What do volunteers do while in Ghana or Barbados?
Volunteer surgeons perform spine, hip or knee surgery on indigent patients. Nurses work in the operating room along side the surgeons and frequently surgeons bring their own nurses to assist them. Physiatrists perform EMGs on patients as a diagnostic tool. Physiotherapists work in the clinic teaching patients to perform therapy on their own. Orthotists fit patients for braces and other apparatus. Many doctors lecture, serve as clinical instructors, conduct ward rounds and demonstrate various techniques in the classrooms, in clinics and in operating rooms. Non medical personnel collect data for the FOCOS patient database. During downtime the volunteers tour the countryside and shop for African artifacts.
