margaret Nakeeto 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…