So No Child Must Wait

La Paz, Bolivia: Teaching

  Nurse Education 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

Teaching local doctors and nurses is one of Interplast's highest priorities. By sharing our knowledge, we help other countries become more self-sufficient.  Local doctors and nurses can perform many more surgeries over the course of a year than we can on a two week trip.  Each trip we try to teach as much as possible, and we usually get a great response.

To hear more from the rest of the Interplast surgical volunteer team and their patients in La Paz, Bolivia, check out the La Paz, Bolivia surgical trip blog.

Azogues, Ecuador: A Global University

This afternoon, Dr. Shankar Rai (plastic surgeon and Interplast Surgical Outreach Center director in Kathmandu, Nepal) and Dr. Amaia Arana (anesthesiologist) gave lectures at the Catholic University in Cuenca to local medical students, many of whom are taught by Dr. Quinde. They were surprised and thrilled to have approximately 150 students show up to hear their talks. Dr. Rai discussed his involvement with Interplast, and explained how Interplast's focus on education and local empowerment has really turned the organization into a global university. Dr. Rai was trained by Interplast and is now helping to train other local surgeons by going on surgical trips to other sites in Vietnam and South America. He also included many slides of burn cases he has treated in Nepal (I closed my eyes when it got too graphic so as not to faint) and many students approached him afterwards to copy his lecture on their computers. Dr. Arana also gave a wonderful lecture on pediatric anesthesia, and since she is originally from Spain (but now working in England), she was really able to interact with the audience in their native language which everyone really enjoyed.

To hear more from the rest of the Interplast surgical volunteer team and their patients in Azogues, Ecuador, check out the Azogues, Ecuador trip surgical trip blog.

Ganzhou City, China: Surprise!

  Suprise! 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

This man brought his grandson to Interplast without telling the boy's parents, who are migrant workers. He said they would have worried. The grandfather is very pleased with the results, and eager to see the reactions of the parents when they next come back to visit.

To see more of the rest of the Interplast surgical volunteer team and their patients in Ganzhou City, China, check out the Ganzhou City, China surgical trip blog.