July 29 - September 10, 1999

Notes:
"Our OB/GYN team spent a week on Kosrae where they examined 209 women.  They performed many surgeries, including a lengthy colon resection for cancer.  Apparently in Yap there is no translation for an OB/GYN physician.   They announced on the radio that doctors were here for women so the first day the clinic was jammed with women with all sorts of health problems, but they were women!"

"It saddens me to report that the health of the people in Kosrae is declining and they are paying the price of the Western diet.  The primary complaint of the women in Kosrae was infertility and anovulation.  The OB/GYN physicians felt this was largely related to obesity.  I saw hypertension in young women in their 20's that I didn't see the last time I worked there, two years ago.  I would love to bring our diabetes Reversal Program to Kosrae in the future." Shelley Gunther, September 13, 1999

Team Members:
Roger Mathews, M.D., Sacramento, CA – surgeon
Timna Hughes, M.D., Placerville, CA – surgeon
Kathleen Kimball, R.N., F.N.P., Fresno, CA, – nurse practitioner
Elizabeth Simms, R.N., N.P., Oakland, CA – nurse practitioner
Shelley Gunther, R.N., M.S., Benicia, CA – clinic coordinator

Shelley Gunther & 
youn friend in Kosrae

DENTISTRY
Island: Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga
Dates: August 5 – 21

Notes:
This is definitely a family affair. Dr. Hufnagel has served on four previous missions with Canvasback, and one with his wife Debra and four of his five daughters, and one with daughters Heidi and Allison. For this mission, the family will be providing dental care at Prince Wellington NGU Hospital on Vava’u, Tonga, where there is only one dentist to serve 18,000 people. In addition to addressing the acute dental needs there, the team will leave behind a mobile dental unit and light for them to keep after they’ve gone.

Team Members:
Ric Hufnagel, D.D.S., Cloverdale, CA – dentist
Bethany Hufnagel, Cloverdale, CA – dental assistant
Shelley Hufnagel, Cloverdale, CA – dental assistant
Erica Hufnagel, Cloverdale, CA – dental assistant

Notes:
"The ENT team saw 217 patients on Kosrae and they'd seen 117 on Yap before I left them.  They did several nyringotomies and tympanoplasties, and had to do a hemi-glossectomy (remove half the tongue) on a patient with cancer.  We wonder if the chewing of beetle-nut might be a contributing factor.  Chewing beetle-nut in Yap is as natural to their culture as breathing is for us.

"They could use an ENT team here for a couple of months.   There are a lot of children with infected ears that need surgery, but won't get it due to their active infections.  Plus, we didn't have time to do them all.   There is lots to do here!"  (Shelley Gunther)

Team Members:
Tom Stewart, M.D., Paradise, CA – surgeon
Dennis Watkins, M.D., Kailua, HI – surgeon
Randy Waring, M.D., Chico, CA - anesthesiologist
Kim Stewart, Paradise, CA – audiologist
Tom Stewart, Paradise, CA – o.r./scrub tech.
Joel Stewart, Paradise, CA – o.r./scrub tech.
Cindy Waring, Chico, CA – clinic assistant

ENT surgeon Dr. Tom Stewart shares a photo 
op. with two of his young patients.

UROLOGY
Islands: Pohnpei and Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia
Dates: Aug. 25 – Sept. 10

Notes: "Now I am in Pohnpei with the urology team.  The clinic is going well and Dr. Norman Kies has been doing cystograms and other urological surgeries already.  Pohnpei also doesn't have a word for urologist so we'll see what sort of patients the radio announcements bring in." (Shelley Gunther)

(This is our first urology team, organized at the request of the Federated States of Micronesia. The island hospitals have a long list of people requiring various kinds of specialized care)

Team Members:
Norman Kies M.D., Nevada City, CA – surgeon
Esther Brown, R.N., Salem, OR – o.r. nurse
Barbara Kies, Nevada City, CA – clinic assistant
Shelley Gunther, R.N., M.S., Benicia, CA – clinic coordinator

OPHTHALMOLOGY
Island: Ebeye, Marshall Islands
Dates: Aug. 26 – Sept. 10

Team Members:
Art Giebel, M.D., Tustin, CA – surgeon
Sally Mellgren, M.D., Carlsbad, CA – surgeon
Cindy McCulloh, R.N., Chehalis, WA - nurse
Jennifer Matthews, Centralia, WA - o.r./scrub tech.
Paul Barney, O.D., Chehalis, WA – optometry & laser therapy
Richard Graham, O.D., Kelso, WA - optometry
Kathy King, R.N., Boulder, CO – clinic coordinator

Notes:
Canvasback regularly sends eye teams to Micronesia, where cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and other eye problems proliferate beneath the equatorial sun. The densely-populated island of Ebeye has perhaps the greatest needs in Micronesia.

Although these health professionals use their vacation time to participate in the missions, what they experience is far from a holiday. They rise at 5 a.m. and some days work late into the evening, simply because there is so much to be done and they want to help every person they possibly can.

They’re hard work is not without reward, however. "The experience is so profound," says Dr. Paul Shenk, a four-time volunteer with Canvasback. "It’s changed my life in many respects. To be paid with a thank you is an experience I think only a missionary can have."

Special Thanks . . .
Canvasback would like to thank the following companies for donating supplies to make these missions possible:

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