Doctor provides Charitable service in Ethiopia

Helping the world, one smile at a time

By Marian Schinske
Special to the Advance
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Those of us with teeth are lucky to have Dr. Mahr Elder in town. As an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, he can repair jaw-related problems, relieve pain, and restore smiles.

“I’m definitely here to help,” Dr. Elder said. “I try to look at patients’ problems objectively and find solutions. At the same time, I try to be kind and understanding.”

Patients say they’re pleasantly surprised. He’s calm and unhurried, yet he works swiftly. And despite his use of hefty surgical tools, he’s got a light touch.

“He’s an excellent surgeon,” said Dr. Eric Tyler, a dentist at Perry & Perry Family Dental Practice in Novato. “He’s up to date with the latest surgical techniques, he’s got good rapport with his patients and staff, and he communicates well with everybody.”

At his Novato office, Dr. Elder performs tooth extractions, installs implants, and mends broken jaws, among other surgeries. Patients with more serious facial problems — such as tumors or traumatic wounds — receive his care at Novato Community Hospital and Marin General Hospital.

When he’s not serving Marin County patients, Dr. Elder packs his toolkit and flies around the world to volunteer his help.

Children awaited his visit to Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the Craniofacial Surgery Clinic within the Hospital del Niño Morelense. He examined about 60 children “with major facial deformities,” he said, adding that most suffered from cleft lip and palate. During his week-long stay, he operated on 15 of these kids, enabling them to eat and speak normally for the first time in their lives.

During a three-week visit to Ethiopia, he performed 25 surgeries on patients of all ages, from babies to adults. “These were people with major tumors and cancers who had absolutely no one to treat them,” he said. “All of them were waiting for us at the hospital when we arrived.”

Dr. Elder was part of a healthcare team assembled by the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association (www. enahpa.org), a nonprofit that seeks to improve medical access and delivery to families in Ethiopia, where doctors are scarce.

According to the nonprofit’s website, “The average life expectancy in Ethiopia is only 40, with the HIV/AIDS pandemic claiming millions of lives annually. There is also a generalized lack of access to health care—the ratio of physicians to patients is 1:100,000. Hospitals and clinics function with outdated medical equipment.” The country’s list of problems goes on from there.

Happily, a host of surgeons like Dr. Elder respond to that corner of Africa. People there suffer deeply, as shown in Dr. Elder’s collection of patient photos.

In one photo, a young girl’s face is overtaken by a flesh-eating infection. In another, an expansive mole occupies about one-third of a girl’s face. Young men and women struggle with jaws swollen by tumors. These aggressive lesions grow without boundaries, as they twist and turn around bone, teeth, and gums.

“Several of these cases were very complicated,” Dr. Elder said, adding that his biggest challenge was helping a 20-year-old Ethiopian man with a “very aggressive” jaw tumor that erupted in three parts of his face.

The operation on this man was difficult and complex, Dr. Elder said. “The surgery took seven hours to complete. I just tried to be calm and patient, always relying on good surgical principles, especially when things became challenging. It’s always better to do things that way, so you don’t have any second thoughts when it’s all over.”

To his relief, the operation went well, he said. “The patient walked away without any remaining tumor or significant problems.”

Dr. Elder said he wishes to give a positive experience to all of his patients. “You want them to feel happy that they came to you,” he said. “You want to do better than ‘Do No Harm.’ You want to do good.”