Surgical Care for the Poor, with Kate Clitheroe

Church Life Today

In countries with underfunded health systems, surgical care is often ignored and widely inaccessible to the poor. Local facilities lack appropriate supplies and equipment, medical professionals do not have the benefit of training in the latest techniques, and few can afford the high cost of surgery.An organization responding to this gap in healthcare is One World Surgery. Focusing heavily on forming local partnerships and capacity-building, One World Surgery has established a surgery center in Honduras and is developing one in the Dominican Republic. In Honduras, the Honduran staff leads the surgery center that serves patients on a daily basis, while volunteers and medical missionaries provide additional personnel support, education, and an extension into specialty services. Through its partnership with local health professionals and working in tandem with the local health care system, One World Surgery seeks to provide world-class surgical care and strengthen primary care for underserved communities.My guest today is Senior Director of Programs and Operations for One World Surgery. Kate Clitheroe graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and pre-med, before completing a master’s in public health from Washington University in St. Louis. She has served in health care in Honduras for several organizations, and has been with One World Surgery for the past six years, both in Honduras and in the U.S. I first came to know Kate when she served as a Mentor in Faith in our Notre Dame Vision program while she was an undergrad, after she attended the program as a high school student herself. She joins me to talk about her work, the impact of One World Surgery, and what it means to live solidarity in action.

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