April 3, 2011
By Mark Singelais - Albany Times Union
First Published: Sunday, April 3, 2011
Direct Link to Original Story and Photos
Dr. Joseph Marotta has treated Siena College athletes for nearly two decades, during which he's seen his share of knee injuries, sprained ankles and broken feet.
Those cases paled in comparison with the kind of trauma Marotta witnessed last August, when he visited a government hospital in the West African nation of Ghana.
Marotta, 52, a Siena graduate and the orthopedic surgeon for the college's athletic program, walked into a large ward with cinderblock walls and at least 50 beds.
The male patients had broken legs held together by external devices or casts. Some had large open wounds that were grossly infected.
One man's tibia had turned black. Marotta took one look and knew the leg would have to be amputated.
"Injuries that we treat routinely and take for granted, that basically we can treat and get normal function out of, become absolutely crippling or life-threatening over there," Marotta said.
To provide improved medical care to the people of Ghana, Marotta founded a nonprofit organization called Medicus In Christi -- Latin for "Doctor in Christ."
His mission is to take physicians to Africa to train young doctors there and to donate medical equipment where it is sorely lacking.
Marotta said he's carrying out the Franciscan values he learned at Siena before graduating in 1980.
"I've always hoped someday that if God gave me the skills to do something like this, as a doctor, I figured I could do some good for people that really needed it," Marotta said.
He is trying to raise $150,000 this year and $450,000 next year to get his program off the ground.
His board of directors includes Siena's president, the Rev. Kevin Mullen, who's had two hip replacements performed by Marotta.
"I find a lot of people asking the questions he asked (about helping others)," Mullen said. "They want to do something. Sometimes people don't follow through. Joe followed through."
Marotta was inspired to begin the Ghana project two years ago at his parish, St. Joan of Arc in Menands.
His pastor, Kofi Ntsiful-Amissah, a Ghanaian, brought in an Italian missionary who had served in Africa to speak to the congregation.
As the parishioners passed around the collection plate, the missionary said something that struck a chord with Marotta.
"He said, 'We need your money and we need your support, but if you think putting a $20 bill in a collection plate absolves you of responsibility to these needy people, you're wrong,' " Marotta recalled. "And that's what really pierced me like an arrow that day."
Marotta decided to first target Ghana, a country of 24 million people with 12 trained orthopedic surgeons, who find themselves overwhelmed partly because of a high frequency of car-pedestrian accidents. It's an occupational hazard for merchants who linger in the street to sell their merchandise -- everything from food to car parts to coffins.
"There are huge, whole areas there with absolutely no orthopedic care," Marotta said. "They don't have any equipment. They can't even put a cast on a person. So I said, 'This sounds like something that is really worthwhile.' "
He's found a powerful ally in Cardinal Peter Turkson, a native of Ghana who studied with Marotta's pastor at the St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer.
Appointed to the Vatican, Turkson accompanied Marotta to Washington, D.C., last month as they met Congressmen Chris Smith of New Jersey and Chris Gibson of Kinderhook to lobby for funds.
"Believe me, if it wasn't for the Cardinal, I wouldn't get five minutes with any of these people," Marotta said.
He remains hopeful of raising the necessary funds for Medicus In Christi, whether from federal sources or Catholic-based charities. He said he needs $75,000 to take a 12-person medical team to Ghana in July to begin setting up the Turkson Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center Hospital, also known as TORCH.
Marotta has reached out to college and medical-school friends to assist him, including Craig Curry, an anesthesiologist from Yarmouth, Maine. He and Marotta played together on Siena's lacrosse team.
"Knowing Joe as a college teammate and friend, it makes it easy to believe in the forthrightness of what he's trying to do," Curry said. "The first thing that comes to mind with him is integrity."
Marotta would like to eventually expand Medicus In Christi to other African countries and to areas beyond orthopedics, such as cardiology and gastroenterology.
"There's no limit to what we can do potentially for these people," Marotta said. "There's no limit to the need that these people have."
How to help:
For more information or to donate to Medicus In Christi, log on to http://medicusinchristi.org, or send a check payable to: Medicus In Christi Ltd. to Joseph Marotta at 16 Macaffer Drive, Menands, N.Y. 12204
