Link to News on Phnom Penh

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Interview with Pol Pot attempting to justify his actions:

Pol Pot attempting to justify the destruction of a 1/4 of Cambodia's population

A Video on Pol Pot's Killings

U tube Video on Pol Pot's Killings in Cambodia

Words from Sandi

Hello, My name is Sandi. I have been a registered nurse for 20 years now. I have worked with Dr. E since 2000 at Baptist Medical Center, where he taught me many of the skills I have today. Now I work at The Jacksonville Center for Endoscopy. I am so grateful to be offered the opportunity to go to Cambodia and serve at the Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope (SHCH) in Phnom-Penh, Cambodia. I am excited to be going and hopefully making a difference in their lives and sharing my knowledge. I am sure this is going to be a life-changing experience not only for the people of Cambodia but also for me.

Example of an Endoscopy OR

The picture depicts what is our goal, two functioning Endoscopy OR's at the "Angel Hospital" , minus the patient, doctors and nurses......., with the latest in video endoscopy.

The Equipment Stacks Up

Our Storage room is almost full, all this, 700 lbs, of scopes, prcessors, monitors, cautery, ect ect, waiting on the July 1st airfreight outa here, and off to Cambodia, with us to follow, to set it up, and train the folks there on its upkeep and use.

Words from Angela

Hello, My name is Angela. I have been a surgical technologist (surg-tech) for 6 years now , I externed in the G.I. unit at a hospital while I was a surg-tech student, I found the G.I. system fascinating loved the doctors and the people, I went on to be the lead surg-tech in urology but I always looked for the chance to go back to the G.I. department. There was an opening which I took without hesitation. I then had the opportunity to join the Jacksonville Center for Endoscopy where I found my home, I love and respect the people I work with . I wanted to go into the medical field because I enjoy helping people, it was great to get to interact with my patients whereas when I was in the OR they were asleep when I saw them . This trip to Cambodia for me embodies all that I went into the medical profession to do and that is to help people who need it the most, I am a true believer that a smile a kind word and gesture of the same will heal. I am excited to start our adventure and I am excited to work hard to help the people of Cambodia.

Words from Dr. Tek

I first learned about Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope (SHCH) in Phnom-Penh, Cambodia from Dr. Jim Miner, a friend I knew when I first came to Jacksonville for my Fellowship in Gastroenterology under Dr. Jack Groover. He had volunteered at the hospital and suggested that I check it out. I then learned that in 2006 SHCH treated 300 to 350 patients daily free of charge, but the patients had to be selected by lottery to be seen. The waiting line was very long. SHCH opened its door in 1996 to serve the poor entirely free of charge.  More than a million outpatients have been treated since.  It has been called "Angel Hospital" a place where a poor person with no money "can receive a new life".  It is one of the best hospitals in Cambodia, one of the best training centers in the country for Cambodian healthcare professionals (Nurses, pharmacists, medical students, physicians.)  SHCH treats common illness such as diabetes, hypertension or more specialized diseases such as HIV, TB, and breast cancer.  The hospital receives a steady stream of overseas medical and non medical volunteers, mostly from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia. I married my wife, Suon, in September 1970 soon after my graduation from the only medical school in Cambodia. The war with Cambodian communists, the Khmer Rouge, just started then. We spent our honeymoon dodging the shrapnel from the rockets launched into the city every night by the Khmer Rouge.  We came to the United States in March 1971 for my post graduation medical training. In 2007, we went back to Cambodia with our two daughters and our son, all born in the United States. We traveled all over Cambodia so that our children can see Suon's home where we got married, my medical school, the village where I was born, and the famous Temple of Angkor Wat. I visited a few medical clinics on the way to Angkor Wat and talked to the people about the healthcare needs in Cambodia. The government and international non-governmental organization (NGO) had been actively working on developing small health centers in the rural areas and in the cities, but significant numbers of Cambodians still lack access to affordable and effective healthcare services. During my visit to SHCH to enroll in the volunteer work, the hospital administrator showed me the endoscopy suite, and only one upper endoscope and one colonoscope all of fiberoptic type with eye pieces were in use. With great apprehension, I humbly promised that I would try to get them more advanced video scopes expecting to get a few old video scopes from our Borland-Groover Clinic. By a stroke of luck, Dr. Kyle Etzkorn had just returned from  a visit to Cambodia and loved the country and its people and told me that he wanted to do something for them. After several months of very hard work, Dr. Etzkorn was able to acquire three upper video scopes and three video colonoscopes and accessories donated by Olympus of America and several other scopes from Baptist Medical Center and from our own Borland-Groover Clinic. In addition, our clinic through our president, Dr. Jack Groover, has approved a generous grant to pay a BGC team of two physicians, one nurse, and a technician to go to Cambodia to set up an endoscopic center at SHCH with two rooms. We will teach the Cambodian physicians and nurses during our week long stay. The SHCH had agreed to name the center The  Borland-Groover Clinic Center of Endoscopy. BGC will become worldwide. In addition, BGC will donate $5,000 each year for future repair of the scopes. We also have acquired donation of $5,000 worth of service from Instruments of Mercy Refurbishing Company for future scopes repair. This is much, much more than I expected. Several other people are involved in this project with great enthusiasm. Cindy Hall, Brigitte Schmitges, and Angela Hull have been of great help. I greatly appreciated the tireless efforts by Dr. Etzkorn who is responsible for the success. I cannot express enough gratitude for Dr. Jack Groover, my great teacher and mentor, who has made this project possible.  Many thanks to the Borland-Groover Clinic organization and all its members, Olympus of America represented by John Watt, Instruments of Mercy represented by Michael Davis and Toney Peer.

Getting closer to sending out the equipment:

Thanks to all the great work of Brigitti Schmitges, she has been doing all the leg and phone work to get the equipment from Jacksonville to Cambodia.

Some of the equipment, being checked prior to packing

Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE web site

http://www.hopeww.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=314

A few web sites on Cambodia and Phnom Penh:

These are just a few web sites on more info on where we are going:
www.canbypublications.com
www.cambodiapocketguide.com

The Web link to a video on the "angel hospital"

This a web link to the hospital in Cambodia that we are taking the endoscopes to, watch the video : http://www.care4cambodia.org/

The first act was attempting to determine what we could get, and hence the request went out. We got several endoscopes from Baptist Health, the major health care system in north Florida, next, our clinic donated an entire room of equipment, and most important support for the mission, and last, a major equipment manufacture from Japan, donated two fully stocked endoscopic rooms, including scopes, light sources, HD monitors , ect. In all this took 6 months to get all this stuff committed, and in our hands. At the moment, we have a date, next, we need to get the equipment sent before we arrive, and then the party starts, for 1-2 weeks, set up, testing, and then training. This will be interesting.

Words from Dr. E, The First Leg of this Trek

A year ago, after visiting Cambodia on Bike, I returned to Jacksonville, and talked about my trek with my partner, Dr. Tek, a native of Cambodia. He had come to the US for training just prior to Pol Pot's control of Cambodia, and because of what happened, ended up staying here, and built a very successful career. Anyway, back to our conversation, I told him of my love of Cambodia, its people, its history, and he gave me a challenge. Could I help deliver for a needed hospital in its capital, advanced endoscopic equipment. Hence the challenge started. What follows is the story, pictures, and more on Cambodia.