Category Archives: international health care

This is why she became a nurse

Posted on May 6, 2020 by

BY EMILY KULKUS Several times a year, Upstate nurse Susan Thomas packs two big suitcases — one new and one tattered — and heads to the airport. One suitcase is full of her own belongings; the other is from a … Continue reading →

Posted in health care, international health care, nursing, volunteers

5 questions on whether medical care is needed

Posted on May 1, 2020 by

Wendy Levinson, MD, a professor from the University of Toronto, lectured at Upstate in late 2019 about a global initiative to reduce unnecessary medical care. She says up to 30 percent of tests and procedures do not help patients and … Continue reading →

Posted in health care, international health care

Chaplain donates a kidney to a dying refugee

Posted on March 5, 2020 by

  BY JIM HOWE It was a note in a church bulletin that led an Upstate chaplain to donate one of her kidneys to a Bhutanese refugee. The Rev. Susan Joy Huizenga, the palliative care chaplain at Upstate since August … Continue reading →

Posted in health care, international health care, kidney/renal/nephrology, organ donation/transplant, patient story, spiritual care, surgery

On a mission to help: Doctor’s intensive-care skills help poor children with heart trouble in Peru

Posted on September 23, 2019 by

BY JIM HOWE A career spent caring for very sick children, plus some mechanical ingenuity, helped I. Federico Fernández Nievas, MD, when he accompanied a medical charity team to Peru. He joined about two dozen other medical professionals from around … Continue reading →

Posted in health care, heart/cardiovascular, intensive care, international health care, lung/pulmonary, surgery, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital/pediatrics, volunteers | Tagged , , , ,

Scientist walks political tightrope: He deals with Taliban to help his native land rebuild

Posted on August 17, 2018 by

BY JIM HOWE An Upstate faculty member who lost his mother as a baby and grew up in a refugee camp hopes he can help his war-scarred homeland, Afghanistan. To do this, he has secured the permission of the local … Continue reading →

Posted in community, education, fundraising, health care, HealthLink on Air, international health care, public health, research, volunteers | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

10 days in Ghana: Upstate volunteers help build community in Africa

Posted on May 2, 2018 by

BY SUSAN KEETER Near the end of an 11-hour flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, we finally see Ghana out the plane’s windows: saffron-colored earth and lush green foliage dotted with bright blue and pastel pink buildings. … Continue reading →

Posted in adolescents, Alzheimer's/dementia, community, health care, HealthLink on Air, international health care, nursing, prevention/preventive medicine, public health, women's health/gynecology | Tagged , , , ,

Rolling iPads and sign language are part of her job

Posted on November 13, 2017 by

  BY JIM HOWE A desire to communicate with a deaf acquaintance led Sue Freeman from her old job in the insurance business to a new career. Now, as manager of interpreting services at Upstate, she not only communicates with … Continue reading →

Posted in community, health care, health careers, international health care | Tagged , , , , , , ,

She provided care in Ghana

Posted on September 5, 2017 by

  Brandy Baillargeon of Watertown, a family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, traveled to Ghana through Upstate nurse Lauri Rupracht’s Americans Serving Abroad Project. She was touched by the gratitude of those she helped in several villages during the eight-day … Continue reading →

Posted in community, health care, HealthLink on Air, international health care, public health, volunteers | Tagged , , , ,

From Elbridge to Ethiopia, with an Upstate nurse

Posted on June 14, 2017 by

BY AMBER SMITH Brooke Fraser, a 20-year veteran nurse from Elbridge who works in the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, saves her days off for mission trips to countries in need. Last summer she travelled to Ethiopia and spent two weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in community, health care, HealthLink on Air, international health care, nursing, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital/pediatrics, volunteers | Tagged

Mosquito control: Upstate scientists learn from success of malaria control effort

Posted on April 13, 2017 by

  Upstate scientists credit international collaboration with keeping a region along the border of Ecuador and Peru free of malaria since 2012. The coastal area of El Oro Province in Ecuador and the city of Tumbes, Peru, were once endemic … Continue reading →

Posted in health care, infectious disease, international health care, prevention/preventive medicine, public health, sustainability/environment | Tagged , , , , , , ,