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Migori, Kenya

Dr. Kacie Oglesby went to Kenya during her fifth year in residency and wrote the following about her trip.

"This past summer, I had the opportunity to be part of a surgical team that included Gina D. Jefferson, MD, Tammara L. Watts, MD, Gil Jackson, MD, and Hudson Frey, MD that traveled to the small community of Migori, Kenya. While there, we performed 59 surgeries and were able to see over 300 people in the clinic. All of this for a group of patients that otherwise would be unable to afford healthcare.

Majority of the cases performed were for thyroid goiters, on patients who had been seen as cursed in their community and ostracized. Other cases included removal of parotid tumors and tonsillectomies on pediatric patients suffering from sleep disordered breathing. The gratitude and compassion shown by not only the patients, but the community brought much needed faith and reinforcement to my commitment to medicine and serving others.

While in Migori, we stayed at the Kenya Relief orphanage and were even able to visit a family in the community that had been impacted by the donations provided. Seeing the joy in the children’s faces at the little things such as playing volleyball, braiding each other’s hair and church was a testimony to the impact of Kenya Relief. After this trip I knew that I would return in the future to Kenya to continue these efforts.

The trip would not have been possible without the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation’s (AAO-HNSF) Humanitarian Travel Grant and the medical mission fund. One patient with a disfiguring parotid tumor, confided in me postoperatively that he would pray for me and my family for the rest of his life. There are no words to adequately describe the impact the mission had on me as a physician, and I would like to thank everyone that made this possible."