HYDE PARK – Ben Geller, a candidate running for a seat on the Dutchess County Legislature, is stepping off the campaign trail and heading to Kenya next month as part of a medical team that provides services to people that have little or no access to medical services. The one-week trip is the latest of several he has made to Africa for medical missions.
The Republican Geller is employed as a medic with an ambulance service in the Hudson Valley and also serves as the Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator and President of the Roosevelt Fire District. “I have attended multiple trips to Ghana and Kenya with multiple organizations including Mully Children’s Family, the world’s largest orphanage, and Global Health Outreach, which sends medical teams all over the globe,” said Geller while planning the trip.
“We have been able to establish clinics in southern Ghana, sending people from the country to school to become medical providers. The goal is to build healthcare systems where medical teams are no longer required to come and supplement care. We are going with a team of 30, including physicians of all specialties, dentists, nurses, physicians’ assistants, nursing practitioners, and first responders from all over the country. Most of us have gone on about a dozen trips together over the past 4 years,” Geller proudly exclaimed.
Geller has been on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic since the beginning. “In March of 2020, we were in Kenya on a medical mission when the first COVID cases came through the country. The Kenyan Government approached our team to consult on the issue, which was very humbling,” according to the medic. Things weren’t easy following the consultation, Geller said. “We got stuck in the airport for three days because they shut down the border while we were trying to get flights stateside.”
