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Surgicorps International is preparing for its 16th trip to Vietnam from October 27th-November 6th. This will be our final trip of 2018.

This year Surgicorps will provide services at a new location in HCM. We have been invited by HCMC Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Hospital. This hospital will make it possible for Surgicorps to expand its specialty services in HCM to include hand surgery. We will also once again sponsor a vision clinic to distribute reading and sun glasses.

Our 21 team members hail from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, and New York. Return team members include Thanh Armagost, Joanie Dunn, Lori Ellis, David Kim, Belinda Lee, Michele Misher-Harris, Jonathan Ponte, Michele Taft, Gregg Weidner, and Nicole Weidner.

We welcome several new team members this year as well: Arthur Celestin, Elise Dunn, Nathan Hoaglund, Melissa Iorio, Dave Kelley, Judy Kelley, Zachary Nguyen, Igor Semonov, and Ginny Wright.

Jack Demos will lead the team as Medical Director and Linda Esposto will ensure things run smoothly on all fronts as our Trip Coordinator.

Best wishes team Vietnam 2018 as you set out to change many lives. Stay tuned and follow us, for trip updates and pictures, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Surgicorps’ 8^th trip to Zambia is ready to go! We leave on September 15^th and return on the 22nd with 20 medical and non-medical team members. We look forward to partnering again with Beit CURE International Children’s Hospital in Lusaka. Our team members hail from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, Colorado, North Carolina, Arizona, Utah, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Our returning volunteers include Anne Argenta, Diane Bremer, Tara Burns, Christine Depenthal, Karen Gallagher, David Kim, Lauren McGrath, John Merrill, David Metro Jr., Richard Montilla, Bernadette Montilla, Jimmie Moses, Susan Moses, Scott Pearson, and Modupe Sonuyi.

A warm welcome to our new team members this year: Nicholas Houska and Aparna Phadke.

Jack Demos returns as Medical Director and DeNese Olson, our Director of Operations and Outreach, is the Trip Coordinator. Lori Ellis will be making her 12th trip and is serving as Medical Coordinator.

Thank you Team Zambia for helping Surgicorps serve people in need in Lusaka. Stay tuned and follow us, for trip updates and pictures, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram!

The Surgicorps Guatemala 2018 trip has come to an end and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to be part of the team for a second time.

It was a privilege to be part of a team of such talented and kind people. As a pediatrician my role consisted mostly of working in the recovery room both years.  There, I saw the impact that the surgical team had on patients.

Procedures and surgeries, large and small, that we may take for granted, are life changing for many of these people.  I saw multiple examples of this during my time in the recovery room but a few stand out.

Last year there was a young woman who had a cyst removed from her arm.   I saw that she was crying and when I approached her and asked her if she was in pain, she shook her head no and painted a big smile on her face…. she was crying tears of happiness.  A gentleman, who had a palate repair, began to cry as he could speak for the first time in many years. I had the same experience this year when I saw a man crying after surgery because he was so happy to have had a hernia repair.

The amount of gratitude was evident with every single patient. As a pediatrician, I especially loved seeing the children and their families. Every person that was part of the team was a true pleasure. Everyone brought their unique personality and talent but they also brought dedication and kindness to the work.   From the non- medical people to the surgeons, everyone worked together to bring love and care to these people.

Again, I feel honored to be a part of this wonderful group of people.

Surgicorps is preparing for our 16th trip to Guatemala from August 4th-11th with a team of 35 dedicated medical and non-medical volunteers. Our team this year includes: 9 members from Pennsylvania, 15 from Massachusetts, 3 from Nevada, 2 from New York, 2 from Ohio, 1 from Colorado, 1 from Tennessee, 1 from California and 1 from Arizona.

Surgicorps looks forward to working with hospital staff at the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro Hospital again in Antigua and seeing old friends while meeting many new patients on screening day.

Previous Surgicorps team members include Dylan Anthony, Heather Archambeault, Pat Avis, Kerry Bennett, Cliff Bierman, Mary Bierman, Cathy Boyle, Kevin Cohen, Brian Gierl, Anne Hardart, Amelia Hare, Amy Hatch, Meghan Lauze, Carlos Mata, Richard Montilla, Bernadette Montilla, Farzaneh Nabizadeh, Jonathan Pelusi, Courtney Retzer-Vargo, Drake Sadler, Stephen Vargo, Jodi Yingling.

We welcome several new team members this year as well: Jonah Abraham, Paul Arcand, Elizabeth Arcand, Jack Bennett, Marcy Eckhart, Heather Gschnell, Don Hare, Andrea Ibarra, Owen Retzer, Etain Williams – Asplund, Brett Yingling. David Kim returns as Medical Director and Stephanie Charron will be the Trip Coordinator.

Surgicorps launched the Bon Voyage Crowdrise fundraiser again and in hopes that the Guatemala team members, and others, will once again participate in raising money to support our general Guatemala fund. These donations support the purchase of medical supplies and shipping costs amongst other expenses.

Surgicorps is grateful to these generous individuals who help make our shared mission of serving individuals in need around the world possible through their commitment of time, energy and resources. Stay tuned and follow us, for trip updates and pictures, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Surgicorps experience—what is it like for me? We recently returned from the Republic of Kazakhstan where Surgicorps staff provided the usual surgical interventions including plastic surgery, burn scar release, cleft lip and palate repair as well as a procedure new to the host country, prosthetic ear insertion, which was a wonderful learning opportunity for local health care providers.

For me the Surgicorps experience is somewhat different, not quite so glamorous. You see, I’m not a surgeon. I don’t perform any of the life changing improvements in our patients’ appearance and function. My role is a bit more mundane but, to my view, equally rewarding. I care for the patients after surgery. I get to see them when all the drapes are off and the surgical corrections have been performed. I often get to see the parents faces when they see their children for the first time with their new “look”.

When patients awaken from surgery, they are often still intubated, frightened, especially the little ones, and in pain. My role is to assess the patients, help get the breathing tubes out at the appropriate time, monitor for post op problems should they arise, and to assist with pain control. But the best part of what I do is to comfort the patients, reassuring them despite the language barrier. It’s also rewarding to work with, and from time to time teach, the local nursing staff. I made some friends in the PACU this year!

We travel with Surgicorps to offer medical services that are unavailable to those in need. We also travel to see the sights and sounds of another country, to learn about other cultures, the uniqueness and beauty of other people. Providing health care to these people allows us the privilege of a deeper, more revealing look into the people and their culture. We smile and say hello as best we can but, more importantly, we are remembered for what we have done to improve lives one at a time. That’s why I keep traveling with Surgicorps.