Wall and Family Help African Women

Terry Wall, M.D., J.D., of Kansas City, Mo., is equally comfortable practicing radiation oncology at St. Luke’s Hospital or rubbing elbows with luminaries like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as he is roughing it on trips to his retreat in the remote Canadian wilderness.

It’s no surprise, then, that Wall, together with his father and brother, both doctors of obstetrics and gynecology, has used his unique skill set to help develop a foundation called the Worldwide Fistula Fund. The organization, established in 1995, helps young African women who experience the serious medical problem of a vesico-vaginal fistula as a result of giving birth while teenagers, well before their bodies are physically ready. In addition to the embarrassment caused by the urinary incontinence, in most cases they are banished from their home and become exiled from their village. Click here to read more.

From Central Virginia to the Central Plateau
It’s often hard to know what motivates people to step outside of their comfort zone. Money, fame and glory immediately come to mind, but none of these factors came into play when Thomas Eichler, M.D., a radiation oncologist from Richmond, Va., was first invited to go to Haiti in 2004.

“I was looking for adventure and a chance to lend a hand,” said Eichler. He was part of a group of seven people from St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Glen Allen, Va., who made their first trip to Haiti in January 2004 as part of the Diocese of Richmond’s Twinning Ministry. Over 50 parishes in the diocese participate in the ministry by “twinning” with a parish in Haiti. St. Michael is twins with St. Jean Baptiste in the tiny Central Plateau village of Dos Palais. Click here to read more.

Project BELIEVE Helps Indian Cancer Patients
In 1996-1997 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., an Indian doctor on sabbatical made quite an impression on Edward Shaw, M.D., Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Stan Macaden, M.D., spent his year at Wake Forest learning about their hospice program in hopes of creating something similar for his home institution, Bangalore Baptist Hospital in Bangalore India.

The more he found himself in the company of Dr. Macaden, the more Dr. Shaw was intrigued by the practice of medicine in India. “We soon found that we had something in common,” said Dr. Shaw. “A desire to see the cancer needs of the poor met regardless of race or religion.” Click here to read more.