Published by: Sandy Laycox on 12/8/2011 9:09:57 AM
It’s easy to get consumed by the data. When we talk to members about their programs and initiatives, we always want to know the numbers. How many? What percentage? What cost? The numbers help us measure the benefits of new initiatives. They help us quantify quality and need. So yes, the numbers are important. So important, that it can be all too easy to forget about the people behind the figures. It’s hard to justify funding or legislation on the basis of one person served. But each person served is reason enough to keep working for the safety net.
I recently came across the story of Guedalia Sawadogo, a 2-year-old West African girl who, until recently, was facing a life with her right hand permanently frozen in the form of a claw. When toddling around her home as a 9 month old, Guedalia stumbled into a pot of cooking oil and suffered third-degree burns to her right hand. No specialized care was available in her home city of Kaya, so Guedalia’s hand healed without surgical grafting. Over time, the scar tissue caused a significant contracture of her right thumb, index finger, and hand.
Howard Makofsky, D.P.T., O.C.S., a Long Island physical therapist met Guedalia through a charity he runs in Kaya. Makofsky reached out to Alexander Dagum, M.D., professor of surgery and orthopaedics and chief of the division of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dagum agreed to perform surgery on Guedalia. Because of the seriousness of her condition, he was able to present the operation as a teaching case, which meant there would be no cost to her parents for the surgery or post-surgery therapy.
For the medical trainees at Stony Brook, the surgery meant a significant educational opportunity. For Guedalia, it meant the chance to overcome a debilitating injury that could have severely affected the rest of her life.
Dagum has worked on hundreds of vulnerable patients, transforming the daily lives of those who have no alternatives. And because Stony Brook is a teaching facility, Dagum and other physicians are showing the next generation of doctors how to carry on this tradition.
While this story is a heartwarming reminder of what we’re truly working for at NAPH, it’s not unique to this NAPH member. Safety net hospitals across the country are providing this kind of care to vulnerable people every day. If I added these cases up, I wonder what the numbers would say.