A field Report from Arash Baboff, SF4C Medical Advisor in Tbilisi, Georgia
Arash Babaoff, MD, Ctrop, has been working with Standish Foundation for Children (SF4C) for over a decade as our Medical Advisor for Global Programs. For decades, Arash has traveled globally to provide child friendly care as well as training and mentoring healthcare providers. Last month he traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia to meet with our partners at Khechinashvili University Burn Center and Jo Ann Medical Center.
As a result of your support, Arash brought eight Buzzy® devices which help kids manage their needle related fear and pain. The teams at JoAnn Medical Center and Khechinashvili Burn Center were delighted and eager to have this new pain management tool to use in their daily patient care!
We’re grateful for Mölnlycke’s donation of state-of-the-art silver-impregnated bandages. These bandages offer a new way to manage burn care wounds and result in a significant reduction in pain. This improves the medical and emotional outcomes and patients and staff are thrilled! These bandages are not available in this region. So we are happy to partner with Mölnlycke to bring these bandages to Georgia.
The donation of specialized DermaTherapy bed sheets was so well received! These sheets are made for wound care and are much more comfortable for patients. These sheets are not available in this region. Thanks to you and DermaTherapy, we plan to buy sheets to be used for patients in the intensive care and inpatient units at the burn center.
Arash also met with a variety of team members at our partner hospitals including surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, pharmacists, hospital administrators, pediatric psychologist Tina Sanaia, as well as Khatuna Dolidze, the leader of psychosocial care programming. During these meetings, pain and anxiety management and burn care for children were discussed and reconceived. Arash shares, “We spoke about projects for the future, including the use of medications to minimize kid’s fear and pain that accompany the painful and scary bandage changes. We discussed the need to recognize fear and anxiety as a treatable entity in order to avert or minimize children’s trauma.
With young, up-and-coming physicians, surgeons, and our partners at MAC Georgia, we conceived of a public health prevention program for the many burns in toddlers anticipated as winter approaches.” These conversations pave the way for a future where children experience less injury and trauma in health care settings. This future is at the very heart of our mission at SF4C. Without the incredible donations from you, our donors, conversations and programs like this would not be possible.
An example of how donations have helped can be seen in the bandages to which the medical team now have access in Georgia. Arash explains, “There were many bandage changes and we saw firsthand how well the new silver impregnated bandages are faring. According to one of the surgeons and the nursing staff, the healing appears better than even expected and potentially saving at least one of the patients today from having to have surgery.”
To witness positive change and surgical outcomes first hand is why, through your generosity, SF4C can have impactful collaboration with medical staff on the other side of the world. We are grateful to have Arash on our team as we seek to transform the healthcare experience for children, including those in Tbilisi, Georgia. As we move into a season of giving, the team here at SF4C cannot wait for more collaboration and trips to come!