So No Child Must Wait

Mr. Charming Personality

  Victor 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

Azogues, Ecuador - Sheila Wolfson, translator/coordinator: Victor and his father came from Santa Marineta to get help from the Interplast team. When Victor was 4 years old he was playing with a machete and accidentally cut his hand. After it happened, he was taken to the clinic in his town and he needed to have one of his fingers amputated. Despite this treatment, he still could not move his remaining fingers very well and it was creating problems for him in school when he needed to write. Our surgeons hoped to repair his tendon, providing him more movement in the hand. His freckles, charming personality, bright smile and cooperative spirit endeared him to everyone on the team.

Tags: Victor, amputee, Ecuador, charming, freckles

Singing Paula

 

                   Watch the video 

La Paz, Bolivia - Cris Davila, medical supplies associate: This is Paulina (whom you may remember from this post), serenading our team. She had quite a repertoire, but this was her favorite.

Tags: Interplast, sing, serenade, Bolivia, Paula

Interplast in the News

Seth Mazow - communications and technology coordinator: Interplast has had a quite an eventful day in the media today.  Check out this video from the NBC affiliate station in Rhode Island about Dr. Richard Gillerman, Interplast board member and volunteer anesthesiologist on the Ganzhou City, China surgical team trip.  You can also read the team blog which offers more in-depth coverage.

And while you're at it, check out the Lansing State Journal (MI) article on Anne Nguyen.  Anne was born in Vietnam and survived a brutal acid-burn attack.  She emigrated to America, and has been returning to Vietnam to help others in similar situations as a coordinator/translator for Interplast surgical teams.  Her story is simply amazing.  For more information on Anne's story, check out the blog for the Cao Lanh, Vietnam surgical team trip.

Tags: Interplast, acid, burn, NBC, media, Lansing, Rhode Island, Richard Gillerman, Anne Nguyen

Our First Independent Volunteer Blog!

Seth Mazow, communications and technology coordinator: Cool! David MacLeod, a volunteer anesthesiologist from the Interplast 2006 La Paz, Bolivia surgical team has his own personal blog about the trip. Check it out.

This is the first time that a volunteer has kept their own blog about their experience independent of the Interplast one. As time goes on, this will probably become more and more common as blogging becomes more popular and easy. I think that the more perspectives that people have on Interplast, the greater their understanding of us, and reconstructive plastic surgery as a whole, will be.

Tags: David MacLeod, anesthesiologist, blog, volunteer, Interplast

Baby Care Unnecessary

Baby Care Unnecessary
Originally uploaded by interplast.

La Paz, Bolivia - Amy Laden, director of international services: This woman came into clinic with an open wound, which apparently heals and then re-opens. Dr. Huntsman was able to do a 10 minute procedure to solve the problem. Ana Maria and I were eager to do baby care (such a cutie!) while she had the short procedure, but she kept the baby with her. Fortunately, the baby slept, and didn't need Momma's attention for a little bit.

Tags: Interplast, La Paz, Bolivia, baby care

Planning With Post-Its

Planning With Post-Its
Originally uploaded by interplast.

La Paz, Bolivia - Amy Laden, director of international services: This is our international partner, Dr. Jorge Terrazas, and Dr. Tom Huntsman, our team leader, planning the next day’s schedule. Notice the post-its system on the wall. Each color represents a different kind of operation, so Tom can switch patients around to maximize the team’s time.

Tags: Interplast, La Paz, Bolivia, Post-It

Instructions For Post-Op Care

Instructions For Post-Op Care
Originally uploaded by interplast.

La Paz, Bolivia - Amy Laden, director of international services: Dr. Huntsman, on the recommendation of our surgery committee, developed this sheet of instructions for families of children who have had surgery to refer to on the wards, so that they can help with the post-op care. Dr. Dora Rusin Gomez, of Interplast's international services department translated the instructions into Spanish.
Tags: La Paz, Bolivia, Interplast, instructions, hand surgery

Child With Crayons

Child With Crayons
Originally uploaded by interplast.

La Paz, Bolivia - Amy Laden - director of international services: Interplast sends crayons and sheets from coloring books donated by the Ronald McDonald House Charities to keep the children busy while waiting for surgery, or recovering from it.
Tags: La Paz, Bolivia, Interplast, RMHC, coloring books

Heisman Trophy Winner Before Surgery

  Heisman Trophy Winner Before Surgery 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

Here is our little Heisman trophy winner before his hand reconstruction surgery. You may remember him from his famous pose after surgery.

Tags: hand, reconstructive surgery, Heisman, bolivia

Experimenting with Interplast Chat via Gabbly

Seth Mazow - communications and technology coordinator: Let's try a little experiment. I bet many of you who discover our blog have some questions about Interplast. Maybe you are curious why we go to some countries and not others. Or maybe you're curious how we raise our money to pay for the surgeries we perform and the training we provide.

Since we rarely get questions in the form of comments or emails, I thought we should try out a chat program. With the help of Net Squared, I discovered a free program called Gabbly that requires no registration, usernames or passwords. So today (Monday, May 15), if you want to ask anything of the Interplast staff just click on the Gabbly Interplast chat window right here and I'll be here all day (translation: until 6pm PST) to try to answer them.

Tags: Interplast, chat, gabbly