Shamans of modern times

Indigenous tribes in the Amazon receive high-quality medical care thanks to the NGO Expedicionários da Saúde. With the support and actions of several institutions, volunteers provide patients in the Amazon with consultations, ophthalmological care and a set of services that change their lives.

In 2002, a tourist walk led to the creation of the Health Expedicionarios Association. A trip that, according to Ricardo Affonso Ferreira, president of the Health Expedicionarios, orthopedic doctor at the Affonso Ferreira Institute and member of the clinical staff at the Campinas Medical Center, provided change the focus of travel.

When it was made official in 2003, there was a need to carry out effective planning, looking for reference institutions and partnerships that would help in the project to make significant changes in the health of the indigenous population.

And just look at the results presented by the NGO. A 15-day expedition in 2004 allowed just over a hundred consultations and 52 operations to be carried out. Nowadays, a week corresponds to around 3 thousand patients treated and between 200 and 300 surgeries performed. For 12 years, volunteers have been taken to the heart of the Amazon jungle 34 times, carrying out approximately 5,500 surgeries and 35,000 treatments.

Diagnóstico wanted to hear doctors and collaborators from the organization and testimonies from the most recent expedition. Benedita and Maurício, from the Yanomami community, told how their lives changed after meeting an NGO.

How did the idea for the Expedicionários da Saúde association come about?

Ricardo Affonso Ferreira – The expedition began as a hike to Pico da Neblina for tourism, in 2002. On the way, we stopped in a village called Maturaca. We were faced with a very different reality from what we were experiencing and decided to change the focus of our travels and try to do something for the indigenous population of the region. We looked for institutions responsible for health care to understand how they operated and planned effective participation.

Thus, in 2003, the Expedicionários da Saúde association was officially structured. Since then, the initials have been transformed into medical care expeditions to indigenous communities in the Amazon, giving rise to the Operando na Amazônia-Rio Negro Program. In the early years, an NGO was located in the ‘dog’s head’, northwestern Brazil, where 22 different ethnicities live (approximately 15-20 thousand people). Currently, expeditions are external to places we have been to before and know the needs. We are also going local through Indigenous leader transactions.

What obstacles do they encounter and how do they overcome them?

It is important to highlight that this is a complementary service to existing indigenous health care programs and aims to avoid the need for costly and traumatic travel for the patient and their family to urban centers. The work is made possible through partnerships with investors and local institutions to carry out diagnoses and pre-select patients, plan trips for the team of doctors and use our Mobile Surgical Center.

In the beginning, we operated in semi-abandoned hospitals on the borders of Brazil. After a year, we had the idea of carrying out surgeries in tents, considered “high-tech”, which are transformed into a hospital complex, with a surgical center, for medium-sized procedures, such as cataracts and inguinal and epigastric hernias, as well as births and diagnostic exams.

The most common procedures are related to the way of life in the tribes. Most hernia surgeries are performed on children who, from an early age, help the family transport loads such as harvesting cassava and clothes to be washed in the river. In addition, we perform a large number of cataract surgeries on young people and adults affected early by the high incidence of sunlight in the region.

What help do you receive?

In addition to the work of volunteer doctors, the Expedicionários da Saúde count on the support of other professionals who help make the institution viable. The partnership with companies in the form of financial actions, services and materials is what made the project viable.

What are the Expeditionaries’ challenges and objectives?

Every NGO has a beginning, middle and end. EDS is not half done and we plan to expand to the rest of Latin America. We seek to be a public health reference in Brazil. In these 13 years, EDS has already covered, with services, an area larger than France – in addition to caring for individuals, the NGO respects the forest.

 The NGO’s promise is to serve indigenous people with excellence and, to achieve this, we need to get different government bodies to talk. Without the support of private companies, we would not be able to provide cutting-edge service. Today there is not much time to raise funds and fundraising ends up being spontaneous.

AGE

One of the most recent supports that EDS received from GE. A partner that emerged through the initiative of an NGO volunteer. Fabiana Garcia, Product Manager at GE, was part of the organization’s expeditions, when she decided to propose collaboration between the two institutions, as explained in the Diagnosis:

How did the idea of creating a bridge between GE and Expedicionários da Saúde come about?

Fabiana Garcia – The company’s initiative came from my recommendation, as I have been a volunteer at the social organization for a year. I started through my previous work, and on my last vacation I volunteered for the NGO’s expeditions and on the third expedition I participated in, I went as a volunteer and also as a GE employee.

Upon arriving at GE, I identified that with the products available at the company it would be possible to provide quality diagnosis to this public and provide agility in treatment, since with portable devices, the time to move these people to carry out the diagnosis elsewhere no longer exists. and allows chances of resolving the case in the same place. I’m always a little out of breath, thinking about them, what’s going to happen and how I can help them even from afar. And here in my work it was possible to help this population even more.

What is the impact of the transfer of GE devices?

Fabiana Garcia – With the loan of a Vscan, from GE, portable equipment with ultrasound technology the size of a cell phone, it was possible to speed up the doctors’ work during screenings, diagnostic exams and pre-operative procedures. Because it is portable, the equipment helps with easy movement within the tent to perform basic exams more quickly.

On my last expedition, the trip lasted 8 hours (from Campinas to São Gabriel in an air force plane; from São Gabriel to Aldeia with a cargo plane). When you arrive, follow a trail to start the mission more quickly. Everyone helped each other and the kitchen, bathrooms, accommodation and surgical center were built. The first day is more of an organization day. Everything is adapted; in gynecology, for example, one side of the room is light and the other is dark, we adapt everything to provide the best possible service. Patients arrive at the site, register and talk about what they are feeling, and volunteers carry out the work of preparing patients for consultations and surgical procedures.

In addition to being a volunteer, he managed to make another important contribution to the NGO from GE…

Fabiana Garcia – It’s an unforgettable, different experience that leaves you off your axis. You start sleeping on the floor, without comfort, like what you have. And then you realize that the least you do is enough. It made me much more human, it made me pay more attention to things and people. And, to do good, I don’t need to be in the Amazon, but it was there that I realized that one small thing can change someone’s life.

But, what leads institutions to associate their name with the work of the Expeditionaries and contribute with financial donations, services and inputs? Diagnóstico knocked on GE’s door and, on the other hand, Daurio Speranzini Jr, president and CEO of GE Healthcare for Latin America, provided the answers we were looking for.

What does GE gain from this call and what does it offer?

Daurio Speranzini Jr – GE Healthcare provides transformative medical services and technologies that meet the demand for broader access to higher-quality, lower-cost healthcare and helps the world’s professionals deliver quality healthcare to more people. And, since 2010, it has been producing, at its unit located in Contagem (MG), medical equipment in its first factory in the country.

The recent work with the Expedicionários da Saúde made Vscan, portable equipment with ultrasound technology, and two other ultrasounds called LOGIQ e available to the NGO’s volunteers. Another way found by GE Healthcare to bring quality diagnosis to remote areas, providing effective care and access to cutting-edge technologies. For the future, the company’s expectation is to make this partnership even stronger and help Expedicionários da Saúde with increasingly innovative equipment and, thus, be able to contribute to safer diagnosis and help them save lives in the most distant places from Brazil.

The most difficult thing, perhaps, was being able to gather testimonies from patients who received medical care from EDS. The Amazon will not be an easily accessible place, but the most recent expedition, which took Fabiana Garcia back to the Amazon, returned with the opinion of two members of the Yanomami community. Benedita (85 years old) and Maurício (70 years old) conveyed the feeling of gratitude for the way EDS improved their lives. Fabiana says that Mauricio had made a special request: “He asked me for a slipper, and I got one for him. He was very grateful and said it would be even better to do all this without stepping on the ground.” But Maurício achieved something much more important than a slipper.

What do you think about receiving medical care?

Maurício Yanomami – Very special. There was never any kind of assistance and I suffered a lot without seeing. He had both eyes compromised

What was it like receiving the doctors?

It was very good and important. I have never had such a good experience. I didn’t know about this type of service and didn’t even imagine it existed.

Were you suspicious/afraid at first?

I wasn’t afraid. I was just anxious about the result.

What changed in your life after these expeditions came?

My dream was to fly on a plane… I was very sad, as I just stayed in the hammock all day depending on care. When I could see again, it allowed me to hunt, fish, go boating and see the sun and moon again, because I really enjoy it. I’m extremely happy and I said I couldn’t thank you enough.

What does a healthcare opportunity mean to you?

Being able to enjoy life, be useful and take care of your family again.

What do you think about receiving medical care?

Benedita Yanomami – Very important, because I live in a very remote village and I couldn’t see anymore and I stopped doing several things. In addition to being the first time I had eye care.

What was it like receiving the doctors?

It was beautiful and special, I was very happy that they chose the Yanomamis. Because they are a very careful and isolated people.

Were you suspicious/afraid at first?

Very scared, especially when I rode in a helicopter. I’ve never seen one before, because I’ve been boating all my life. I became suspicious of doctors.

What changed in your life after these expeditions came?

Being able to go back to work, as I take care of my family and 10 children and many grandchildren alone. (In indigenous culture, it is very common for the eldest to be responsible for maintaining the house)

What does a healthcare opportunity mean to you?

Being able to live better.

Read in Revista Diagnóstico

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