Located in the heart of Accra and operating with U.S. standards of safety, care and doctor-patient confidentiality, LuccaHealth Medical Center will provide same-day surgical and specialty care, as well as diagnostic imaging services.
Using the latest innovations in medical interventions and leveraging its telemedicine partnership with New York University School of Medicine, the physicians and nurses at LuccaHeath Medical Center will provide U.S. quality, patient-centric care in the moments that matter the most for our patients.
At LuccaHealth, we are partners – with our patients and their physicians. We are committed to ensuring patients receive the care their doctors prescribe – without having to wait or leave West Africa.
Our physicians and nurses – in general surgery, gynecology, gastroenterology, ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat), and cardiology – are as devoted to delivering innovative quality care as they are to ensuring patients’ health, well-being and confidentiality.
ABOUT
LuccaHealth Medical Center’s physicians and nurses are skilled at providing the type of specialty care and same-day surgical interventions that are needed – and for which too many who live in West Africa must wait or leave the region to get abroad. Our team of specialists and nurses are deeply committed to delivering the same quality of medical care and modern diagnostics in Ghana that patients find in New York, London, Paris or Johannesburg. With a purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility, LuccaHealth patients can choose to stay home and get well – without waiting.
LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT
Rodney Armstead, President & Chief Medical Officer
A board-certified general internist, Dr. Armstead graduated from the University of California, Irvine and holds an M.D. from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Prior to joining LuccaHealth, Dr. Armstead ran a healthcare consulting practice as a principal at Armstead & Esslinger. Previously, Dr. Armstead worked for UnitedHealth Group (UHG), the world’s largest healthcare company, in strategic leadership roles for both UHG as President of the US Northeast Region and as Executive Vice President for Optum, a healthcare infrastructure division serving over 80 million customers. In 1994, he served as Director, Office of Managed Care, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as an appointee in the Clinton Administration.
Stephanie Wiafe, Chief Nursing Officer
A board-certified nurse practitioner, Ms. Wiafe holds a B.S. in Nursing from Boston College and a graduate degree from the University of Massachusetts with a concentration in acute care and the cardiovascular subspecialty. Ms. Wiafe has been resident in Ghana for the past year working for LuccaHealth. Prior to joining LuccaHealth, Ms. Wiafe worked for more than ten years as a coordinator and nurse practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital – the main teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School – with a primary focus on cardiac surgery. Previously, she worked for more than a decade in senior nursing roles at Tufts-New England Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco General Hospital and New York – Cornell Medical Center.
SPECIALTY SPOTLIGHT
Fatima Khambaty, General Surgeon
A board-certified general surgeon, Dr. Khambaty earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkley and her medical degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Khambaty specializes in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. She is a member of the American College of Surgeons. Prior to joining LuccaHealth, Dr. Khambaty practiced with the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group as the Assistant Chief of the Department of Surgery at Kaiser Permanente in Washington, D.C. Prior to practicing with Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Khambaty practiced as an attending general surgeon at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., one of the leading hospitals in the United States.
Udele Tagoe, Gynecologist
A board-certified gynecologist, Dr. Tagoe earned her Bachelor’s degree from Duke University and her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Tagoe specializes in general gynecology and minimally invasive gynecologic surgery procedures, such as laparoscopic surgery. She is a member of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, as well as a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Prior to joining LuccaHealth, Dr. Tagoe practiced with Aria Jefferson Health, The Center for Gynecology and Women’s Health, as attending gynecologic surgeon and Interim Chair of the Gynecology Department in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Previously, she was attending gynecologic surgeon with the Gynecology Specialists of Philadelphia at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, a University of Pennsylvania affiliate.
ANESTHESIA SPOTLIGHT
Asheri Mainsah, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
A certified nurse anesthetist, Ms. Mainsah earned her Bachelor’s degree from Grambling University and her Master’s in Nursing from Fairfield University in Connecticut. Ms. Mainsah specializes in pre, intra and post-operative management of diverse patient populations for general surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, OB/Gyn, pediatrics, vascular and cardio thoracic surgeries and trauma. Prior to joining LuccaHealth, Ms. Mainsah worked at United States Anesthesia Partners in Houston, Texas. Before residing in Texas, Ms. Mainsah practiced in Connecticut at Anesthesia Associates of Southern Connecticut and Anesthesia Associates of New London.
LuccaHealth is a BlackIvy endeavor. Anchored in Ghana and Tanzania, BlackIvy is a values-driven company that builds and grows commercial enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa that unlock new sources of growth. BlackIvy builds businesses – from housing to healthcare – that serve the needs of the growing population and that provide solutions – from logistics to infrastructure – for growing businesses.
APPROACH
At LuccaHealth Medical Center, we are deeply committed to delivering high quality, accessible health care. Our physicians and nurses are dedicated to providing our patients with an excellent clinical experience every time they visit LuccaHealth Medical Center – through a patient centric-model of care that engages patients in their own health care decisions; meaningful partnerships with referring and treating physicians as collaborators in caregiving; and the platform of an innovative facility.
PATIENT-CENTRIC CARE
Our physicians and nurses embrace a U.S. model of patient-centric care—providing care that respects and responds to each patient’s preferences, needs and values. Honoring the importance of privacy and confidentiality, we also take care to ensure that our patients’ values guide our clinical decisions. Patient care is coordinated and integrated between disciplines, from nursing to primary care to specialist physicians to imaging and diagnostics and other support services. Our patients’ care plans will always consider patients' physical comfort, desire for emotional support and preferences for involvement of family and friends. Our model of care is designed to facilitate effective communication with patients, family and caregivers; patients’ education and understanding regarding their health; and, continuity of care among care providers and throughout our patients’ entire experience.
PARTNERSHIP WITH PHYSICIANS
Our physicians and nurses understand the value of partnership in caring for patients. That is why we have invested in a practice management system that facilitates real-time sharing of clinical information with referring and treating physicians. We want to deliver the best clinical decisions at the time a patient is seen — giving the right care, at the right time, in one place. Our physicians and nurses are invested in the Ghanaian medical community. Today, they are performing and supporting surgical procedures at facilities in Accra and regionally – sharing the value of their minimally invasive technical skills as well as offering the transfer of knowledge to physicians who choose to work beside them during procedures.
FACILITY
LuccaHealth Medical Center is a new, state-of-the-art facility designed with our patients’ comfort and needs in mind. It will be located in East Legon in Accra. LuccaHealth will employ a full-time team of U.S and locally-trained physician specialists who will provide consultation and on-site minimally invasive surgical procedures to treat patients and send them home the same day, with minimal complications. LuccaHealth also will offer world-class imaging and diagnostics services on-site, supported by a full-time interventional radiologist. Our patients will have convenient, immediate diagnostic support for their specialists and referring physicians. LuccaHealth’s seamless electronic environment (using the AllScripts’ Sunrise Practice Management Platform) will enable patients and their physicians to have access to real-time consultation, surgical and imaging reports and records.
SERVICES
LuccaHealth will offer a range of services within each specialty; some of the advanced services our physicians will offer include:
Cardiology
Full suite of services for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases
Trans-esophageal and trans-thoracic echocardiography (evaluation of shortness-of-breath due to cardiac abnormality)
Continuous Holter Monitor and Cardioversion (diagnosis and treatment of abnormal heart beat)
Evaluation of the heart vessels for blockage (CT coronary angiography—calcium scoring)
Exercise and medication-induced cardiac stress testing
Dedicated cardiac nuclear scanning
Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT)
Endoscopic sinus surgery (evaluation and treatment of sinus polyps and lesions)
Tonsillectomy (removal of tonsils) & Adenoidectomy (removal of adenoids)
Biopsies
Myringotomy (ear tube drainage)
Septoplasty (nasal septum surgery)
Tympanoplasty (surgical repair of ear drum)
Gastroenterology
Full suite of services for diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases
Diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy
+ Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (evaluation of esophagus and stomach)
+ Colonoscopy (evaluation of the colon for cancer, polyps, and inflammatory bowel disease)
+ Sigmiodscopy (evaluation of causes of rectal bleeding)
General Surgery
Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery for:
+ Hernias
+ Colon
+ Gallbladder
Breast conservation surgery for cancer
Thyroid surgery and other neck masses
Removal of minor “lumps and bumps”, skin lesions (lipomas, cysts, growths)
Hemorrhoids and other ano-rectal diseases
Gynecology
Full suite of Gynecologic services for women from menarche to menopause
Minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopic and vaginal) for:
+ Uterine fibroids, including hysterectomy and myomectomy
+ Endometriosis (a painful menstrual condition)
LEEP/cone biopsy (surgical treatment of cervical pre-cancer)
Diagnostic/Operative Hysteroscopy (evaluation / management of abnormal uterine bleeding)
Ancillary Services
Ambulatory Electrocardiography (Holter Monitoring)
Transoesophageal Echocardiogram
Echocardiography
Interventional Radiology
Stress test
Physiotherapy
Ultrasound
CONTACT
LuccaHealth Medical Specialty Center
The Grand Oyeeman
Mezzanine Level
#9 Airport Commercial Centre
37 Liberation Road
Accra, Ghana
General Inquiries: info@luccahealth.com
Careers: talent@luccahealth.com