Your Very Flesh Shall Be A Great Poem

A surgeon from an American NGO begins one of the many hernia surgeries he would perform in his time there.​

​I was struck by his gesture and the lighting, which elicited images of Caravaggio's chiaroscuro depictions of classic biblical scenes, specifically The Incredulity of Saint Thomas.

An anesthesiologist tenderly steadies and comforts a patient receiving a spinal block in preparation for surgery.​

Surgeons prepare to do an emergency procedure to re-inflate a collapsed lung, making do with improvised supplies during a medical mission to this mostly rural agricultural community.

Another painterly surgery, reminiscent of a Rembrandt.

In Ghana, patients are expected to show up to surgery with many of the supplies that will be needed for their treatment, including IV, gauze, antibiotics, etc.. They also come wearing cloth wraps with the understanding that this is what they will be draped with during their procedure. Here, the beautiful batik print contrasts with a sterile towel surrounding the surgical site in one of the few nods to Western medical ​practice during a procedure provided by an American medical NGO.

An American medical NGO makes good use of limited facilities and resources by performing two surgeries at once in the same room while maintaining good sterility and safety practices.​

Children in an orphanage receive early Christmas presents.

A nurse tenderly comforts a child as he recovers from anesthesia following surgery.​