Depuy Spine USA

Alam 17, Maryfel 16, Damaris 10, Mario 20, William 17, Roselbia 17, Ana 12, Emelyn 16, Franklin 17, Massiel 15, Dariana 16, Pamela 21, Yanil 15, Juleisy 15, Mideline 18, Wilson 19, Phillip 15, Ana 16, Eunice 17, Lusahidily 12, Mercedes 37, Flor 20, Cynthia 16, Yesica 17, Jose 16, Sheryll 14, Yerolanny 17, Youseline 12, Miguel 17, Esteanny 14, Winifer 12, Andritson 16, Alberto 42, Felix 18, Victor 20, Jose 18, Ruth 13, Miranda 16, Daysi 37, Gernelys 14, Santa 17, Perla 11.

42 patients

4 trips

18 months

On behalf of CURE and the patients we serve I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Depuy Spine on the behalf of the 42 patients that have had life changing surgery because of their generous support. Only 18 months after their first visit they have sponsored a total of 4 trips, inspiring many, educating, forming relationships and changing lives. At CURE we are all about giving our patients loving state of the art care and providing long term follow up for those that we treat making it possible to safely do such complex operations in the developing world.

Todd Spiegel of Depuy Spine and Dr. Howard Place and team from St. Louis University have repeatedly devoted their personal time and expertise to make these last 4 trips possible. Their sincerity and commitment to these children and to our hospital has enabled unparalleled care. Since this October 6-10 trip - Omar 16, Abigail 11, Orlando 18, and Katherin 15 have already been added to our waiting list for scoliosis surgery. We will hopefully be setting dates soon for a return trip.

Esteanny 14 and Andritson 16 @ 2 week post op visit

Click on any of the photos above to take you more photos of spinal deformity surgery at CURE Santo Domingo

September 2008 Haiti Trip 14

With needs more desperate than ever, the Haitian people once again inspired us to set our own corporal desires aside. We worked day night to relieve just a small portion of their pain and suffering. Making a difference one life at a time we operated on 46 patients with a variety of complex problems. In spite of a broken down infrastructure, lack of electricity, and fuel we were able work around these obstacles and treat more patients than on any previous trip. I was privileged to have along with me two of my mentors Dr. Terry Dietrich a devoted mission doctor responsible for my original introduction to the Dominican Republic and also Dr. Doug Benson from northern California.

Each and every one of these patients came with a special story. There was the man with an external fixator on his leg which had become infected after having navigated the floodwaters of Gonaive. He was accompanied only by his 7 year old son. There was the 11 year old boy who had lost most of his leg due to the brutaine traction methods used by the local doctors for a simple femur fracture. Then there was Presler (pictured) a sweet natured 16 year old boy intentionally burned 3 months ago by his father, for not listening to him. His neck shoulder and elbow had all become severely contracted leaving him with a monster like appearance. Due to providential circumstance, Dr. Duncan Miles (Loma Linda University Plastic Surgeon) was able to come to Haiti for one day to help us with this case. Tuesday night he performed a sophisticated latisimus dorsi rotational flap and z-plasty to complete the first stage of several reconstructive procedures that will be needed. In spite of a painful operation the next day Presler smiled at us from under his mosquito net and said “thank you”. After doing several more cases the following morning, Dr. Miles flew home to Los Angeles leaving us an extra $200 to buy some more diesel for the generator so we could continue operating without delay.

Jean Role director of clubfoot Haiti was also able to join us after riding 4 buses and wading through 3 rivers to get to Cap Haitien coming from the capital. Nonetheless he showed up the next morning dressed for business with his shirt ironed and pants clean. We made significant progress with the Ponseti clubfoot program casting more than 25 feet and doing percutaneous tenotomies on 9 cases. With the help of Robbie Jackson significant strides were also made on the administration and documentation necessary for the success of this program.

There will be 2 new Haitian orthopaedic residents joining the Cap Haitien residency program. We have been asked to become an integral part of their training and possibly increase the frequency of our visits. Both of them have worked with us in the past and are motivated and responsible which is very encouraging as it will allow us to enhance our training program as well as the efficiency and quality of our work for the patients.

Click photo above to see more pictures from this trip.

Orthofix

The generous donation of Orthofix to CURE International is revolutionizing deformity correction, limb lengthening and trauma care at our Dominican Republic and Haiti sites. Some of the common uses for these devices are bowlegs, other angular deformities of the lower extremities, lengthening for congenital short femur, osteomyelitis, fractures, nonunions, and bone transport for bone deficiency after trauma.

Pictured is a 12 year old boy named Laudy who lives in a destitute part of the Dominican Republic about 4 hours from the capital. When he came to CURE he was diagnosed with pseudoachondroplasia a type of dwarfism with this typical “windswept” deformity of the lower extremities. The angular deformities were analyzed and 6 osteotomies were performed along with the application of 4 Orthofix Paediatric LRS rails. Prior to this 4 hour operation Laudy was hardly able to walk. Today he is elated to be running for the first time in his life. Now he has brought the first of several cousins who are also affected by this rare type of dwarfism. Click here to see pictures of his cousin Yini along with some other patients treated at our center.

Because of the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Orthofix equipment that has been donated to CURE International we are able to provide our patients care that is equal to the best centers in the United States and Europe. Because of this type of generosity, our personal sacrifices, and economization we perform these many complex operations at a fraction of the cost that they would cost in the developed world. Also, relatively unique to CURE is our permanent or long term presence in the countries in which we serve making possible these operations that involve a process of close follow-up for procedures such as limb lengthening, bone transport, and deformity correction.

Thank you and congratulations to Orthofix and those of you who work for this generous company which is making a positive difference in this world.

Small Country Church - Big Hearts

“The church is in Philadelphia, MS, my hometown. It's a small country church, with mostly country people, but they have big hearts” describes Terry Winstead a recent visitor to CURE International Dominican Republic. After visiting our hospital, Terry, an occupational therapist from Mississippi returned home inspired to make a difference. He presented the Bethsaida Baptist Church with a report of his trip and a challenge to donate for surgical care of disabled children in the Dominican Republic. In addition he promised to make a matching donation for whatever was placed in the offering plate. After doubling their Sunday morning offering the amount reached over $3500. Each and every one of those dollars will be again multiplied as the lives of the children and families that we serve are changed through medical and spiritual healing. By personal sacrifice, corporate equipment donations, and harvesting wasted excess of medical supplies in the United States we are able to provide state of the art surgical care for our patients at a fraction of the cost normally required. Not everyone is called to leave the shores of their comfort zone to serve, but these simple folk from Mississippi have stepped forward as an example of what Christ has repeatedly asked us to do. Call it an investment, moral obligation, or Biblical principle, the rewards of sacrifice are great.

Give and it will be given to you... Luke 6:38

Roynelis, a 4 year old girl born with a nonfunctional thumb on the left hand underwent reconstructive surgery to create a thumb by transplantation of her index finger. In addition to a wrist repositioning surgery a similar operation will be performed on the right side where she was born missing a thumb and one of her forearm bones. Thanks to support from people like the members of the Bethsaida Baptist Church CURE surgeons and staff are able to transform the lives of children around the world. Click here to see pictures of similar operations performed at CURE Dominican Republic.

Arrowhead Orthopaedics Sponsors Rotation in the Dominican Republic

On behalf of Loma Linda University and CURE International I would like to thank Arrowhead Orthopaedics for their generous financial support of the international pediatric and limb deformity rotation in the Dominican Republic. To our knowledge this is the only ACGME approved orthopaedic elective rotation in the developing world making it a unique feature of the Loma Linda orthopaedic residency program and CURE International. Because of the financial support of Arrowhead Orthopaedics and the administrative support of Loma Linda University and the orthopaedic department an important part of the mission of LLU has been reintegrated into the residency program and placed us at the forefront of modern humanitarian and outreach efforts in orthopaedic education.

Over the past several years there has been a growing interest amongst medical students and young physicians in medical missions and social responsibility. This has spread throughout secular universities throughout the modern world. In contrast to years past, most of these efforts are purely humanitarian as opposed to previous years where the large majority of this work was carried out by religious groups. Loma Linda University was established with the unique charter to train physicians for this type of work long before the secular world became interested. At LLU there is a resurgence of interest in this work as well as strong administrative support which has made possible the success of this orthopaedic rotation amongst other similar endeavors.

The rotation at CURE International in the Dominican Republic and Haiti is a unique opportunity to provide first world orthopaedic care for the challenging problems of the developing world. Due to consanguinity, environmental contaminants, and public health and safety issues we treat a wide variety of rare congenital deformities, developmental problems, post-traumatic disorders as well as other diseases such as polio and TB which are rarely seen in the US. As if many of these problems were not challenging enough, they often do not present themselves in a timely fashion and often have been mistreated at other centers making the challenge even more difficult.

Over the past 3 years a number of top quality visiting professors have greatly added to the resident education and quality of services we offer. This has given the opportunity for the residents to work and develop relationships with surgeons from other programs in the United States. (We are still awaiting a promised visit from Maestro Jim Matiko – possibly this will be realized in 2009.) In addition the armamentarium of equipment has substantially increased over the last several years. Spinal deformity corrections are commonly performed with the latest pedicle screw systems. As well, we have developed an in depth experience with external fixation and limb deformity correction and limb lengthening reconstruction. Residents are getting extensive experience with Orthofix external fixation, Ilizarov, and with the Taylor Spatial Frame which is a computer assisted six axis deformity correction device recently placed on the orthopaedic market.

Sam Chen MD quotes “Thanks to the sponsorship by Arrowhead Orthopaedics, I was given training not obtainable in my home program. I was able to see the effect of untreated pathology and the suffering it can cause. More importantly, I was also able to see the gratitude of people when they are provided with help from outside organizations.”

At CURE International Dominican Republic we have hosted residents from New York, St. Louis, Mayo Clinic, Riverside County Regional Medical Center and Loma Linda. We also have become a regular part of the curriculum for residents from two of the Dominican orthopaedic surgery residency programs. Although the rotation for US residents is ACGME approved, administrative support and financial support has been lacking at other institutions (aside from LLU) inhibiting the ability to formalize the elective for the residents from other programs many of whom have used vacation time for their visits. For this reason we owe a great degree of gratitude to Arrowhead Orthopaedics for financially supporting this endeavor and appreciating the importance of this educational experience and our heritage as educators and students at Loma Linda University.