Operation Starfish

In 2000 I shot and edited this video about a medical mission in the remote Serengeti district of Tanzania where quality medical care is a challenge. Operation Starfish was the name chosen for this medical mission funded by the Iasis Healthcare Foundation. A group of doctors and nurses from Tempe, Arizona spent over a week traveling to village clinics and a regional hospital near the Safari camp where we stayed. The goal of Operation Starfish was not only to assist in the immediate medical treatment of those in the Serengeti district, but also to help train the local hospital and clinic staff so they could better meet the needs of their communities. One of the goals of this video was to help recruit future team members so the video covers not just what they did but what the experience was like. Unfortunately I was not able to secure an HD camera for the trip since there were only a few Sony F900s in the US at the time and the power situation was very limited at the camp making the recharging of batteries a challenge. Even the regional hospital had to use a generator to power the lights in the operating room.