Beth and Ben in Malawi

25/12/2025

Nkhoma Hospital was recently visited by First Vice President Dr. Jane Mayemu Ansah SC JA ( rtd). Merry Christmas to us and to all who celebrate around the world!

11/12/2025

Our visiting doctors this past month made it a family affair! Dr Andrew Chew (far right) and daughter, Dr Carolyn (next to him) were surgeons overseeing our general surgery residents while most of the faculty was away at a conference. And mom, Dr Sok Chew, helped out the medical ward! They are veterans of mission work in Africa, having lived and served in Ethiopia, Niger, Madagascar, and probably several places I didn't hear about 😄 What a blessing to learn from them! And they came all the way from Australia to help out 🦘🦘

02/12/2025

Happy Giving Tuesday! Nkhoma surgical team started off the "day" by still operating at midnight on a woman with dead intestines. We sure know how to celebrate 🥳 Our surgical training program is almost 4 years old and our first resident, Dr Caleb (above), is about to become a chief resident!

Thank you to all those who make this possible by supporting our family's ability to live and work here, or through other programs connected to our residents and Nkhoma Hospital. If you would like to send in a gift this season, you can text bbsa to 50155 (for those in the US) or go to the link in our bio. We use these funds not just to live but for any variety of things: extra nutrition for complex surgical patients, buying emergency medicines for sick patients, outfitting a guest house for visiting doctors, or supporting a student through nursing college.

23/11/2025

Quiet call weekend entertainment.... sew some curtains for the visiting doctors guest house, listen to the monkeys fight over mangos, and watch a lost cow wander by the hospital accounting department.

17/11/2025

Visionaries like the Drs Vaylann are a rare gift. Today we celebrated all they have given to Nkhoma, as they are moving back to Germany soon. In 2013, Dr Jens Vaylann came to Malawi and visited many hospitals, hoping to find the right one to someday host a surgery training program. Nkhoma Hospital was blessed to be chosen for the task, but it would take until 2019 for Dr Jens and Dr Eva to move to Nkhoma. He became the first full time surgeon at Nkhoma in its 100 year history. Together they recruited 4 more surgeons, myself included, along with other health professionals. In January 2022, the Nkhoma PAACS surgical residency was born. We will graduate our first resident in one year. Dr Jens has served as our chief of surgery and PAACS program director. Dr Eva has served in our lab and in training lab professionals across Malawi in sustainable quality improvement. We are sad to see them go. We are also honored they chose Nkhoma to invest their toil and love into. Tonight was a beautiful ceremony of speeches, gifts, and prayer, as we thanked this precious family for all they have done.

🇲🇼🇩🇪🫱🏿‍🫲🏽🏨

11/11/2025

Today I want to brag on my work bestie, Dr Wanda Lam. This brilliant and dedicated woman is now program director of our surgical residency, among many other hats. She is an excellent teacher and surgeon, taking on cases that would strike fear in the hearts of many of us. A couple examples: this 10 month old with something called intussusception, requiring emergency removal of part of the intestine. And this lady with a massive thyroid goiter. This surgery is extremely difficult and dangerous, even life threatening. Dr Lam's preparedness and caution resulted in a safe and successful operation, teaching our residents valuable skills and saving the patient's life. *all photos posted with permission

And even though I'm not a cat person, I have to thank Dr Wanda's cat for his emotional support role 🐈‍⬛😄

02/11/2025

I had big plans for my "admin" day. Like recertifying my surgery boards, wading through unanswered emails, etc. Instead, I used half my fuel tank racing around town getting water drums and filling them with whatever came out of the nearest borehole (well) because the city had no water in several days. Now there is no diesel, due to unrest in neighboring Tanzania, so a friend with enough in his tank is driving me to work tomorrow. Days like that are often discouraging.

But despite all the challenges, we have much to celebrate! Our senior resident, Dr Caleb Kapengule, recently won second place in a research poster competition with competitors from across Africa! He presented on how starting the ICU at Nkhoma has brought down overall hospital mortality in just 2 years. We are so proud of him and everyone who has helped make these successes happen!

23/10/2025

A thoracotomy: surgically opening the chest wall to look inside at the heart, lungs, esophagus, etc. This is a very rare operation in Malawi since there are not many hospitals with the necessary expertise to safely perform the operation. This week we did a thoracotomy for a patient with complex injuries. Our resident, Dr Chimkonda, is interested in becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. I could see the smile behind his mask as he got to hold a beating heart in his hand for the first time!

17/10/2025

Quality matters. Nkhoma recently underwent a quality survey and made great improvements since the last one 2 years ago. Surgical ward went from a score in the 50s to almost 90! All the little things we take for granted, like disposing of waste in the correct place, or clearly documenting notes, contribute to good patient care. Here are 2 of the leaders who make it all happen - Dr Limbe, chief of surgery, and Ibrahim, charge nurse for surgical ward.

15/10/2025

Faith based hospitals in Africa, like Nkhoma, have much lower surgical mortality rates than public or private hospitals. This speaks to the dedication of our staff and all the partnering organizations that support these institutions. I'm honored to know the authors of this study very well, having trained with them at Brown many years ago. Thank you, Parkers, for all the work it must have taken to publish this study!

Study author praises staff members who "stay where their presence matters most."

14/10/2025

Ludwig's angina - severe infection of the mouth, throat, and neck, usually from an untreated tooth infection - can quickly become life threatening by cutting off someone's ability to breathe and swallow. Last night we had this exact scenario. A patient came to Nkhoma after 3 other facilities had only prescribed antibiotic tablets and sent them home. They couldn't swallow and could barely breathe. The swelling was so severe that we could not place a breathing tube through the mouth for surgery or get any oxygen to the lungs. So the patient got an emergency cricothyroidotomy in a matter of seconds - placing a breathing tube directly in to the trachea through a cut in the neck. This allowed us to safely perform surgery to drain the infection. Please pray for a full recovery and wisdom for us caregivers, as it will likely take several operations to fully treat the infection.

Ironically, this is the second time in a month I've had my finger in someone's trachea. I had a similar airway emergency while working in the US in September. Nkhoma resident, Dr Roma, said she had never seen a "surgical airway" before. It is these kind of specialized skills that are so important for our residents to learn, to save lives in the future.

06/10/2025

If I'm going to work on my birthday, at least it's with my amazing residents and theater team doing emergency surgery at 10pm. After all, being up to my elbows in someone's intestines is my happy place 😂 I did join in the fun after snapping this pic.