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| Dr. Ingida Asfaw at the press conference |
Heroic Detroit doctor receives a Volvo for life.
posted: 08/31/2006
Dr. Ingida Asfaw, Grand Award Winner of the 4th Annual Volvo for life Awards, recently received a “thank you” to last a lifetime: a complimentary new Volvo car every three years for the rest of his life. Prior to receiving the car, he was awarded $50,000 in funding, which he plans to use to create a birthing center, named after Volvo, in his native country of Ethiopia. For his first car choice, Dr. Ingida Asfaw selected the 2006 Volvo Ocean Race XC90 V8. On August 16, at a lunchtime ceremony at Suburban Volvo in Troy, Mich., Sales Manager Angelo Giordimaina presented Dr. Ingida Asfaw with the keys to his new vehicle. Also on hand was Soren Johansson, Manager of Public Relations at Volvo Cars of North America, who spoke about the Volvo for life Awards and about Dr. Ingida Asfaw’s incredible work. In addition, Dr. Ingida Asfaw’s friends, family and associates attended the moving ceremony. Saint Joseph's Mercy Oakland's Chief of Staff, Stanley Dorfman, and Sinai Grace's President, Conrad Mallett, also joined the celebration and spoke passionately about the doctor and his mission to deliver desperately-needed healthcare to the people of Ethiopia – and to the medically underserved community of metropolitan Detroit. All this, however, is just is just a small part of Dr. Ingida Asfaw’s life story of incredible courage and devotion. At only 16, he left Ethiopia aboard a cargo ship, determined to study medicine in the United States and then return to Ethiopia with healing hands. He kept his promise when, in 1999, he started the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association (ENAHPA) and encouraged others to join him in treating the people of Ethiopia – a country where the ratio of physicians to population is 1 per 100,000. With support from over 500 medical and non-medical professionals and volunteers from the United States, Canada, China and South America, ENAHPA has led medical missions and other social initiatives to address the healthcare crisis in Ethiopia. Dr. Ingida Asfaw, along with his team of ENAHPA volunteers, has performed nearly 100 surgical procedures; conducted advanced training for 250 Ethiopian healthcare professionals; donated 32,400 books; and provided lifesaving medical equipment including instruments and supplies to several specialized hospitals, three universities and a leprosy research training center. Now over 500 AIDS orphans are also being cared for through a newly created program by Dr. Ingida Asfaw. A resident of Metro Detroit, Dr. Ingida Asfaw also works as cardiovascular surgeon at Sinai-Grace Hospital, St. Joseph POH North Oakland Medical Center, Huron Valley Hospital, Harper Hospital and Crittenton Hospital. Now Dr. Ingida Asfaw has taken on another challenge: working as a clinical professor of surgery at Wayne State University. Dr. Ingida Asfaw is also the chairman of cardiothoracic surgery at Trinity Heath-St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, and chief executive officer of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons of Michigan.
How You Can Help Ingida Asfaw, M.D.
To learn more about Dr. Asfaw and his cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.enahpa.org.
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