Holy Rosary Surgeon Connecting Her Mission from Eastern Montana to Nigeria
Dr. Imudia Ehanire, general surgeon at Holy Rosary Healthcare, sees many parallels in the patients she cares for in Miles City and the communities she continues to serve in her home country of Nigeria. "The people of Miles City are salt of the earth people; they're hardworking," she shared. "They are really appreciative of the care provided here at Holy Rosary, but they want to get out of the hospital, go home, and go back to work."
Born and raised in Nigeria by parents who were physicians, Dr. Ehanire moved to the United States and finished her schooling. After completing her medical training, she felt a call to both rural medicine and to serve her home country.
"After becoming a practicing surgeon, I thought back to my time growing up in Nigeria and realized it was really important for me to make that part of my practice, part of my career."
Working at Holy Rosary has allowed her to serve both of her goals. In addition to providing surgical care at Holy Rosary, Dr. Ehanire makes frequent trips to Nigeria to care for patients at the Federal Medical Centre in Ebute-Metta in Lagos, Nigeria. Recently, she helped bring needed endoscopic and laparoscopic services to the hospital by training staff, sharing expertise, and seeing patients.
In sharing her experiences in Nigeria with the caregivers at Holy Rosary, the organization wanted to see how they could support her work. There was an identified need for gowns and other supplies that can be expensive and difficult to find locally in Nigeria.
The leadership at Holy Rosary and Intermountain Health were able to donate reusable surgical gowns, and other needed supplies, to support the caregivers at the Federal Medical Centre in Lagos.
"We wanted to give back and support her work," shared Karen Costello, president of Holy Rosary Healthcare. "We didn't realize what an impact it would make until we received a lovely letter from the organization's leader about the donation. We are proud to be part of it, even if just in a small way."
In a letter of appreciation to the caregivers at Holy Rosary, they shared:
We provide healthcare services for poor and hard-to-reach communities around us. Our objective is to make available in our hospital high-end and modern healthcare delivery despite the population we serve.
We acknowledge and express our gratitude for the donations from your hospital sent through Dr. Ehanire of gowns used for endoscopy and hypodermic needles, which has been a huge assistance to our hospital. These items have contributed in no small way to the success of the program Dr. Ehanire is running here.
Dr. Ehanire is grateful for the support and believes it speaks to the organization's values. "It is nice to work at a facility living their mission, giving back and doing it wholeheartedly," said Dr. Ehanire. "I was really touched by that."
She also knows that the patients are grateful for the access to care in their community, much like those patients she sees at Holy Rosary.
"There are folks there who come to the hospital in Nigeria who work really hard for what they have and are really grateful for being able to get advanced medical care at this facility. I feel lucky and grateful that I'm able to do what I do. This opportunity is a blessing."