Loloma completes it's September Medical and Surgical trip to Solomon Islands

Two weeks in the Solomon Islands working in Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Peava and Munda. We were able to provide surgical care to over 80 people who would not normally get surgical care. The eye team saw thousands of people who needed eye care. The medical team saw thousands as well.
Our full report will be posted soon. Pictures from the trip are in the slide show.

Loloma looks at long term solutions for the physician shortage in the Solomon Islands

The physician shortage in the Solomon Islands is a crisis that cannot be ignored. The ratio of practicing physicians to the population is 1:20,000! Cuba has begun sending doctors to assist with the critical doctor shortage and programs have been put in place for Solomon Island students to get their medical education in Havana. Certainly this will help. Pacific Partnership (PP), a US Navy supported program, has treated patients in the western part of the Solomon Islands during their missions in 2007 and 2008. They will be returning to the Solomon Islands this summer. So will the Loloma Foundation. We have coordinated our efforts in the Solomon Islands with Pacific Partnership in order to provide seamless care. The Loloma Foundation and PP’09’s annual medical trips collectively aid in the care of the people of the Solomon Islands. While these programs are admirable, we must recognize that they are “Band-Aid” solutions for medical care in a country that needs a comprehensive program in order to end the physician shortage and improve the delivery of health care to its people. This type of program would require an initial infusion of volunteer manpower in the form of physicians, PAs, NPs and nurse anesthetists. The program must include training and recruitment of the indigenous people of the Solomon Islands in order to create a sustainable health care force.

The infrastructure will need to be improved as well. Crumbling clinic buildings and hospitals will need to be upgraded or replaced. Surgical services must be considered a part of the “preventative medicine” strategy and therefore fully functional operating theaters and surgical care must be distributed through out the islands. Without this type of public health scaffolding money from WHO, AusAid and the Global Fund that is directed toward treating specific diseases such as malaria and TB could be wasted and could actually make things worse for the people of the Solomon Islands by stealing resources away from the current anemic health care system.

I believe it is time for the US to take part in partnering with Australia and New Zealand as well as the people of the Solomon Islands in creating a sustainable health care system. The Loloma Foundation is working towards this goal. With adequate numbers of doctors and nurses as well as well-stocked clinics and hospitals the life expectancy and maternal mortality, measures of how well a health care system is providing for its people, will improve. Only then will the eradication of diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV follow.

Preparing for the August 2009 trip to the Solomon Islands

The Loloma Foundation is in the final planning stages of the August 30th through September 15 th, 2009 trip to the Solomon Islands. This year's trip will emphasize surgical as well as medical, obstetrics and gynecology, vision and dental care. Whenever possible hospital and clinic staff should work side by side with Loloma doctors and nurses so that we can teach what we know and learn from local providers too! Loloma will work at three hospitals while in country. The hospitals, Tulagi, Helena Goldie and Good Samaritan are a mix of government run provincial hospitals and NGO church affiliateded hospitals. Each hospital knows we are coming. We will also be following Pacific Partnership '09, a humanitarian program sponsored by the US Navy. The Navy will not be doing surgery and so they will refer not only surgical patients to us but also medical follow up patients to us.

Upon arrival in Honiara the Loloma team will board the Spirit of the Solomons charted dive boat. On board the Spirit the accommodations are quite comfortable with air conditioned cabins below deck. This will be our home base for the next 10 days. We will eat and sleep on board the boat. The crew is very knowlegible about diving and the islands we will be traveling to. Most of the crew members are Solomon Islanders from the surrounding islands.


Our first stop: Tulagai Provincial
Hospital. This is a government run hospital serving the 20,000 people of the Florida islands. We will work in Tulagi from September 2 through 4. Tulagi Hospital has a Labor and delivery room, an operating theater and many rooms for clinics. As we transition to our next hospital visit, Helena Goldie Hospital in Munda we will stop for a rest day of swimming snorkeling and diving at Mary Island. We will stop in the Marovo Lagoon and hold a clinic at Peava village for a day. Then on to Munda.

We arrive at Helena Goldie Hospital in Munda September 7th in the early morning and we will hold clinic there September 7th through 9th. Helena Goldie hospital serves the western provinces with a population of roughly 100,000! The hospital is supported by the United Church. This is our first visit there and the staff are excited to have us. I believe we will be very busy. Our longest boat travel leg will follow our time in Munda. We will sail all night to Kombuana on the North western end of the Florida Islands. This will be a day of rest, swimming, snorkling and diving (looking for the elusive pygmy seahorse). There might even be surf!

We arrive back in Honiara on September 11th after disembarking from the Spirit. In Honiara the team will be working in Kohimarama at the western end of Guadalcanal for a day clinic and then we will be working on eastern Guadalcanal at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Tetere. Good Samaritan Hospital is run by the Amicic Mission an Italian Catholic NGO. The hospital is very well run and very organized. It has a delivery room, OR, Malaria lab where blood smears can be done and an ER. Sisters Daly, Irene and Imelda oversee the hospital. We will be busy in Tetere as the Navy will have come through and referred patients for surgery and follow up care.

While in Honiara we will be staying at the Mendana Hotel, the five star resort for Honiara located on the waters edge of Iron Bottom Sound. The rooms in the new wing are comfortable and air conditioned. There are 2 restaurants in the hotel as well as internet access, a gift shop and a bar. The hotel has a swimming pool.

A little bit about the Solomon Islands in general for those of you who have not gone on this trip before. The population is predominantly melenesian. English is spoken but pidgin is the official language. There are as many as 120 dialects of pidgin spoken through out the islands! Lonely planet puts out a phrase book: "Pidgin." The people of the Solomon Islands are shy, but will warm up to you with time. Most people (80%) live in a rural setting. They grow their own food and live very self sufficient lives. Honiara is a very busy, dirty town. It is the capital and it is the largest and most populated city in the Solomon Islands. There are many shops in town. The National Referral Hospital (NRH), the main Medical Center for the Solomon Islands is located in Honiara.

While traveling throughout the Solomon Islands we will be surrounded by WWII history. Honiara's airport was Henderson field from WWII and the NRH is the old Ninth Army Hospital. The waters around all the islands are full of ships, planes and other war leftovers. The jungles and these waters also hold the remains of unclaimed service men; American, Australian and Japanese so it is a hallowed place as well. There are three books I would recommend reading: Aloha Solomons by Gwen Cross. This is the story of a British nun living in the Solomon Islands while teaching at a mission school. The book spans the period just before and during WWII. It gives great insight into traditions and customs of the Solomon Island people. The second book is a new well written history of the Guadalcanal campaign of WWII: Hell's Islands, The Untold Story of Guadalcanal by Stanley Coleman Jersey, a veteran of WWII. It is an easy read and has a good lead in to why US troops went to Guadalcanal. The third book is The Big Death (Bikfala Faet). This book is published in english and pidgin in the same binding. It is written by Solomon Islanders and is one of the only accounts of WWII from the Solomon Islanders perspective. Not only is the book interesting but I have found reading this book is also a good way to learn pidgin.

This is just an overview of the up coming trip. Details will be sent by email to the members of the team from Linda Kwasny and myself. We look forward to working together for our 2009 trip.
Tenkyu tru and Lukim yu! Dr Eileen Natuzzi

Loloma Foundation goes to Washington

In an effort to raise US government awareness of the severe physician and health care worker shortage in the South Pacific Doctors Lance Hendricks and Eileen Natuzzi traveled to the seat of our democratic government, Washington DC. They met with Congressmen Faleomavaega, Filner and Hall as well as Senators Boxer, Feinstein and Inouye's representatives. Undaunted they went on to the State Department and met with the Asia Pacific Division of State where they were greeted warmly. Doctors Hendricks and Natuzzi also met with USAID informing the agency of the need to reengage in the Pacific region.

Picture of Loloma's doctors meeting with Congressman Faleomavaega of American Samoa: From left to right: Dr Lance Hendricks, Elizabeth Soto (Congressional consultant to Loloma), Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, Dr Eileen Natuzzi, Tom Weinz (Department of State), Dan Bob (Senior Aid to Congressman Faleomavaega).