Founder and President, Catherine R. DeVries, M.D - Transform 2012 - Mayo Clinic

Global Surgery and Public Health

Watch on YouTube

Catherine R. deVries, M.D., Founder of IVUmed, Clinical Professor of Surgery and Public Health at the University of Utah School of Medicine, addressed the Transform 2010 Symposium sponsored by the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation.

Resident Scholar Reflections

Dr. Marc Bjurlin, DO - Bhopal, India

Through the generous sponsorship provided by the North Central Section of the AUA, Dr. Marc Bjurlin traveled to Bhopal, India with mentor Dr. Gopal Badlani. Dr. Bjurlin and his mentor participated in a free urology camp organized by the local Indian organization Jeev Sewa Sansthan (“Service to the Living”). During the camp, over 140 patients received much-needed urological care.

Reporting on his experience, Dr. Bjurlin stated:

“The urology camp patients of Bhopal came from miles away to receive their care. Graciously they would await their turn, one at a time, slowly moving up in the line, until it was time for surgery. There was no complaining of the long wait, no one complained that they wanted to be operated on first. There were no irritable patients being hungry from not eating prior to surgery. Everyone sat patiently with a face that expressed their gratefulness even though I knew no Hindi to communicate.

“The hours of surgery were long but the time passed at the blink of an eye. The pathology, scope and variety of urologic cases was remarkable. Equally remarkable was the efficiency of evaluating patients preoperatively based almost entirely on symptoms, urine analysis and a select intravenous pyelogram.

“Over the course of the urology camp, I learned much about the urologic diseases of India, their ailments, and surgical treatments. I expanded my knowledge of urology in a culturally sensitive manner. Yet, as my knowledge of urology grew through interaction with patients, my understanding of the human spirit matured. Instead of simply operating on patients who had urologic diseases, we provided respect, dignity, and compassionate urologic care to a community that taught me an indispensable lesson.”

Resident Scholar Reflections

Dr. Jessica Casey, MD - Mahuva, India

Through the generous sponsorship provided by the Resident Scholar Alumni, Dr. Jessica Casey traveled to Mahuva, India with mentor Dr. Sakti Das to participate in a free urology camp organized by the local Indian organization Jeev Sewa Sansthan (“Service to the Living”). During the camp, over 130 patients received much-needed urological care.

Reporting on her experience, Dr. Casey stated:

“During my six days in Mahuva at Sadbhavna Trust Hospital, I operated like crazy – running back and forth between the 6 operating beds that filled 2 operating rooms. As I was finishing one case, a patient behind me was getting their spinal anesthesia injected and being prepped by assistants for me to operate on in a few minutes. During those short six days, I participated in 34 operations which ranged from delicate hypospadias work to minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy to a reconstructive extrophy repair; and this was only a fraction of the work being done while I was there.

“In Mahuva they did not have all of the fancy equipment we have in the states; there was no fancy LigaSure, no argon beam, no laser lithotripsy. They had a scalpel, cautery, suction, a light and a patient who needed surgery. If something is bleeding, quickly put an “artry” (i.e. hemostat) on it and move on. If the suction isn’t turned on, use one of your two laps to stop the bleeding and move on. If they don’t have the needle driver you want, make do with another.

“If I was struggling with a maneuver and blaming everything around me (the lighting, the instruments, the angle, etc), Dr. Das would calmly remind me to focus on my own skills and not blame my surroundings. Dr. Das’s influence made me reflect at my own actions. Often at Northwestern, surgeons complain about not having the right gloves, the right assistant, the best light, etc. in order to make excuses for their own skills. It’s best to just focus at the task at hand, not make excuses, and just get the work done.”

Jessica Casey, MD

Northwestern University

Mahuva, India – November 4-28, 2011

Mentor: Dr. Sakti Das

Sponsored by: The Resident Scholar Alumni

Resident Scholar Reflections

Dr. Emma Ester Bendaña traveled to Deschapelles, Haiti with mentor Dr. Robert Edelstein to collaborate with Haitian hosts in the provision of urological care to patients in need. Dr. Bendaña evaluated over 100 patients and participated in 14 cases during the workshop.

Dr. Bendaña’s service in Haiti was made possible by a generous grant from the Northeastern Section of the AUA.

About her experience, Dr. Bendaña stated:

“My trip to Haiti in November of 2011 opened my eyes to another world of urology. Even though I had some experience in traveling abroad to developed and developing nations – it was my first medical trip as a trained urologist. After four years of residency experience in Rochester, New York – I had the ability to analyze and problem solve urological issues and situations. I left as a new person and urologist. Haiti provided me with a setting to develop my skills further as a surgeon and challenge myself to solve problems.

“In Haiti, we had limited equipment and instrument accessories. It became a challenge to provide high level care with a limited set of instruments. As a result, my skills were pushed to their limits and enhanced. There was no room for indiscretion. Accurate histories were needed to appropriately plan for procedures based on our limited equipment and intra-operatively an accurate diagnosis was needed so that only the equipment that was needed was opened. Our goal was to use our limited one-time use instruments to their maximum without waste.

“It was an honor to work with the residents and other attendings in Haiti – and understand their own struggles and challenges as they do their best to provide outstanding care for their patients. In residency it is easy to get lost in the paperwork and mundane nature of the business. I needed an awakening and this trip gave me several opportunities to open my eyes.”

Emma Ester Bendaña, MD

University of Rochester

Deschapelles, Haiti – November 12-19, 2011

Mentor: Dr. Robert Edelstein

Follow our team in Kenya!

You can follow our team currently working in Kenya on Boston Children's Hospital Blog.

International Women's Day

Join IVUmed in Celebrating International Women's Day!

IVUmed is deeply committed to empowering individuals through education and service. That is the spirit of our Women's Program, which focuses on helping women recover from urological and gynecological trauma and diseases as they rebuild their lives.

Join us in celebrating International Women's Day by donating to support the Women's Program. Your tax-deductible contribution will help our partners in Mozambique, Nigeria, Haiti and elsewhere to reach more women in need of quality surgical care.

The United Nations' theme for International Women's Day 2011 is Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women. We put this theme into action by partnering with outstanding surgeons and nurses in expanding access to surgical care in poor countries worldwide.

Click Here to Donate

Watch a video featuring our woman's program in Nigeria here:

Women of Evangel

World AIDS Day

December 1st is World AIDS Day. IVUmed is committed to the battle.

This year, IVUmed collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the American Urological Association (AUA), and Jhpiego (a nonprofit affiliate of Johns Hopkins University) to fight HIV/AIDS in Swaziland. IVUmed is providing volunteers to support an initiative there to combat the virus through adult male circumcision. According to recent studies, male circumcision has been found to contribute significantly to the prevention of female to male transmission. During a recent three-week “Back to School” campaign in Swaziland, over 7,000 men were circumcised. According to modeling studies, this translates into almost 2,000 HIV infections prevented. Our new partnership has made a lasting impact in the country hardest hit by the HIV epidemic.

"I hope that my efforts with the circumcision project safely contribute to fight against the HIV epidemic ravaging the people of Swaziland. I sincerely thank the IVUmed organization for allowing me this unique and enriching opportunity."
-Dr. James Wysock, IVUmed volunteer

IVUmed Volunteer, Dr. Shaun Wason, with staff at a local men's clinic

Operating bays at a men's clinic in Swaziland

Young men waiting to be circumcised at a clinic in central Swaziland.