These are stories directly from our volunteers and members.
For over twenty years, Suzanne Brown, CRNA has been volunteering with HVO all over the world with assignments in Guyana, Laos, Belize, Bhutan, and Cambodia. She got her start when HVO Executive Director Nancy Kelly contacted the American Association of…
After a long hiatus as COVID-19 shut down borders and stalled travel, HVO began sending volunteers overseas once again. This summer, volunteer Dr. Mark Koh Jean Aan, clinical associate professor and head and senior consultant at the Department of Dermatology…
2016 Golden Award honoree Kay Ahern, PT, CHT has volunteered twenty-six times in twenty-three years. Kay Ahern, PT, CHT has completed twenty-six assignments in six different countries since she began volunteering with HVO twenty-three years ago. For the eight years…
Drs. Glen Crawford and Suzanne Abkowitz Crawford have been volunteering with HVO’s orthopaedic project in Tanzania since its beginning. They discovered HVO when an HVO volunteer presented a lecture on volunteering and teaching to Dr. Crawford’s senior residency cohort. Both…
Dr. Sam Baker came to Bhutan out of a desire to volunteer in a rural, resource-scarce country and stayed because of his love and respect for the country and people. He has now been volunteering annually in Bhutan with HVO’s…
What are they doing now? Mubashir Jusabani’s dream of becoming a physician began at an early age, after breaking a number of bones as a child. During his visits with the orthopaedic physicians, he felt their compassion and dedication. He…
Trenton Harper, a nationally registered paramedic, served in Bhutan for six months on a Rita Feinberg Fellowship. He shared his thoughts on the experience with an HVO staff member. On the 14th of January I arrived in Bhutan, through HVO,…
Growing up in Cameroon, Viviane Leuche, MD, was inspired by her childhood pediatrician to pursue a career in pediatrics. The African continent’s relatively young population—the estimated median age is 19 years old—offers many opportunities for a pediatrician to make an…
Editor’s note: The following article is a guest contribution from Betty Beard, RN, MSN, PhD. Dr. Beard, Professor Emeritus at Eastern Michigan University, is the Project Director for HVO’s nursing education project at Hai Duong Medical Technical University in Vietnam.…
Developing a Fulbright assignment with HVO took a while but, ultimately, the timing of the experience could not have been better. Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE, in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, had an unused ventilator that had been on-site…
Pamela Cole, PT, CWS believes in building relationships to improve global health. As she noted in a recent interview, “Building relationships is where it’s really at.” Ms. Cole, a 2018 HVO Golden Apple Award honoree, first traveled to HVO’s wound…
For over a decade, Dr. Sithach Mey has served as on-site coordinator for HVO’s dermatology project at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As Head of the Dermatology Department at Preah Kossamak, Dr. Mey works with HVO to coordinate…