Philadelphia Occupational Therapist to Provide Burn Care Training and Care in Central America

NORFOLK, VA (02/07/2011)(readMedia)-- In February, an occupational therapist from Philadelphia will provide training, education and clinical care at burn clinics and support organizations in the Dominican Republic. A five-person team of volunteer healthcare professionals, including Jonathan Niszczak, an occupational therapist with Temple University Hospital Burn Center, will work in Santiago from Feb. 13 to Feb. 17 on behalf of Physicians for Peace, an international nonprofit based in Norfolk, Va.

Working with in-country partners, Physicians for Peace volunteers seek to advance the skill set of burn care professionals so that they can provide sustainable care to burn survivors. Physicians for Peace founded its Burn Care program in response to the challenges of burn care in under-served regions: burns are among the most common pediatric injuries in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization. Within Central America and the Caribbean, 70 percent of burn victims are children.

This is Niszczak's second mission for Physicians for Peace. Last August, he was part of a team of Physicians for Peace volunteer occupational therapists that taught clinic workers to make an adult UVEX face mask, the first of its kind produced in El Salvador. Niszczak called that experience especially rewarding.

"We left the country with fully trained, competent clinicians who are a self-sustaining team that will be trainers of future clinicians in this difficult skill," he said.

By training nurses, therapists, surgeons and psychologists, the Burn Program supports clinics in their efforts to provide holistic burn care.

Four years ago, Physicians for Peace facilitated the creation of a consortium of NGOs and medical facilities that support 10 burn clinics in Central America and the Caribbean. The group's fourth annual conference took place last August in Managua, Nicaragua. The event brought together more than 100 professionals from 35 different organizations and 12 countries.

The February mission builds directly upon the Managua conference and will include U.S. volunteer nurses, occupational therapists and a psychologist. During the mission, which is partially funded by a grant from the AMB Foundation in Phoenix, Ariz., the team will train representatives from three Dominican healthcare groups in three core areas: rehabilitation, nursing and psychosocial care.

For more about Physicians for Peace, visit www.physiciansforpeace.org.

ABOUT PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE

Physicians for Peace is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes volunteer healthcare professionals to assist developing nations with unmet medical needs and scarce resources. Through effective, hands-on medical education and training, clinical care and donated medical supplies, Physicians for Peace develops long-term, sustainable, replicable, and evidence-based programs to help partner nations build medical capability and capacity to help themselves. Since 1989 Volunteers for the 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization have conducted medical missions in more than 60 countries. With its headquarters in Norfolk, Va., Physicians for Peace has programs in 22 countries and offices in Manila, the Philippines and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

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