2004 airlift will deliver medicine, education to republic of Georgia
 In this photo from the 1997 Physicians With Heart trip to the republic of Georgia, Matt Miller, M.D., then a resident at Indianapolis St. Francis Family Practice Residency in Beech Grove, Ind., offers a Beanie Baby to a young boy laid up in a hospital in Gori. |
Physicians With Heart is again poised to deliver its annual shipment of medical supplies, education and good will - this time to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
PWH is a collaborative effort of the AAFP; AAFP Foundation; and Heart to Heart International, an Olathe, Kan.-based humanitarian aid organization. The dates for the 2004 airlift are Oct. 28 - Nov. 7.
Each year, the airlift brings tons of pharmaceuticals and other supplies donated by U.S. companies to a former Soviet republic with the assistance of the U.S. State Department. And each year, FPs join the airlift's volunteer delegation.
In addition to ensuring delivery of the donated supplies, airlift delegates participate in children's projects -- this year benefiting the Tbilisi Boarding School for Deaf Children and the Akhalgori Orphanage.
Participants also provide family medicine education to the country's health professionals. This year's delegation will sponsor symposia in Tbilisi, the republic's capital, and Kutaisi, the second-largest city. Trip organizers plan to offer Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics courses -- two provider courses and one instructor course -- as part of the educational fare.
This will be the second time PWH has visited the republic, says Daniel Ostergaard, M.D., AAFP vice president for international and interprofessional activities. Family medicine has taken root there, he notes, changing the educational expectations for this trip.
"When we visited in 1997, it was mainly, 'What's a family doctor?'" Ostergaard explains. "Now, they're looking for much more meat. They want information on faculty development. They've even asked for family medicine board review materials."
To join the volunteer delegation, contact Jeanne Fell at Heart to Heart International at (405) 787-5200, Ext. 102, or e-mail jfell@hearttoheart.org. Direct your questions about the delegation's educational efforts to Ostergaard by phoning (800) 274-2237, Ext. 4500, or e-mailing dosterga@aafp.org.
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