Hand in Hand: Prospect doctor, biomedical engineer volunteer in Nicaragua

Two Prospect residents traveled to Nicaragua earlier this month to provide medical support to one of the world’s poorest countries.

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Medical volunteers traveled to Nicaragua with Hand in Hand Ministries.

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Dr. Cynthia Rigby, an obstetrician/gynecologist, and Courtney Nanney, a biomedical technician, joined 10 others on the trip.

Hand in Hand Ministries and the Greater Louisville Medical Society Foundation partnered to send the group of physicians and medical workers to Managua, Nicaragua, for a week.

The group included several physicians, a psychiatrist, a dietician and others who worked at several hospitals and clinics while on the trip.

The Pathway to Change program in Nicaragua makes private school education available to more than 60 children from poor families in the area. 

In addition to funding tuition, the program offers transportation, uniforms, medical care and social opportunities.

Hand in Hand Ministries is a Louisville-based international service organization currently supporting programs in Nicaragua, Belize, Appalachia and the Caribbean. 

Volunteers build homes, fund opportunities for education and staff outreach programs.

In 1998, Hand in Hand became part of the relief efforts to help the poor in Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch devastated much of the country. The organization opened a full-time office in Managua in 2005.

Nanney, regional director of biomedical engineering for Jewish Hospital/St. Mary’s Healthcare, participated in his third trip to Nicaragua.

Before the trip, Nanney collects equipment and parts based on a list of needs compiled by the Nicaragua Hand in Hand director.

This year, he broke apart a microscope and put it in multiple bags. Going through customs can be interesting, he said.

While in the country, he rotates between hospitals repairing medical equipment. It involves a lot of automotive parts, duct tape and screwdrivers, he said.

He also spends time educating workers on how to do simple repairs themselves, including ones they’ll need to make when he sends back new parts.

“I try to find the right balance of helping them without handicapping them,” he said.

Rigby said Nanney’s focus on education makes him one of the most valuable people on the Hand in Hand team. 

“He has a bunch of groupies,” she said.

Rigby, a Hunting Creek resident, has played an important role in the organization, too – when she went to Nicaragua for the first time last year, she became the first OB-GYN to go on the trip.

Ed Dunsworth, director of Hand in Hand’s Nicaragua office, told her education was needed most.

Dunsworth sent her a list of questions and misconceptions that needed to be addressed. During that first year, Rigby taught in the mornings and helped in the clinic in the afternoons. 

She learned that the country has the second-highest number of cervical cancer-related deaths in the western hemisphere — and that medical school professors were struggling to teach students about preventing the disease.

This year, Rigby packed a 5-foot microscope used in preventative medicine, along with textbooks and lectures given by colleagues on the topics.

She and Dr. Manuel Grimaldi, a retired oncologist, gave four hours of lectures to 25 senior OB-GYN residents.

And, not only did Nanney set up the microscope Rigby brought, he fixed three others — including one used for teaching.

Hand in Hand offers other non-medical immersion trips throughout the year. An informational session is March 15, or learn more at www.hhministries.com.