Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Going the Extra Mile by Making Home Visits in Honduras

Fifth post:

Our ear nose and throat expert Dr. Melissa Inniss works full-time for Lutheran's community health center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She works mostly with children at the health network's Center for Child Development, but on this trip she's not only seeing patients of all ages, she's reaching out to them too by making home visits. She was bombarded with patients at the clinic all day Sunday but by 7 p.m. was able to break away and examine two patients at home.

Eugenio Garcia, 63, has significant hearing loss and to date, no one in Honduras has been able to help. At home in his crowded dining room, Dr. Inniss gets his basic history and we learn he used to work in a factory in Charlotte, North Carolina. Years of noise exposure could have something to do with his hearing loss. She fits him with a hearing device called a pocket talker. She asks him to go about his normal routine to see, and get used, to how it works.

Ferdinando Maradiago, 78, has had ear and hearing problems for some years now. After a thorough exam Dr. Inniss, found fluid and general hearing loss and recommended he see Dr. Habib, the Lutheran ENT specialist on the trip.

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