Two doctors from Columbia’s Womens’ Clinic and Childrens’ Hospital are bringing $4,000 worth of medical supplies to the country of Georgia.
Dr. John Pardalos and Dr. Trish Blair work with the not for profit group A Call to Serve International, which provides medical supplies and skills to Georgia. Blair, president of A Call to Serve, said that the group’s main goal is to spread useful tools and skills. “The idea is that people are the same all over the world and some of us have some skills and some supplies that other people don’t have, so we should share those” she said.
The team of two doctors and two nurses will leave for Dmanisi, Georgia on Tuesday and will be there for two weeks. During this trip, the team will train doctors from their sister hospital on how to use the supplies to prevent neo-natal suffocation.
Dr. Pardalos, a specialist in neo-natal care, will be teaching hospital staff to use the new equipment they are bringing over so that they can then teach others to use it as well. He said they are also going to assess the supplies readily available there, and then work with hospital staff to maintain the skills they were taught with the supplies available to them in Dmanisi.
Funding for the trip and the supplies came from rotary donations. All 52 rotaries in mid-Missouri, including the 5 in Columbia, gave money to the organization for this trip. University Hospital also contributed more than $2,000 worth of neo-natal supplies.
