BPA Physicians on a Mission to Provide Humanitarian Care
In addition to working long hours to provide medical services to our community, including a significant amount of charity care right here in Brevard County, many BPA physicians devote their personal time to humanitarian mission trips in developing countries where medical care is not freely available like it is in the U.S.
Emergency department physician Stephen Griffith, MD has participated in more than two dozen mission trips over the last eight years to places like Haiti (8 times), Guatemala (twice), the Dominican Republic, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Mexico and Ghana. His service is so extensive that he was featured in a local medical magazine in 2009 (http://trendmag2.trendoffset.com/publication/?i=48669&page=1&p=45).
Additionally, a number of BPA anesthesiologists have donated their vacation time to provide humanitarian aid to the less fortunate. BPA Chief Quality Officer and Anesthesia Division Chairman Ricardo M. Gotay, MD and John C. Lydon, MD recently went to Guatemala to provide anesthesia services for children with cleft palates that the Rotoplast organization services. They found the trip to be so personally rewarding that they are hoping to do another one soon.
Cardiac anesthesiologist Mario A. Camps, MD is heading to Peru in September for his second mission trip to provide anesthesia for heart surgeries on underserved patients at the Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo in Lima, Peru.
Anesthesiologist Christopher Vonderheide, MD frequently travels to remote areas of the Bahamas and the Caribbean where he has been known to provide medical services from his live aboard sailboat!
Scroll through these pictures to see BPA docs using their training and devoting their free time to make a difference in the world!