Chess Stetson, special advisor for technology for the GEANCO Foundation, has devised a system that allows U.S.-based surgeons to follow up with their patients in Africa once the surgeons have returned from a medical-mission trip. A password-protected website and system allows the surgeons to send messages and questions to their patients, who receive the messages as texts on their phones. When the patient replies to the text, the reply appears on the online system. Nigeria, with a population of roughly 170 million, already has 110 million mobile phones in circulation, and even the most elderly patients have them. Thus, GEANCO is able to make creative use of a technology that, despite Nigeria’s many other challenges and deficits, is pervasive and easy to use. On GEANCO’s latest medical mission to Nigeria, the medical team performed 32 free hip and knee replacements on under-served patients in Nigeria and, using the new information system, surgeons have answered questions about swelling, post-surgery physical therapy, and how long a cast should remain on. Not only can surgeons successfully monitor each patient, but the system also allows electronic copies of x-rays and other scans and tests to be easily shared, using a patient’s secure electronic medical record. Surgeons can also send messages and instructions to the local surgeons in Nigeria if direct medical followup is required. GEANCO was founded by Afam Onyema, who remains its chief operating officer (see “Man with a Plan,” September-October 2008, page 72M). For more information on the foundation’s work, visit www.geanco.org.

Chess Stetson, special advisor for technology for the GEANCO Foundation, has devised a system that allows U.S.-based surgeons to follow up with their patients in Africa once the surgeons have returned from a medical-mission trip. A password-protected website and system allows the surgeons to send messages and questions to their patients, who receive the messages as texts on their phones. When the patient replies to the text, the reply appears on the online system. Nigeria, with a population of roughly 170 million, already has 110 million mobile phones in circulation, and even the most elderly patients have them. Thus, GEANCO is able to make creative use of a technology that, despite Nigeria’s many other challenges and deficits, is pervasive and easy to use. On GEANCO’s latest medical mission to Nigeria, the medical team performed 32 free hip and knee replacements on under-served patients in Nigeria and, using the new information system, surgeons have answered questions about swelling, post-surgery physical therapy, and how long a cast should remain on. Not only can surgeons successfully monitor each patient, but the system also allows electronic copies of x-rays and other scans and tests to be easily shared, using a patient’s secure electronic medical record. Surgeons can also send messages and instructions to the local surgeons in Nigeria if direct medical followup is required. GEANCO was founded by Afam Onyema, who remains its chief operating officer (see “Man with a Plan,” September-October 2008, page 72M). For more information on the foundation’s work, visit www.geanco.org.