From North America to South India
Project Starfish comprises a core team of dedicated medical professionals — doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and a dietician — who, along with the Indian Team, diagnose, treat, and educate our patients. We could not do our work without the ongoing, tireless efforts of our partners:
- Holy Cross Hospital, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India. Holy Cross Hospital (HCH), our host for Project Starfish, is supervised by the Sisters of Holy Cross, who live in the convent located on the hospital campus. In 1926, HCH was built as a clinic to care for the underserved citizens of Nagercoil. In 1956, it was converted into a small hospital with 30 beds. It has grown over the years, and recently, 30 private rooms with beds were added, for a current total of 150. With funding from Bridge of Life ¬– DaVita Medical Missions, the hospital now has a new dialysis unit, with the number of dialysis machines increasing from two to 10. There is also a conference room/library for the staff. With its growth, HCH has never lost sight of its commitment to providing for the health care needs of the Nagercoil people, regardless of ethnicity or ability to pay.
- University of South Florida, Department of Public Health, Tampa, Florida. Project Starfish collaborates with the University of South Florida (USF) to help conduct clinical research on the lifestyles and diets of our diabetic patients. One of our graduate students, Aisha Bhimla, presented the data we obtained from our January 2014 trip to the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Obesity and Weight Management, which took place on December 1 – 3, in San Francisco, CA. We have been collaborating with USF students and faculty to analyze the data we collected in January. In turn, they will make recommendations that will enable us to better manage our diabetes clinics and better guide our patients in regard to education on lifestyle, diet, and exercise.
What’s more, our team includes a diverse group of extraordinary volunteers who tend to many of the organization’s non-medical services, such as finance and administration. We also have many hands that help us with our fundraising events.
