The Physicians With Heart airlift to Tajikistan delivered nearly $8 million worth of medical aid to hospitals and polyclinics throughout the country. The PWH education team exposed over 200 physicians and physician trainees to family medicine and enhanced efforts to make the specialty part of the national health system in Tajikistan. The ALSO® team trained 60 physicians, who are now more equipped to manage obstetric emergencies during delivery. Furthermore, the 46 delegation members helped more than 400 children through special projects at two orphanages in Tajikistan. This year, the PWH Children’s Project provided funds to renovate the kitchen and purchase beds, mattresses and linens at one location and funded bunk beds for girls who have been living on the street at another location. View photos from the Tajikistan Project.
Jeff Altwies, AAFP staff volunteer visiting Tajikistan sent these pictures as the airlift effort unfolds:
Tajikistan 2005
A Tajik woman and her child wait outside a church in Dushanbe.
The Physicians With Heart delegation pauses at the airport for a group photo.
Physicians With Heart delegates representing the three sponsoring organizations pose with Tajikistan hospital staff and some of the boxes of pharmaceuticals that were donated by the project. Barbi Moore of Heart to Heart International; David Massanari, MD, of the AAFP Foundation; and Michael Fleming, MD, of the AAFP.
October 13: Volunteers and staff with the Physicians With Heart project prepare to board an Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington D.C. About half the 45-person Physicians With Heart delegation flew on the plane that also carried the donated pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to Tajikistan.
October 13: The C-17 pilot and co-pilot review checklists as the aircraft flies over the Atlantic Ocean on the way to a refueling and rest stop at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
October 13: Some of the Physicians With Heart delegates find the floor space on the C-17 between the cargo and passenger seats to be the best place to rest during the long nighttime flight.
October 14: During a refueling stop in Germany, the Physicians With Heart delegates had time for a tour of Landstahl Medical Center, the largest U.S. military medical facility in Europe. It is also the first stop for wounded military personnel and contract employees in Iraq and Afghanistan before they are sent for further medical treatment in the United States.
October 14: Two Air Force loadmasters check the Physicians With Heart cargo during the second leg of the airlift flight, which took it from Germany to Tajikistan. The loadmasters supervise the loading and unloading of the cargo, as well as overseeing passengers on the aircraft.
October 15: The other half of the Physicians With Heart delegation--which traveled to Tajikistan on commercial airlines--greets the arriving C-17 aircraft and passengers. Also present were the nation's Minister of Health and Richard Hoagland, the U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan.
October 15: Physicians With Heart delegation leaders and donors watch as Tajikistan's Minister of Health answers reporter's questions before the airlift cargo is unloaded onto trucks.
October 15: Ambassador Richard Hoagland speaks to a crowd of health care providers, Physicians With Heart delegates, and government officials during a "hand-over ceremony" of some of the airlift cargo at the Oncology Hospital in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan.
October 15: Residents at the Refugee Children and Vulnerable Citizens Center in Dushanbe applaud as the American visitors arrive for a dedication ceremony of new dorm rooms that were funded by the Physicians With Heart Children's Project.
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Physicians With Heart Airlift
