April 25, 2014 marks a major milestone for CCC and the women of Kisumu County! The mortality rate for cervical cancer is equivalent to that of maternal mortality in this area of western Kenya. Since cervical cancer is nearly 100% preventable if a woman is screened and then treated with cryotherapy, it is life-saving. This...
For the past week here in Kisumu, Kenya, CureCervicalCancer has trained well over a dozen healthcare professionals in the cervical cancer “Single Approach” screening and treatment procedure. Three of these wonderful nurses are from the Gita community clinic, approximately 30 minutes from the city of Kisumu and Jaramogi Hospital. Denis Odero RN (chief nurse), along with...
After an intensive and productive week long theoretical and practical training session in Kisumu, Kenya, 3 of the 12 highly skilled nurses returned to their community hospital in Migosi. The CCC team established in Migosi the sustainable Shelton-Rogers clinic. This CCC/Shelton-Rogers Clinic will be the first of its kind for the women in the suburb...
My name is Robert Oppel, and I am the photojournalist for the CureCervicalCancer Kenya 2014 Project. My day job, however, is working with Dr. Patricia Gordon at a cancer center in Los Angeles. I had expressed an interest in CCC when I witnessed Dr. Gordon’s genuine compassion towards a patient who is a dear friend of...
When CCC takes on a project in a remote area like Engos, Kenya, we need to learn about the indigenous people who will constitute our patient population. The roughly 900,000 Maasai (who speak Maa as well as some Swahili and English) are pastoralists whose livelihood depends primarily on owning and herding cattle. History The Maasai...
The CCC team will depart on October 28 to Africa to establish two new sustainable, ongoing “See and Treat” clinics. This will be our busiest and most varied experience to date. We will be journeying between Kenya and Ethiopia — from urban commercial sectors to rural regional clinics — and simultaneously setting up new clinics...
The first challenge CureCervicalCancer.org (CCC) faces in launching any new effort to bring “See and Treat” (for premalignant cervical cancer) to a developing country is getting its staff and equipment to the site. Stage One is bringing all the equipment (including multiple large cryotherapy units) to be used, and ultimately donated, through Customs, in this...
CCC was honored by an invitation to speak at the National Ethiopian Cancer Conference in August, 2013. Because CCC’s Director, Dr. Patricia Gordon, could not attend, CCC was delighted to be represented by Dr. Samson Mulugeta of Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, Ethiopia, who was instrumental in setting up the CCC See and Treat Clinic...
Indigenous Mayans and their Health Practices Using western medicine to treat indigenous people presents challenges in overcoming cultural differences and communicating. When CCC works in Coban, Guatemala at the end of September, it needs some grounding in ways traditional Mayans confront illness and health and their views on the sources of illness and methods to...
Coban, Guatemala is not a prime tourist destination; rather, surrounded by mountains and located at 4330 feet, it is a coffee-growing region. The fourth largest city in Guatemala, Coban, about 4-5 hours drive (219 kilometers) from the capital, has a population of around 100,000 people. The local people are predominantly Q’eqchi, a group that represents...
