Worldwide Healing Hands

Dr. Paula Dhanda has delivered thousands of babies in Lake County and is renowned for revolutionizing women's healthcare. She is a dedicated physician to patients in her local community as well as to those around the world, through her non-profit organization, Worldwide Healing Hands.

In the words of Dr. Paula Dhanda "Something happens to you, when you leave your family, friends and comforts behind to care for strangers. You discover the opportunity to touch lives in a lasting way."

As a young girl growing up in Bombay, India, she witnessed extreme poverty first hand and watched her surgeon father serving the city's large indigent population.

In 1990, she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps. She left her successful practice in affluent Beverly Hills to move to Lake County where there was a physician shortage. Here she led the way in establishing the obstetric program and introduced many new technologies to the area including minimally invasive surgery and the first laser in Northern California.

She now leads a global initiative to provide medical care to women around the world. She began her international initiative in 2009 when she was invited by a fellow surgeon to participate in a medical mission in Chad, Africa. There they performed 50 surgeries in 2 weeks, delivered many high risk babies and trained the local staff. Since then she has led medical teams on 2 missions to Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. In 2012 and 2013 Worldwide Healing Hands embarked on a mission to Nepal where they gave care to 2500 women, trained 28 midwives in life saving procedures and performed numerous surgeries.

Her efforts to alleviate suffering and promote wellness received recognition in 2010 when Adventist Health presented Her with its "Physician of the Year Mission Award." In 2011 she received the Soroptimist Ruby Award which acknowledges women who are working in extraordinary ways to improve the lives of women and girls. In 2012 she received the Marla Ruzicka Humanitarian of the Year Award. In 2013 she was given the American Red Cross Real Heroes award, which “recognizes those in our community who have shown courage, dedication and character through extraordinary acts of heroism and kindness.”