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In the beginning of November, Surgicorps concluded another great Surgical Mission in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was the 19^th trip to Vietnam and the second trip to a new hospital for Surgicorps in Vietnam. Over 80 patients were helped. The majority of our patients were young children, though many adults were treated as well. Operations included cleft lip, cleft palate, congenital hand and complex burn scar reconstruction. Unique on this mission, four residents joined us . Three of our residents are plastic surgery residents and one an anesthesia resident. A University of Minnesota study has found that 50 percent of our residents who have an experience like the Surgicorps mission during their training go on to be involved with missions during their careers after the completion of their training.

Surgicorps is excited to be planning a return to Vietnam this next year and continue to work to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor in Vietnam.

You are probably already aware of the Surgicorps mission, so I will get right down to it and leave you with a few impressions from my first visit to Zambia.

What comes to mind when you think of the country Zambia? A hot, dry, third world African nation? Yes, it is that but oh so much more.

The Beit CURE Children’s hospital sits on a lovely college like campus, six one story brick buildings surrounded by green grass, swing sets and a playground. All of the staff speak perfect English and they welcomed us with open arms, ready to help with anything necessary to ensure a successful week. I was wondering how my OR back home would respond if a team arrived and we had to work side by side with strangers…we probably would be defensive with bruised egos. The CURE staff responded with such kindness and humility. The people are soft spoken and gracious, full of joy and faith. As a Christian, faith based hospital, there is a lot of singing, clapping and praise to God.

The week starts with screening Sunday, with many to see in a limited time. It is just heart breaking that some will wait in the heat for hours and hope will be dashed as there aren’t enough hours in the day to see and treat them all. It makes you want to stay for months to help everyone, not just a week to help a lucky few.

The biggest leap of faith comes from the mothers. They don’t know us from a hill of beans but trust us with their most prized possession. They hand over their babies and children to us and most of the older kids walk into the OR without so much as a peep. Their trust in us is humbling!

I worked side by side with strangers I had just met but then become fast friends who gel within hours into an amazing, hard working team. Surgicorps recruits the most talented, caring, kind and fun staff to go on each trip, and we all bond over our common goal of helping others.

We had five days of surgery and helped 73 kids! There were a lot of tears as the CURE team sang to thank us for the week and sent us off with joy in our hearts and a little sadness to be leaving. The week flew by!

We even had a pickle ball clinic! Four women from Pittsburgh brought nets, paddles and balls to introduce the game at a clinic across the street from the hospital. They touched many lives serving those in a different capacity, but still serving. They worked hard in the heat!

This was my second Surgicorps trip, the first to Zambia and I always leave with more than I came with. I come home tired but with a renewed sense of purpose and a reminder to appreciate what I have and to live with gratitude!

Thanks to Dr. Jack Demos for your vision so many years ago! And thanks to DeNese for keeping us on time, on track and safe with a calming voice that never got flustered.

It was an honor to be part of this amazing team.

Jodi Yingling, BSN RN CNOR RNFA

Brett Yingling, BSN RN

When DeNese asked us to write a blog for our most recent Surgicorps trip to Guatemala, I felt that I needed to give everyone a background of how this all began for us.

I had always had a goal to do a mission trip to a foreign country to help those less fortunate than myself by donating my time and talents in Operating room nursing. Traveling back about 25 years, another RN and myself were discussing my wish in the Operating Room when she told me that she knew just the organization that I needed to contact to make my wishes come true. She wrote down the name of Surgicorps and Dr. Jack Demos’ name and told me that they were traveling to other countries to provide free surgical services to people in need. Our children were young at the time and I could not plan a mission at that time. I always carried that piece of paper in my wallet, moving it everytime I changed wallets.

Fast forward 25 years, our kids are out of college and the house. I pulled that piece of paper out of my wallet and told my husband that it was time and I was going to apply for a mission trip with Surgicorps. I applied and was accepted to go to Guatemala in 2017. My husband supported my decision and drove me to the Pittsburgh airport, dropped me off and said Goodbye.

I didn’t know anyone on the team and roomed with an Occupational Therapist from Boston. The week was life changing for me. I got to do what I love, (Surgeries), and felt blessed with a full heart when I returned.

My husband is also a Registered Nurse in Surgical Trauma ICU. When he saw my excitement to return to Guatemala to do another mission trip, he said he wanted to volunteer as well. He said, “I’m not an Operating Room Nurse, but I’m sure there is something that I can do”. So, he applied as well and was accepted to go to Guatemala the following year. Our team became unexpectedly short on OR nurses, so Stephanie, the trip coordinator, asked my husband if he would be willing to “fill in” as an OR nurse. He chuckled and said “I will do anything you need as long as the surgeon knows I’m not an OR nurse”. So, he became an OR nurse for the week. The surgeons were all very patient and kind and he found his niche.

Two more Guatemala trips since that time, and we feel like a well oiled machine with a family that work together with a common goal in mind. After completing 105 surgeries this year with a lean crew, we left Guatemala with tired legs and achy feet, but a very full heart. And completing the 100th Surgicorps mission was the icing on the cake for all!

We are so appreciative to have the opportunity to help the people of Guatemala receive the care they need, and we are grateful to Surgicorps for allowing us to fulfill our humanitarian service. We look forward to future mission trips with Surgicorps!

Elizabeth Andrew 

Medical assistant  

When I was five years old, I had an accident in a Kenya boarding school. I severely broke my left arm. The doctors wanted to amputate my arm. A group of volunteer nuns believed I had a chance to have a full recovery  with orthopedic surgery and follow-up intensive physical therapy. I believe God used those nuns to give hope to my parents. Today, I am a miracle that testifies to the goodness of humanitarian people who had faith of what is possible. I have deep passion when it comes to children. To see a child smile and not be worried about life is the greatest joy that fills my heart. I was a member of the Surgicorps Zambia team of 21 volunteers that brought hope to the children and their parents for a chance, with surgery, for a normal life.

Wahamba nathi, oh wahamba nathi (You walked with us, oh you walked with us) 

Oh, wahamba nathi, siyabonga (Oh you walked with us, we thank you) 

 
This song expressing gratitude was sung in harmony together as we were walking through the childrens’ ward at The Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia on the final day of our mission. The voices……a combination of children, their families, the hospital staff and our Surgicorps team. We sang and danced. Our hearts were full of joy and laughter as we celebrated side by side with the people of Zambia. 

Walking together on day one…….We screened over 150 cases, many of them heart-breaking, and yet there was hope! Parents walked with hope from the screening rooms to see the anesthesia team, waiting for that final OK for the surgery their children so desperately needed.

Walking together day two to day five  

The surgeries were from Monday to Friday with dressing changes also on Friday. I was expectedly nervous on the first day, but those butterflies quickly disappeared. Everyone on the team in the operating room walked together with the purpose of changing one child at a time.  My emotions welled up seeing such treatable disabilities, but due to hard circumstances, the children had been living with these conditions. Eighty-one successful surgeries were performed on children ranging from one year old to eighteen years. I was amazed at the dedication of our team and the CURE hospital staff in walking together to care for each child.

Asante sana (thank you very much) sincerely to be part of the humanitarian kindness to these beautiful children.   

 
I wanted to thank God for this opportunity to be able to go to Zambia to minister to the children and they ministered to my heart. They opened my mind to wanting to return to be with them, walk with them again, and celebrate their progress. I look forward to seeing all of them, especially Kevin, a 12-year-old boy, who said he wants to become a doctor. I connected to his passion to care for others. He now will be able to grow up, go to school, not be worried about his scars and dream about becoming someone great to change the world. 

Opportunity is everything. Surgicorps gave me an opportunity to travel to Zambia in April 2023. That opportunity turned out to be a gift—a chance to meet and learn from the Surgicorps team, the staff at Beit CURE Children’s Hospital of Zambia, and the patients and their families.

The opportunity to receive treatment from a surgeon in the U.S. is available if a child is born without all the bones in her forearms necessary to hold her hands straight or born with fingers or toes fused together or an extra digit or two. And the opportunity for treatment is readily available in the U.S. if a child suffers severe burns—treatment that minimizes scarring and the loss of mobility. In Zambia, however, the opportunity for treatment is limited. More than ten years ago, Jack Demos, the founder of Surgicorps, saw the need in Zambia, and just as he has done in other places around the world, he set out to provide opportunities for children to get the surgery they need. April 2023 was Dr. Demos’s 13th mission trip to Zambia. Surgicorps now has given hundreds of Zambian children the opportunity to live more confidently, with less pain and more freedom of movement. 

DeNese Olson coordinated the April 2023 trip and ran the mission with exceptional grace and compassion—and like a well-oiled machine. The Surgicorps team which included Jack, DeNese, Anne, David, Aamir, Tom, Kelsey, Scott, Pete, Jacob, Eric, Kate, Jenny, Kelly, Lori, Jenn, Lesley, Elizabeth, Lonnie, and Agnus went above and beyond and used their skills to provide opportunities to others in extraordinary ways. In Zambia, they dedicated themselves to providing the same excellent quality of care their patients receive in the U.S. 

The week in Zambia began with screening day, when more than 150 children came to be evaluated for surgery. I worried that some would be turned away, but only those for whom surgery was not medically indicated and those who were told to come back for a specific kind of surgery when Surgicorps returns in September were sent home. Surgicorps gave everyone else—81 children—an opportunity to receive the surgery they needed. The medical team, with the assistance of the Beit CURE staff, treated them all with great skill and compassion.

All of these children were memorable, but one will stick with me forever. On screening day, Jeff walked into the evaluation room wearing a long-sleeved hoodie with the hood up, covering most of his head and face. He didn’t complain about the burn scars on his face, neck, arms and chest, or the large keloids on his ears—he covered them up, but he didn’t complain. He didn’t complain about the accident that left these scars, the horrific pain he had suffered, or the inability to fully lift his arms because of the scarring. We tapped a ball back and forth to pass the time as he waited for surgery, and after surgery, he taught me how to play Crazy Eights. He didn’t complain before the surgery, and he didn’t complain after surgery, even though surgery meant cutting his ears, under his arms, and near his elbow and taking a graft from his leg. Without saying anything, he taught me what resiliency and strength look like. 

Before the Surgicorps team left Zambia, we joined the Beit CURE staff for a celebration of the week’s accomplishments, and Jeff danced with the Surgicorps team, wearing a sleeveless shirt, no hoodie, and a smile. I’m grateful that I was given the opportunity to meet Jeff and the other children and see the opportunities and joy that the Surgicorps medical team gave them.

I hold patients’ hands. It’s just what I do. Big hands, small hands, calloused hands, manicured hands, I hold them all. Why? Because every hand deserves to be held, especially when that person is about to undergo general anesthesia for an operation.

Sometimes patients ask me if they will wake up. Sometimes they cry. Sometimes they make jokes to mask fear or uncertainty. Sometimes they say nothing but smile silently through their surgical mask. It is astonishing what a simple gesture of comfort can do.

In Vietnam, I held every hand too, including one so badly burned, I wondered how I would hold it. This patient had suffered severe upper body burns from a gasoline fire. His left hand was contorted, inflexible and scarred in deformity. His fingers were frozen, his wrist locked in flexion from thick contracture scars.

It didn’t matter. I held his hand anyway. It wasn’t easy. I could not interlock my fingers in his, or easily offer a gentle squeeze to let him know he mattered to me. He may not have been able to even feel my touch but I held his hand anyway. It was important to me and the right thing to do.

Volunteering in Vietnam on a surgical mission was also important and the right thing to do for 27 other pairs of hands. These collective hands were nothing short of amazing. They held scalpels, placed IVs, tied sutures, administered anesthesia, cleaned instruments, made custom splints, wheeled beds, typed daily operating room schedules, hauled supplies, carried children and performed a myriad of other tasks. They were hands that woke up eager to help and hands that went to bed tired. The end result of 56 hands working together – 74 life-improving surgeries for people suffering with burns and deformities, and a lifetime of memories for the hands that gave selflessly of their skills and kindness.