Healing across borders: Allina Health care team members take part in transformative medical mission

[Allina Newsroom, September 15, 2025] In a powerful demonstration of global collaboration and compassionate care, a recent medical mission to Kenya brought together clinicians from both the U.S. and Kenya to deliver life-changing services to underserved communities.

Fred Bw’Ombongi, vice president, Operations-Ancillary Support Services at Allina Health, cofounded the nonprofit Opening Village Doors Foundation, which fights poverty in Kenya through entrepreneurship and education through student scholarship.

Bw’Ombongi makes annual mission trips to Kenya. This year, he was joined by Badrinath Konety, MD, Allina Health’s Chief Academic Officer and president of Allina Health Cancer Institute. Dr. Konety is also a practicing physician.

Bw’Ombongi and Dr. Konety were part of a team that helped organize a Uro-Oncology medical camp, at Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital.

“Among the medical camp’s most powerful moments was a life-saving surgery on a 17-year-old patient suffering from a rare form of sarcoma,” said Dr. Konety.

The patient had previously been diagnosed with a testicular tumor and had undergone multiple surgeries and chemotherapy. Other facilities had rejected his case due to its complexity and associated risks.

“Yet, at Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital, under the guidance of the visiting team, the young man received a successful operation — a remarkable turning point that symbolized the very heart of this initiative: restoring hope where it had once waned,” Bw’Ombongi shared.

The care team included: Drs. Isaac Sheikh, Carrey Abonyo, Loice Achieng, Badrinath Konety and Fredrick Omitto. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Department of Diaspora Affairs, and a broad coalition of Kenyan and U.S. professionals.